Northwestern and Weatherly have been running down a dream for the better part of the past two months.

The Wreckers and Tigers made it a reality on Tuesday.

Both dominant in the regular season, Weatherly and Northwestern were the class of the field at the District 11 Cross-country Championships.

The Tigers claimed their second straight district crown, winning the Class 2A title and some redemption after a runner-up finish at the Colonial League meet a week ago.

After a historic victory at last week’s Schuylkill League championships, the Wreckers added another chapter to a storybook season by claiming the Class 1A crown for the program’s first district title.

“They wanted this,” said Northwestern head coach Chris Stitzel. “From the beginning of the summer, they were talking about going after Southern Lehigh for leagues, and I know they were a little disappointed (to finish second last week). We got the regular season championship, but I know they wanted the overall.

“But (they) came back today and ran a great race.”

The Tigers defeated Blue Mountain 48-80 and secured a place at next week’s state meet.

Weatherly dispatched Moravian Academy 39-70 to bring home the title and also advance to states.

“It’s indescribable,” said Wreckers first-year coach Ryan Kately. “I’m kind of at a loss for words right now. If anyone saw the work that these guys put in, they would know why we walked out with that trophy.

“These guys worked all summer, they bought into the training; working out at 8 a.m. all summer and doing everything they could, these guys deserve it.”

Both teams had to play the waiting game before knowing for sure.

The district meet, which was held at Blue Mountain Resort, took on a new format this season. Races were split into two heats and overall individual and team results were merged at the completion of both.

Weatherly was in the first heat in the Class A field and had to watch some of its competition run the next race. Northwestern, on the other hand, ran the second race and saw the times and performances that had been put down prior to hitting the course.

In the end, it didn’t matter.

The Tigers and Wreckers ran strong in their heats to overwhelm their competitors.

Northwestern, which went 17-1 in the league during the regular season, finished with three runners in the top six, led by sophomore Samuel Bower’s (17:55) runner-up finish. Matthew Santana (18:18) was fourth overall, while Cole Chukoskie (18:29) placed sixth.

Colin Phipps placed third and Justice Scheidel eighth for Blue Mountain, but Santana and Nathan Vincent (14th, 19:09) both got in well ahead of the Eagles’ third runner in 21st.

“We knew that’s what our goal was, and we did that pretty well,” said Bower. “We ran the race that we needed to and we were able to come out on top.

“Our team, we just push each other all the time. At practice, we’re always running together, trying to get better and get as good as possible. We just try to push each other and be as good as we can be.”

The same can be said for the Wreckers, who knocked off Blue Mountain at last week’s Schuylkill League meet.

Despite strong runs from the likes of Moravian Academy, the defending Class 1A champs and also in the first race; Palisades, which got a 1-2 overall finish from Thomas Smigo and Mitchell Campbell, who ran a blistering pace in the second race; and Schuylkill League rival and 2018 champ Shenandoah Valley, Weatherly, which went 13-0 in the regular season, flexed its muscle and showed its depth with five runners in the top-15.

Leading the way for the Wreckers were Scotty Zoscin in third (19:05) and Michael Berger in fifth (19:29). Frankie Willis (19:35), Jacob Parker (19:41) and Ricky Ray (20:13) were ninth, 11th and 15th, respectively.

Zoscin, who won the Class 1A race a year ago, celebrated the moment with his team that he could have only dreamed about before.

“Once I crossed the finish line I saw my time and I wasn’t expecting that type of time,” the senior said. “We were trying to make scenarios (in the second race), and once we saw them start, one of our runners put on a timer and we were just checking their pace and all of that.

“From the start our chest was beating. But once we started seeing them come into the second mile and we started seeing them all come in, it almost started instead of being nervous, it was more like this is actually happening, we’re going to win it. Once we saw it, it was something incredible.”

WINNERS

... Smigo won the Class 1A race in 18:12 ahead of Campbell (18:54). In Class 2A, Saucon Valley’s Matthew Chaikowsky placed first with a time of 17:48. Liberty’s Cole Frank powered to a win in the 3A race with a time of 17:31. Parkland (84) won the team title and advanced to states, edging Southern Lehigh (85). Only one team in each class and five individuals qualify for states out of District 11 this season.

UP NEXT

... The state meet is scheduled for Nov. 6 and 7 in Hershey.

DISTRICT 11

CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

AT BLUE MOUNTAIN RESORT

(*-denotes state qualifier)

Class 1A Boys

Team scores and legend

1. *Weatherly (W) 39, 2. Moravian Academy (MA) 70, 3. Palisades (Pali) 84, 4. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 86, 5. Minersville (Min) 101, 6. Marian Catholic (MC) 147, 7. Nativity (Nat) 178, 8. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 221, 9. Tri-Valley (TV) 235, 10. Mahanoy Area (M) 244, 11. Notre Dame East Stroudsburg (NDES) 256.

