BARNESVILLE – A picture-perfect setting, on a cool, crisp autumn afternoon, as the colorful trees draped over the White Birch Golf Course, provided an ideal venue for the Schuylkill County Cross Country Championships Wednesday afternoon.

And it was a grand day if you were the Tamaqua boys’ cross country team, as well. And a bountiful day if you were a Lady Blue Raider runner, too.

First for the good news: The Blue Raiders are sitting atop the throne, wearing gold medals after fending off one of their chief rivals, Blue Mountain. The newly crowned kings of the hill outpointed the Eagles 52-57 to win the league meet title, and the Division 1 run-off with the Eagles, 26-31.

All eyes were on the top four teams in this run. Tamaqua and Blue Mountain battled tooth-and-nail throughout the regular season campaign, and when it came down to this encounter, the Blue Raiders rode the legs of Anthony Marchetti (fourth, 16:40), Levi Kunkel (fifth, 16;56), Aiden Elston (13th, 17:52), Brody Bryce (14th, 17:54) and Adam Schock (16th, 18:11).

“It was a run that I felt we could win,” Marchetti said. “We ran our pace and that was the key. If we stay together in (packs) we can be very good. I’m so happy to win it.”

Megan Frantz, the first-year head coach of the Tamaqua program, was beaming with a big smile. She has been with this program as an assistant for 13 years, before taking over this season for Tom Kanger, who heads the Blue Mountain team.

“The way we performed all season, is a great accomplishment for the boys,” Frantz said. “I’m so happy for them. (Blue Mountain) is one of the best teams in our league every season. Tom coached here for years, and he left a (legacy) and I just jumped in and the runners all know me, so the transition wasn’t that big. It is just a great feeling to watch our team, both the boys and girls, work so hard and you can see the results.”

The surprise of this race came when Minersville’s unheralded senior Kolin Long found a way to jockey himself into position late in the run. He stunned pre-race favorite from Shenandoah Valley Albert Espinal as he legged past him over the final 50 yards to take home the gold. Long finished in 16:19, while the junior Blue Devil hit the timer at 16:27.

The Blue Raiders figured they had to stay in a tight group to keep Blue Mountain at bay.

“We faced them this year, we beat them in a tournament, but lost to them at their place,” Kunkel mentioned. “Of course, we have a lot of confidence in what we can do. It’s great to get (first place) and to win the race.”

Marchetti felt confident from the onset. There was no intimidation in his approach, as he set a personal best with his time of 16:40, better than his previous best 17:17.

“Just run the course, like any other course,” said the top-flight senior. “Just focus on running, like we did all season… just win, just win.”

Strong run

The Tamaqua girls tried fervently to catch Blue Mountain, but fell short in a battle of two outstanding teams.

The Eagles won by a 25-68 margin over the Raiders, led by Hanna Wildermuth. The junior hit the timer at 21:02, finishing second overall to Schuylkill Haven’s defending league champion Anna Schaeffer who timed in at 19:29. Tamaqua’s Ava Jones, a junior as well, picked up a seventh-place finish overall.

“Tamaqua was the big challenge, they’ve had a lot of girls coming back,” Kanger allowed, knowing full-well how competitive of a race it would be, “they’re talented. I just told our kids to go after times, don’t worry about placing.”

Even though Tamaqua came up a tad short in this race, Frantz knew her team was strong enough, but saddled with injuries most of the season.

A bundle of nerves before the start of both races, Frantz stated, “I just want the race to be over with,” she laughed, then quickly pointed out how strong of a race both the boys and the girls would offer.

“We can beat them,” Frantz said referring to the boys squad, and it did come to pass. “They know they have the ability and they can do it again.”

Schaeffer was the star of this race, her brother Brandon, is a pitcher in the MLB with the Seattle Mariners. The Haven runner was never seriously challenged, finishing well ahead of the field. Blue Mountain dominated with four top runners out of the first six spots.

Fillies coach Kristin Fritz had a lot of high hopes for a strong end-of-the-season finish as her team finished sixth overall.

“This is what I like and I don’t get paid to do it,” Fritz said with a loud laughter. “I’m thrilled with the way we cut our (times), it was the best of the season. We split with Schuylkill Haven and Shenandoah… we were hoping to (pull) off an upset today with one of them. Blue Mountain and Tamaqua are just phenomenal… honestly, they could flip jersey’s, they’re both that good.”

QUOTABLE ... “The teacher is more worried about the test, than the pupil is today,” Frantz replied when asked about going up against Kanger, her former mentor.

GREAT VENUE ... The Birch is a fantastic place for this race. The course is fast, it’s easy on the runners legs, and is well hosted by the Kurzinsky family.

UP NEXT ... It’s on to the District 11 meet next week at DeSales University, then the state meet Nov. 2 in Hershey.

RESULTS

BOYS

Team Standing and Legend

1. Tamaqua (Tam) 52, 2. Blue Mountain (BM) 57, 3. Minersville (Min) 114, 4. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 121, 5. Mahanoy Area (MA) 129, 6. Marian Catholic (MC) 138, 7. Pottsville (Potts) 141, 8. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 163, 9. Gillingham Charter (GC) 246.

INDIVIDUAL

(top 5 plus other locals in the top 50)

1. Kolin Long (Min) 16:19, 2. Robert Espinal (SV) 16:27, 3. Francesco Carr (BM) 16:33, 4. Anthony Marchetti (Tam) 16:40, 5. Levi Kunkel (Tam) 16:56, 14. Sebastian Williams (Wea) 17:51, 15. Aidan Elston (Tam) 17:52. 17. Brody Boyce (Tam) 17:54, 18. Wade Eroh (MC) 17:57, 19. Abraham Cabrera (PV) 18:03, 20. Adam Schock (Tam) 18:11, 21. Parker Steencken (Tam) 18:20, 30. Yossaf Garcia (Tam) 19:10, 32. Alex Best (Wea) 19:17, 33. Jacob Berlanda (MC) 19:20, 37. Raymond Montz (Wea) 19:40, 40. James Gelatko (MC) 19:43, 42. Achilles Fitzpatrick (MC) 19:48, 48. Chase Grier (MC) 20:48.

GIRLS

Team Standing and Legend

1. Blue Mountain (BM) 25, 2. Tamaqua (Tam) 68, 3. Schuylkill Haven (SH) 89, 4. Shenandoah Valley (SV) 115, 5. Marian Catholic (MC) 138, 6. Minersville (Min) 159, 7. Mahanoy Area (MA) 187, 8. Pine Grove (PG) 189.

INDIVIDUAL

(top 5 plus other locals in the top 50)

1. Anna Schaeffer (SH) 19:29, 2. Hannah Wildermuth (BM) 21:02, 3. Felicia Bro (MA) 21:05, 4. Hope Scheidel (BM) 21:25, 5. Emma Lazarchick (BM) 21:30, 7. Ava Jones (Tam) 21:41, 14. Samantha Plasha (Tam) 22:15, 16. Madelyn Schaefer (Tam) 22:24, 17. Teaghan Biros (MC) 22:27, 20. Mollie Walker (Tam) 23:04, 24. Kiely Kunkel (Tam) 23:39, 26. Anna Keer (MC) 23:51, 30. Bailey Pliska (Tam) 24:20, 31. Isabella Jones (Tam) 24:27, 38. Addison Fritz (MC) 24:48, 39. Deanna Pugh (MC) 24:52, 42. Ava Fritz (MC) 25:00, 44. Addy Marek (MC) 25:22, 46. Olivia Serfass (MC) 25:44.