Liberty’s Jobes wins 2nd straight D-11 3A title
Emmaus, Notre Dame-GP claim team championships
This is the motto of the U.S. Postal Service:
”Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Liberty senior Emily Jobes, who delivered with her second consecutive District 11 Class 3A cross country title during Wednesday’s championship meet, offered a similar motto on a raw, wet morning at the Blue Mountain Ski Resort:
“If you think about it, this is cross country,” she said. “So it’s hills, mud, rain. It’s whatever.
“So I’d say it was a pretty good cross country course and I was definitely up for the challenge.”
Jobes, who prevailed in 20 minutes, 46.9 seconds, was up for the challenge on the slippery Blue Mountain ski slopes and so was the entire Emmaus team.
Coach Kelly Bracetty’s Green Hornets secured their second straight 3A team title with a dominant district performance. Senior Ashleigh McNellis placed second overall — four seconds behind Jobes — and the Reinhard sisters, sophomore Hailey and senior Kera, finished fourth and fifth, respectively, as Emmaustotaled just 39 points. Southern Lehigh was second with 58. Notre Dame-Green Pond earned its third consecutive Class Ateam title, the Crusaders compiling 51 points among their top five finishers. Blue Mountain won Class 2A with 75 points.
North Schuylkill’s Cori McCormick outdueled Olivia Haas of Blue Moun
tain, a two-time district champ, to capture the 2A individual crown in 19:41. Tri-Valley’s Samantha Masser won Class A in 22:23.
The top five individual finishers and the team champion in each classification qualified for the PIAA state championships, set for Nov. 7 in Hershey.
Gettin’ the Job-es done
Jobes, as last year’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and District 11 champion, entered Wednesday’s 3A extravaganza as the favorite.
She had to be at her best to win, though.
As in Tuesday’s boys championship races, each of the three classifications included two heats with an equal number of teams. Emmaus competed in the first heat, while Jobes’ Liberty squad ran in the second.
So Jobes had the advantage of knowing what time she needed to beat but the disadvantage of racing all by herself. (She won her heat by 45 seconds.)
“It’s definitely different not being able to run with Emmaus and some other top runners,” said Jobes, who placed 14th overall at states a season ago.
“Going in, I had that number [McNellis’ 20:50] in my head and I was gauging it. I knew it was going to be close.”
Jobes is running for her third different coach, Adam Syty, in three seasons at Liberty and was competing on her third different district championship course in three years.
“I think ever since track was canceled in the spring mymindset was to focus on cross country,” said Jobes, whose mother, Kathleen, was one of the Lehigh Valley’s elite distance runners.
“We weren’t even positive we’d have a season, so we were like, ‘Let’s finish our senior year with whatever we have.’
“Just being able to have a district meet makes meover the moon. It was really exciting.”
Southern Lehigh’s Lauren Meinhold (21:31) and Maura Lenhart (21:44) took third and sixth, respectively, Stroudsburg’s Ciara Conboy was seventh (21:46) and Parkland’s Elena Wegner eighth (21:46). They all earned the invitation to states.
Team title talk
Emmaus went through the EPC portion of its schedule undefeated — 5-0 this year— for the third straight season. Bracetty’s Green Hornets were locked and loaded for districts.
“This is definitely our end goal,” McNellis said. “We really wanted it as a team. I think this year we came together and we hit our peak.
“Being on this team is one of the best things ever for me. We’re not competitive at all against each other. We all want the best for each other and for the team, but we still have the drive and competitiveness to go after it.”
Behind McNellis and the Reinhard sisters were senior Keerstin Augustin, who was 13th (22:14), and senior Clara Kennedy, whowas 16th (22:24). Junior Isabella Lees took 17th. Emmaus went 1-2-3 in Heat 1.
“It’ s been a crazy ride ,” Brace tty said. “Going into this meet today, weknewthecourse was going to be a big challenge, especially with the rain on top of it. Running in the first heat was a disadvantage because the second heat would know what we’ve run. The girls fought, they stayed as a pack and I’m super proudof them.”
Coach Art Corrigan’s Crusaders easily took the Class A title. Senior Grace Medei (fourth), Katherine Koons (fifth), Serena Azzalina (ninth) and Lauren Bower (10th) all placed among the top 10.
Northwestern Lehigh, the two-time defending champ in 2A, took third place with 99 points, behind Blue Mountain and North Schuylkill.
Rivalry resumed
Blue Mountain’s Haas, a junior, had won the previous two District 11 2A titles, with her rival McCormick, a senior, prevailing in the Schuylkill League championship meet both of those years.
This fall, McCormick finally turned the tables at districts. McCormick bested Haas by 10 seconds; with the Blue Mountain standout clocking a 19:51. McCormick’s winning time was easily the quickest of the day.
InClass A, Tri-Valley’s Masser outdueled Colonial League champ Natalie M osier of Palmerton, who won Heat 1 in 22:37. Masser’s district title is her first.