It’s been many years since both the boys and girls cross-country teams have had a season with as much accomplishment as this one. Despite recent success among the female runners, the Township boys have been taking second in the section to Hempfield for as long as some runners can remember.
“In past years we’ve dropped numerous meets to them. Last year we beat them at Foundations [Invitational] but couldn’t beat them at our dual meet the week after or at leagues or districts,” said junior Cole Stevens.
But this year that has changed.
With a win against Hempfield on Oct. 3, the boys cross-country team joined the girls as 7-0 section champions.
Yet work still needed to be done, so on Oct. 17 the varsity MTXC runners moved onto the LL-League championship meet, where the girls team, led by junior Elena Barrall, and the boys team, led by junior Adam Kingston, again took number one. This marked the first time in both school and league history in which both the boys and girls teams from the same school won the Section One and League Championships in one season.
Though the excitement remained evident throughout the team, they continued to push forward.
“Having both teams win the section and league titles is a huge accomplishment that we should not take for granted,” said Ava Shirk, captain of the girl’s team.
After a week and a half of practice, the team moved on to district championships this past Saturday where the girls continued their success, defeating the best cross-country teams in the area for another victory. On the boys side, Adam Kingston finished first overall gaining the title of District 3 Cross Country Champion, one of only five Blue Streaks to do so dating back to 1940.
“It was really cool,” said Kingston. “I knew the team race would be close so I tried to get as high up as I could to help out the team. When I realized I was feeling good…I went after it, and it worked out.”
Even with the first place finish by Kingston, the Blue Streaks finished just short of the District Three title with a score of 117, finishing runner-up to Chambersburg by a narrow three-point difference. Despite barely missing another win, the team has still qualified to run at the state meet and avenge their loss.
This Saturday the Blue Streaks will be gunning for two state titles as they look to make history at the PIAA State XC Championships. The girls race at 11 a.m. and the boys race at 1:15 p.m.
