ALLENTOWN — The Pleasant Valley boys and girls cross-country teams traveled to DeSales University on Tuesday to take part in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championships.

While they didn’t travel home with any accolades, each and every Bear runner that took to the 3.1-mile course can simply remember one thing — the kudos they received from their coaching staff.

“Just overall, it was a great race for all of our runners,” first-year PV coach Ali Rundle said. “We’re proud of all our Bears. We had a freshman running for the girls that did a fantastic job, and we’re looking forward to their growth and the upcoming years.”

While the coach’s sentiment will always hold, senior Danielle Boland knows all too well there’s room for improvement.

“Definitely not my best race today,” said Boland, who placed a team-best 21st in her first EPC championship meet. “I can definitely do better next week (at districts).”

Rundle chose to look at the positives associated with his harrier’s performance.

“We are extremely happy with Dani’s finish,” Rundle said. “She was a little disappointed in herself, although I still think she had a strong race.

“She’s looking forward to making the improvements she needs to push even harder at districts next week.”

Boland is already strategizing for the district meet, which will be held next Wednesday at DeSales. And she knows what she needs to do better in that race.

“I need to try and pace myself more in the beginning,” said Boland, who finished with a time of 21:23.9. “And try not to let anyone pass me since a couple of people did today.”

Fellow senior Martin Green participated in his fourth and last EPC meet.

As Green approached the starting line, the most experienced PV harrier already had his sights set on the finish line.

“I did (have a time to finish on my mind),” Green said. “I wanted to beat my time from last year, and it was 18:03. I got it, and I was very proud of that.”

The senior crossed in 17:54.9 to place 27th in the boys competition. For Green, next week’s district race means more to him than most of the others on his team.

“He was not happy with his finish today, as he said he wasn’t feeling it today,” Rundle said. “But he knows he has next week. Hopefully, he’s looking forward to placing for states. When he drives, he has that potential to do so.

“So I’m hoping he reaches that goal, because I know since his freshman year he’s been pushing to get to states. Last year, he missed by one place. If he stays out of his head, and runs the race we know he’s capable of running, he has a good chance of getting there.”

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY … Both Madelyn McCartney of Emmaus, and Dylan Boyle of Freedom ,captured first in their respective races.

TEAM HONORS … Both the Parland boys and Easton girls came away with top honors in the team standings.

FOCUSED ON THE NEXT STEP … Green has already laid out a new plan to prepare for next week’s district race. “Next week, I’m going to try and eat even healthier than I have. Going to have an even stronger mind set because the (DeSales) course is on my mind. There shouldn’t be anything else that I should not expect here. I have it in place. Hopefully, I can crush my time, crush the placement and go to states.”

A BIT MORE FROM COACH KELLER … “Oh, Coach Rundle and I are always extremely proud of all our runners,” said assistant coach Amy Keller. “It takes a great deal of competitiveness and spirit to get this far. So, we’re happy with the progress all the kids have made this season. And we try to instill in them that fight to keep going and not quit. It doesn’t matter in our eyes where you finish, it’s just the fact that you finished, and you had a successful season.”

EPC Cross Country Championships

Boys

Team Standings

1. Parkland (Park) 54, 2. Allentown Central Catholic (ACC) 64, 3. Emmaus (Emm) 88, 4. Nazareth (Naz) 96, 5. Freedom (Free) 137, 6. Easton (Eas) 145, 7. Stroudsburg (Str) 193, 8. Liberty (Lib) 248, 9. ES North (ESN) 295, 10. PM East (PME) 309, 11. Whitehall (Whi) 345, 12. Pleasant Valley (PV) 345, 13. ES South (ESS) 354, 14. Bethlehem Catholic (BC) 374, 15. Dieruff (D) 389.

Individual Results

(Top 10 overall and the rest of the PV runners)

1. Dylan Boyle (Free) 16:32.2, 2. Duke Ebert (ACC) 16:54.0, 3. Evan Guydish (Eas) 16:58.8, 4. Luke McEvoy (Park) 17:00.6, 5. Jacob Casey (Naz) 17:02.5, 6. Conor Fisher (Emm) 17:02.5, 7. Brayden Boyle (Free) 17:05.2, 8. Will Haring (ACC) 17:08.6, 9. Aiden Nieman (Str) 17:15.2, 10. Cole Orloski (Park) 17:16.2, 27. Martin Green (PV) 17:54.9, 70. Jason Kays (PV) 19:45.5, 96. Jake Smith (PV) 21:05.3, 108. Ben Salvucci (PV) 21:43.0, 123. Isaac Klein (PV) 23:54.

Girls

Team Standings

1. Easton 43, 2. Emmaus 52, 3. Parkland 93, 4. Nazareth 123, 5. Liberty 138, 6. Allentown Central Catholic 138, 7. Stroudsburg 210, 8. Freedom 217, 9. Northampton 237, 10. Whitehall 276, 11. ES South 298, 12. ES North 343.

Individual Results

(Top 10 overall and the rest of the PV runners)

1. Madelyn McCartney (Emm) 18:52.5, 2. Katie Drabouski (Lib) 19:03.5, 2. Elizabeth McClarin (Lib) 19:36.5, 4. Payton Campbell (Emm) 19:51.1, 5. Faith Belote (Eas) 19:59.1, 6. Vivian Clark (Eas) 20:09.3, 7. Harshita Keerthi (Park) 20:17.9, 8. Nishi Patel (Park) 20:29.6, 9. Temiloluwa Adebayo (Eas) 20:41.2, 10. Isabella Scarlata (Emm) 20:41.6, 21. Danielle Boland (PV) 21:23.9, 53. Keeley Lawrence (PV) 23:26.0, 71. Sara Brubaker (PV) 25:02.7, 84. Shannon Price (PV) 26:11.3.