Palisades’ Smigo finishes 3rd; Liberty’s Frank earns medal

Thomas Smigo, the two-time Colonial League and District 11 champion from Palisades High School, is out to make sure the only thing that stands between himself and a state cross country title is time.

As in, one year’s time.

Smigo, a sophomore, took third place overall among Class A boys in Saturday’s PIAA state championships at the Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey. Smigo prevailed in his heat — the fourth and final heat for Class A— in 17 minutes, 1 second.

Senior Colton Sands of Penns Valley repeated as the Class A champ in 16:42. Kevin Jumper of Holy Cross secured second in 16:54.

Smigo was the only non-senior among the top-eight medalists.

“I’m still really happy with my race,” said Smigo, whowas seventh in Class 2A as a freshman. “Obviously, third place in the state is very good. I fell 18 seconds behind first, so that’s a close race. I’m not mad at all about finishing third.

“Next year, there are some kids graduating that are crucial to me winning a state championship. As long as no one improves a lot and I keep improving steadily, I think I can take back-to-back years out here in Hershey.”

A pleasant morning to run weather-wise (temperatures reached the 70s in the afternoon), Smigo admitted he went out faster than he wanted to over the first mile. Smigo knew the top time set by Sands in the first heat, since the race was run in four separate sections for social distance purposes during the pandemic.

“My second mile was a little slower than I wanted,” Smigo said, “but the third mile was good.”

Overall, Smigo called it an outstanding season considering the delayed start due to COVID-19.

“I think it was a really cool season,” he said. “To start out not winning races [he finished second to rival Matthew Chaikowsky of Saucon Valley in three of four regular-season races], now to be third in the state and Colonial League champ and district champion, that kind of shows I belong here.”

Palmerton sophomore Natalie Mosier, the Colonial League girls champion, placed 31st in Class A in 21:57.

Notre Dame-Green Pond’s girls, headlined by senior Grace Medei, were sixth in the team standings with 141 points.

Class 3A

For the seniors who competed Saturday, the state cross country championships were a bittersweet experience.

Liberty senior Cole Frank finished 24th among 3A boys and was the only Eastern Pennsylvania Conference competitor to earn a medal. The two-time District 11 champ timed 16:57. Brady Bigger of State College won the race in 16:07.

“It was definitely a hot day here in Hershey but I think all the runners came out today and gave it everything they could. It was a mental battle out there,” said Frank, whowas 18th in the state last fall. “Overall though, I’m proud of what I left out on the course.

“It’s very bittersweet today being my last cross country race in high school, especially without the results I wanted.”

Emily Jobes, Liberty’s two-time district champ, took 27th overall in the girls’ race. She clocked 20:17 and missed out on a medal by two positions.

“Going into the race, knowing it was such a difficult course and also knowing the heat was a factor, seeing the races before and multiple kids go down, it added a little stress ,” said Job es, who was 14 th as a junior .“There were definitely times I questioned whether I could keep going, especially down the hills where my legs were wobbling. It was a mental battle today.”

Mia Cochran of Moon won the girls title in 18:28.

Emmaus’ girls, the District 11 champ, finished fifth in the team standings with 82 points.

Senior Ashleigh McNellis paced the Green Hornets with a 31st-place effort in 20:23. Hailey Reinhard also placed among the top 50 in 47th.

“I’ve had bad experiences here in the past and that was in my head even though I tried to push it out,” said McNellis, one of five seniors among Emmaus’ top seven runners. “I went in with the mentality of doing it for my team. It was definitely a team race for us. I think my team did amazing, as usual.”

Parkland’s boys placed seventh in the team standings, led by senior Ben Esquires, who was 77th overall.

North Allegheny won both boys and girls team titles.

Class 2A

District 11 2A qualifiers experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows at states.

Blue Mountain senior Olivia Haas easily captured the girls’ gold with a fast 18:56 to represent the district, 42 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Also, senior Kelsey Gaston of Lehighton earned an 11th-place medal in 20:29.

But, District 11 champs Matthew Chaikowsky of Saucon Valley and Cori McCormick of North Schuylkill both were casualties of the heat and hills.

(Multiple runners throughout the day went down on the course and did not finish.)

Chaikowsky led the fourth and final heat at the two-mile mark. He, however, failed to cross the finish line, falling with about 100 meters remaining. Ch aikows ky tried several time store gain his balance but fell back to the ground each time. Eventually, he was carted to the medical area.

“Matt’s going to be fine,” Saucon Valley coach Ed Kolosky said about 45 minutes after the race. “He did everything he was supposed to physically and mentally preparing for this week. Once your body shuts down, that’s something beyond your control. Hetried four or five times to finish the race. That’s when we decided to shut it down. Tomorrow’s another day and Matt’s best racing days are ahead of him.”

McCormick, who was 10 seconds faster than Haas at districts a week ago, also failed to finish the race. The junior entered as the Class 2A girls’ favorite.

Gary Martin of Archbishop Woodwon the boys title in 16:12. Lewisburg was the boys team champ, while Warrior Run won the girls team crown.

