Elco's Kayleigh Perry has had her share of success as a cross-country runner the past four years, always finishing in the upper half of the field in the state meet.
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Saturday' PIAA meet was nearly a perfect finish for Perry, who finished second in Class AA in a battle that went back and forth all race.
Perry finished in 19:12 on the 5k Parkview Course, which was covered in mud for districts a week ago but was much drier for the state meet.
Perry battled Lindsay Kerr, a senior from Northwest Lehigh High School, all race for the top spot. Perry and Kerr were even after one mile and Perry had a slight advantage at the two-mile mark. Kerr, who won in 18:56, caught and passed Perry for the last time with about 800 yards to go, but Perry remained ecstatic with her second-place finish.
"I am pretty satisfied and happy," she said. "The goal was top three or better and I accomplished that. I wish my time was a few seconds better, but it was all right. This is a good way to finish up my high school cross-country career."
Perry was the only Lancaster-Lebanon League runner to finish on the medal stand in any of the four races on the hilly course.
One team that came into the day with high expectations was the Warwick girls, who won the District Three title last week. The Warriors were in good shape early in the race, paced by senior star Alli Mannon. Mannon went down the first hill in fourth place, and remained in the top 10 at the one- and two-mile mark. She then hit a wall and she could not get her legs to keep pace with the field, dropping back to 160th.
"Alli just ran out of steam and her legs couldn't take her through," Warwick coach Ed Nixdorf said.
The rest of the team tried to pick up the pace, led by freshman Emily Cameron, who finished in 20:08, more than 20 seconds better than her time last week. Four of Nixdorf's runners improved on last week's times, leading to a fifth-place finish, better than the coach expected after Mannon's struggles.
"I am really happy with fifth place," Nixdorf said. "We weren't on our full cylinders. If all seven were on their game, the results might have been different. I am disappointed for them as they worked so hard all year, but I am glad to know we are among the best in the state."
The top local individual finisher in AAA girls was Solanco's Taylor Ludman, who took 30th, 14 seconds out of a medal with a time of 19:55. Cameron was next in 43rd, with teammate Kristine Gutshall finishing 54th in 20:17.
"Emily missed 10 days of practice with illness and to come back and run the way she did was great," Nixdorf said. "Kristine improved her time by 30 seconds and this was a goal for us today."
Lancaster Mennonite and coach Weston Shertzer entered the AA boys' race knowing they were facing a lot of strong teams. Their 11th-place finish left Shertzer satisfied, as the runners were bunched together and only 42 seconds separated their top runner Keith Mast, who finished 61st in 17:49, and fifth, Ryan Gehman, who was 151st in 18:31. In between were Ryan Schloneger (102nd, 18:10), Jared Schatz (103rd, 18:10) and Ben Shoff (131st, 18:21).
"The point total for us would have given us eighth last year," Shertzer said. "We had a solid race and ran faster or equal to districts. They performed well. It is a challenging and tough course and we love it."
The top local finishers in the boys' AA race were Annville-Cleona teammates Ben Rhoads and Mark Bachman, who finished in 53rd and 56th place, respectively.
The AAA race for boys included nine local runners competing individually. Hempfield's Matthew Groff emerged as the top finisher from that group, taking 89th overall with a time of 17:25. His first mile was in 5:02 and the junior said he kept a steady pace the rest of the way.
"I am pleased. It is a fitting way to end my year," said Groff, who was named the top runner in the L-L League this year. "Time is the one thing you are never completely satisfied with because you always wonder if you could do this much more to get one more second off the time. It was a lot easier to run today than last week because of less mud."
Other finishers in the top half in the boys' AAA race were Manheim Township's Sean Sharkey (96th, 17:30), Garden Spot's Jesse Mancuso (101st, 17:31) and Elizabethtown's Nate Kreider (111th, 17:36).
The other individual winners were North Penn's Brad Mills in boys' AAA, Kutztown's Stephen Welsh in boys' AA and Pennsbury's Sara Sargent in girls' AAA.
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