Individual results

Top 10, state qualifiers

and other locals in top 50

1. *Thomas Smigo (Pali) 18:12, 2. *Mitchell Campbell (Pali) 18:54, 3. *Scotty Zoscin (W) 19:05, 4. *Joshua Deremer (Pen Argyl) 19:25, 5. *Michael Berger (W) 19:29, 6. *Sam Carter (MA) 19:30, 7. *Landon Boyle (Min) 19:32, 8. Astin Daniels (SH) 19:34, 9. *Frankie Willis (W) 19:35, 10. Joelvi Nunez (SV) 19:40, 11. *Jacob Parker (W) 19:41, 15. *Ricky Ray (W) 20:13, 24. Albin Petschauer (MC) 21:04, 26. Kevin Earley (MC) 21:14, 27. Gavin Vercusky (MC) 21:21, 37. Johnny Malarkey (MC) 22:03, 44. Daniel Hollincheck (MC) 22:44, 45. *Brady Walters (W) 23:01, 46. Alex Porambo (MC) 23:02, 50. Mathew Kokinda (Panther Valley) 23:30.

Class 2A Boys

Team scored and legend

1. *Northwestern (NW) 48, 2. Blue Mountain (BM) 80, 3. Notre Dame Green Pond (NDGP) 116, 4. Bangor (B) 128, 5. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 152, 6. Palmerton (Palm) 172, 7. East Stroudsburg North (ESN) 218, 8. Wilson (W) 219, 9. Saucon Valley (SV) 227, 10. North Schuylkill (NS) 233, 11. Jim Thorpe (JT) 259, 12. Pottsville (P) 303, 13. Bethlehem Catholic (BC) 312, 14. Tamaqua (T) 333, 15. Lehighton (L) 341, 16. Catasauqua (C) 390, 17. Salisbury (S) 414.

Individual results

Top 10, state qualifiers

and other locals in top 50

1. *Matthew Chaikowsky (SV) 17:48, 2. *Samuel Bower (NW) 17:55, 3. *Colin Phipps (BM) 18:17, 4. *Matthew Santana (NW) 18:18, 5. *Justin Williams (NS) 18:26, 6. *Cole Chukoskie (NW) 18:29, 7. *Cody Smith (NDGP) 18:31, 8. *Justice Scheidel (BM) 18:45, 9. Jack Flynn (NS) 18:46, 10. Jacob Huber (SV) 18:49, 13. Owen Hibell (Palm) 19:09, 14. *Nathan Vincent (NW) 19:09, 19. Jared Thomason (Northern Lehigh) 19:35, 20. Ryan Bailor (JT) 19:44, 22. Bryce Marino (Palm) 19:47, 23. *Randal Zack (NW) 19:48, 28. *Joe Chukoskie (NW) 20:02, 30. Michael Noyola (Palm) 20:10, 33. Ridge Snyder (JT) 20:14, 45. Tait Ehrig (T) 20:54, 46. Owen Serfass (L) 20:55, 48. Stephen Kieffer (T) 21:03.

Class 3A Boys

Team scores and legend

1, *Parkland (Park) 84, 2. Southern Lehigh (SL) 85, 3. Nazareth (Naz) 87, 4. Freedom (F) 87, 5. Northampton (Nor) 94, 6. Emmaus (Emm) 141, 7. Liberty (Lib) 165, 8. Easton (Eas) 186, 9. Stroudsburg (Str) 203, 10. Pleasant Valley (PV) 278, 11. Pocono Mountain East (PME) 288, 12. Whitehall (W) 291, East Stroudsburg South (ESS) 358.

Individual results

Top 10, state qualifiers

and other locals in top 50

1. *Cole Frank (Lib) 17:31, 2. *Zeke Colyer (Nor) 17:39, 3. *Alex Heidemann (F) 17:40, 4. *Alexander Kane (SL) 17:40, 5. *Dominik Lisicky (SL) 17:51, 6. Owen Nahf (Nor) 18:09, 7. Anthony Kositz (Naz) 18:35, 8. *Ben Esquieres (Park) 18:39, 9. Jack Hollar (PME) 18:42, 10. Alex Hume (F) 18:45, 11. *Paul Abeln (Park) 18:48, 12. *Josh Beltrame (Park) 18:56, 26. *Brady Hoffman (Park) 19:17, 27. *Cameron Price (Park) 19:18, 29. *Brian Warren (Park) 19:24, 44. John Weichand (PV) 20:15.