For Emmaus junior Mady McCartney, last week’s District 11 Cross Country performance was nothing new.

For Hornet senior Connor Fisher and the EHS boys team, the district meet performance was something the team hasn’t seen in over two decades.

McCartney took first place in the District 11 Class 3A girls race for her second straight district gold. Fisher finished second in the boys race while leading his team to second place and it’s first trip to states in 23 years.

“I am over the moon right now,” said Fisher after the boys race. “Our team has been working so hard this year. I’m just beyond proud of them. We’re really close this year and I just love to see it.”

Emmaus has been among the top boys teams in the district many times since the last time it qualified for states. But until this season it could never quite finish high enough at districts to advance.

That changed this year as Fisher, a four-time individual state qualifier, ran the best district race of his career for second place.

“We had a chance this year,” he said. “In past years we were good, but we didn’t have that chance. This year we had that golden team and I just knew if I let that slip I would have never forgiven myself.”

Fisher stayed with eventual winner Dylan Boyle (Freedom) early in the race before settling into the lead pack behind Boyle. He ran most of the way with Easton’s Evan Guydish, who finished fifth.

Fisher’s late kick got him past Nazareth’s Jacob Casey and Parkland’s Luke McEvoy for second place in 17:10.3. Boyle won in 16:39.1 and Casey was third at 17:11.1.

Hornet junior Ryan Fach also earned a medal with his 10th-place overall finish at districts. Senior Jared Petre finished 12th, followed by freshmen teammates David Hearn (22nd) and Michael Carwell (26th) rounding out the team scoring. Richard Will (42nd) and Zachary Zappile (50th) were also part of the EHS boys district team.

Nazareth took the boys team title with 62 points. Emmaus (72) was second, followed by Parkland (74) Southern Lehigh (109) and Freedom (112).

Now Fisher will not only finish his varsity career on the biggest stage Pennsylvania high school cross country has to offer, but he’ll also get to share the experience with his teammates and close friends.

“It’s going to be amazing,” he said of the trip to Hershey for the state meet. “We’ve been talking about it all season, ‘what if, what if.’ Now we can say ‘when.’

“We practiced together. We just kept pushing each other and pushing each other until we couldn’t any more.”

McCartney’s win makes her a two-time league and district champ as she’s swept both postseason races the past two years. She ran the district race in 18:56.4, which was just four seconds off her time from leagues despite the district race being held on a much warmer day. Liberty’s Katie Drabouski was second in 19:29.8.

“I’m really happy,” McCartney said after the race. “I did have a goal to try and beat my time from last week, which I didn’t but the weather obviously plays a big role in it.

“I really tried to focus on positive thoughts because when I feel like I’m dying, the mental part of it really helps me get through it. If I tell myself I can do it I’m not going to do it.”

McCartney, who led the entire race, thinks of team mantras like putting one foot in front of the other and just keep moving to stay positive while she’s running.

A week after taking second place to Easton at the East Penn Conference Championships, McCartney and teammate Payton Campbell led the Hornets to the district team title as they scored 54 points to edge the Red Rovers (59) for the title. Southern Lehigh (84) was third with Liberty (112) fourth and Parkland (113) fifth.

“We really wanted to make it to states,” said McCartney. “It’s just a battle of sticking together in packs. We really wanted to and we put our best out there.”

The rest of the Hornets’ top five finished in a pack as sophomore Grace Nosal (16th), senior Isabella Scarlata (17th) and senior Addison Johnson (20th) all finished in the top 20. Senior Ava Palamara (26th) and sophomore Isabella Alwine-Balliro (35th) were also part of the Emmaus girls district team.

The title is the Hornets sixth consecutive district crown.

“We work really hard,” said McCartney. “We use the same mind set of positive no matter what. If we have a bad race we pick ourselves up. We just work hard and do what we can do, put ourselves out there. Whatever the result is no matter what we just keep looking forward and know there’s something next.”

Next for both Hornet teams will be this weekend’s PIAA Cross Country Championships, slated for Saturday in Hershey.