Lions Invitational - Meet Recap
Girls Race
The girls' race was somewhat of a replay of last year, with the same top three coming through the line. Blue Mountain's Olivia Haas defended her Lions Invitational crown, running 18:59 for the win. Haas, who is coming off a strong freshman season, had a good open to her tenth grade season, as she held off Northern Lehigh's Reagan Pender for the win.
Pender, a senior, was second in a solid time of 19:10. Notre Dame Green Pond's Grace Medei was third in 20:20 to make for an identical top three as 2018.
Council Rock North's Lorena Ye was fourth in 20:34 to lead a dominant team effort for CRN. North scored 68 points in the overall team standings to capture the team victory. Abington Heights, led by Abby Marion's fourth place run, was second with 94 points.
Boys Race
One of the best head-to-head races of the opening weekend came at Moravian Academy with the boys' race. In a battle between two of District 11 Class AA's best, Pen Argyl's Anthony Coppolella won for a second straight year. Blue Mountain's Kevin Haas came through a close second.
Coppolella opened up a small gap on Haas in the final mile and was able to kick to the win in 16:36. Haas was second in 16:40. Coppolella was 12 seconds faster than last season, when he won in 16:48. It's a good start to the season for the pair, which likely hasn't seen the last of each other this fall.
Nazareth Area was impressive in the team race, putting up just 43 points to run away with the overall team title. Paced by Daniel Brunner (fifth overall), Nazareth put five in the top 12 with just a 24 second gap. Holy Ghost was second overall.