Northwestern Lehigh’s boys took sixth place in the team standings with 168 points. Matt Santana led the way at 31st overall.

Michael Blouse is a freelance writer.

PIAA CROSS COUNTRYC HAMPIONSHIPS 3 A BOYS

Teams: 1. North Allegheny 49, 2. LaSalle College 76, 3. Downingtown West 76, 7. Parkland 195.

Individuals: 1. Brady Bigger (State College) 16:07, 2. Devon Comber (Hatboro Horsham) 16:10, 3. Graham Thomas (Penn Manor) 16:14, 24. Cole Frank (Liberty) 16:57, 25. Diego Lera-Lozano (Pennridge) 16:59, 49.Alexander Kane (Southern Lehigh) 17:28, 53. Dominik Lisicky (Southern Lehigh) 17:31, 56. Zeke Colyer (Northampton) 17:34, 66.Alex Heidemann (Freedom) 17:45, 77. Ben Esquires (Parkland)

18:13, 81. Brian Warren (Parkland) 18:20, 85.Josh Beltrame (Parkland) 18:26, 93. Brady Hoffman (Parkland) 18:49, 94. Paul Abeln (Parkland) 18:50, 100. Cameron Price (Parkland) 19:07, 105.Avi Hochhauser (Parkland) 19:28.

2ABOYS

Teams: 1. Lewisburg 56, 2. Central Cambria 72, 3. Kennard-Dale 81, 6. Northwestern Lehigh 168.

Individuals: 1. Gary Martin (Archbishop Wood) 16:12, 2. Jacob Hess (Lewisburg) 16:37, 3. Weber Long (Greencastle-Artim) 16:47, 31.Matt Santana (NWLehigh) 17:44, 35. CodySmith (Notre Dame-GP) 17:50, 49. Sam Bow er( NW Lehigh )18:02,65. Cole Chukoskie (NWLehigh) 18:21, 79. NateVincent (NWLehigh) 18:41, 109. Randel Zack (NWLehigh) 19:32, 112.Joe Chukoskie (NWLehigh) 19:50, 123.Will Gruen (NW Lehigh )20:40, Matthew Ch aik ow sky( S au con Valley) DNF. ABOYS Teams: 1. Jenkintown 44, 2. Penns Valley 84, 3. Winchester Thurston 89. Individuals: 1. Colton Sands (Penns Valley) 16:42, 2. Kevin Jumper (Holy Cross) 16:54, 3.Thomas Smigo (Palisades) 17:01, 45. Mitchell Campbell (Palisades) 18:20, 56.Joshua Deremer(PenArgyl) 18:42, 81. Sam Carter (Moravian Academy) 19:16. 3AGIRLS Teams: 1. North Allegheny 59, 2. State College 73, 3, WC Henderson 75, 5.Emmaus82. Individuals: 1. Mia Cochran (Moon) 18:28, 2. Caryn Rippey (Wilson-WL) 18:46, 3. Margaret Carroll (Northeastern) 19:01, 18.Ashley Gordon (Pennridge) 19:58, 27. EmilyJobes (Liberty) 20:17, 31.Ashleigh McNellis (Emmaus) 20:23, 47. Hailey Reinhard (Emmaus) 21:03, 53. Keerstin Augustin (Emmaus) 21:13, 54. Isabela Lees (Emmaus) 21:18, 58. Clara Kennedy (Emmaus) 21:25, 59. Olympia Curley-Kaishen (Emmaus21:27, 61. Lauren Meinhold (Southern Lehigh) 21:34, 69. Maura Lenhart (Southern Lehigh) 21:46, 72. Ciara Conboy (Stroudsburg) 21:56, 73. Kera Reinhard (Emmaus) 21:59, 76. Elena Wenger (Parkland) 22:07,

2AGIRLS

Teams: 1. Warrior Run 40, 2. Central Cambria 77, 3. North Catholic 117. Individuals: 1. Olivia Haas (Blue Mountain) 18:56, 2. Jolena Quarzo (Brownsville) 19:38, 3. Meaera Shannon (Conneaut) 19:45, 11. Kelsey Gaston (Lehighton) 20:29, 36.Angelina Klein (NWLehigh) 21:29. AGIRLS Teams: 1. Penns Valley 37, 2. Mohawk 63, 3. Wilmington 90, 6. Notre Dame-Green Pond 141.

Individuals:

1. Carmen Medvit (Shenango) 20:16, 2. Hannah Wagner (Reynolds) 20:22, 3. Grace Mason

(Wilmington) 20:25, 31. Natalie Mosier (Palmerton) 21:57, 51. Grace Medei (Notre Dame-GP) 22:36,

52. Katherine Koons (Notre Dame-GP) 22:38, 73. Serena Azzalina (Notre Dame-GP) 23:22, 75. Lauren Bower(Notre Dame-GP) 23:37, 92. Krista Nichols (Moravian Academy) 24:18, 111. Laura Dainuski (Notre Dame-GP) 25:32, 112. Catherine Mahoney (Notre Dame-GP) 25:46, 114. Rosetta Shupe (Notre Dame-GP) 26:05.