AAA Girls Feature: One step at a time. Emmaus looks for their best season in three years.

In 2006, two sophomores and four freshmen from Emmaus – with irreplaceable leadership from then-senior Beth Luff – nearly pulled off the upset of season-long favorite and senior-laden Radnor. The 81-102 score does not indicate how close the race really was. The runners from each team seemed to mark each other; though not intentionally; and the finish of the top five from each team went Radnor-Emmaus-Radnor-Radnor-Emmaus-Radnor-Emmaus-Emmaus-Radnor-Emmaus. All ten were within 50 seconds, which meant an off race by any of the Radnor top five, and we'd be talking about a three-peat for Emmaus instead of a repeat for 2008.

Top to Bottom in alphabetical order: Kelsey Coates, Amanda Faust, Brianna Faust, Christina Faust, Lindsey Graybill, Melissa Meade.

2007, with the two juniors and four sophomores coming more into their own, the race was their's from the beginning. The team compression in 2006 had been 44 seconds, and in 2007 it was a mere 46 seconds. But there was no Radnor.

Last year, we introduced you to Emmaus before the start of the season, in our feature story: The Emmaus girls are close, on and off the course.

In it you met then juniors Lindsey Graybill and Melissa Meade, plus sophomores Kelsey Coates, and the Faust triplets, Amanda, Brianna and Christina.

The six return this season with very little changes; they're all still great friends, and they all want to win. But there has been on major change: they have all improved.

It starts with competition, among themselves.

"We're all really good friends, and we push each other in all our races because we're all very competitive, which is good (and a bad thing sometimes)," says Graybill. "We work together when we race."

Looking at their track seasons, the internal competition paid off as five girls qualified for Districts in the 1600 and five in the 3200 (with some overlap). Graybill qualified in both, but chose to run the 1600. Meade qualified in the 1600, and Amanda Faust made it in the 3200.

While all the girls showed improvement, the biggest leap was by Graybill, who finished 3rd in the 1600 at States in a huge PR of 4:55.56. That was a drop of 16 seconds in one year... and followed an improvement from 23rd to 15th at States in cross country.

Head coach Dan Wessner says that while the state win was one of the girls' goals in 2007, the ultimate goal had been to qualify for Nike Team Nationals from the Northeast Region. Their 5th place finish was not what the team anticipated, and it left them hungry for this year. "It's definitely feeding this year," says Wessner.

He's especially excited about this year's prospects after the track performances and the improvements by all the girls. "They had nice summers, and trained together."

According to Graybill, the varsity even went rafting together as a team before heading off to the same Poconos XC camp they attended in 2007.

Lower times mean rising expectations.

No one was more surprised by her 4:55 than Graybill. She says that breaking five had been a goal for high school. Not for her junior year.

The focus on the mile happened after she medaled in the event at indoor states. After a 9th place in the 3200 as a sophomore at outdoor States, Graybill was trying to figure out what she really wanted to do.

She got her sign midway through the season at a dual meet with Parkland when she PRed in 5:06. Although she was disappointed with her race at Districts, she went to the state meet and posted the fastest qualifier at 5:00.65. Her confidence soared, and when she finished within 2-tenths of a second of perennial elite runner Natalie Bower of Latrobe, she knew she had arrived at a new level.

Add the improved performances by all the team members, and there is reason for optimism this year.

"The first year (2006), we just wanted to make States in cross," said Graybill. "Last year, the goal was to win. And this year, we definitely want to make it to Nike."

Not that they're looking past PA. "We want to defend," assures Graybill.

"But with it being our last XC season together; every race we're going to give it our all and not hold back. I think this year, we're going to be better than any other time."

The team will race the same schedule as 2007 after starting the season with their first visit to the August 29 Viking Invitational at Tamanend Park in a few years. 9/20: Bowdoin Classic NY (Pre-NXC); Oct 11: Manhattan Inv. NY; Oct 14: Lehigh Valley Conference; Oct 23: District 11; Nov 1: PIAA States; Nov 29: NXN Northeast Regional; Dec 6: Someplace in the Northwest...