CENTER VALLEY - Palmerton's Zack Svetik and Northern Lehigh's Gavin Kemery shared a few words and some time together following the conclusion of Tuesday's Colonial League Cross Country Championships. There were congratulations offered to one another, perhaps a brief discussion of the race that just played out.

But for those two Times News area athletes, only one runner could stand alone as champion. Even if it only came down to a few seconds.Svetik led the Colonial League boys in a time of 17:57.58 to finish in first place in a field of 111 participants at DeSales University. Kemery finished right behind Svetik in second place in a time of 18:02.54 in their final race before districts next Wednesday.When it gets to this point in one's career, he or she knows their final race is just around the corner. That thought particularly crept into Svetik's head near the end of Wednesday's course. That might have been the motivation he needed most."I would say probably at the 2-mile mark I was thinking, 'It's too late in my career to give up. I have to push through any pain that I have because I worked so hard to get to this point,'" Svetik said."It's the toughest race I ever ran in my life. When you come down to one of the last races of your life, you just give it everything you have."Svetik certainly gave it his all, holding off a furious charge in the final stretch that included third-place finisher John Koons of Notre Dame-Green Pond.Kemery took a similar approach at DeSales to one he has used throughout the regular season. He's most comfortable when strategically picking off runners at key points in the race."I usually like being more of a defensive runner," Kemery said. "Let other people make the moves, and towards the end save up and then really gun it. I like picking them off one-by-one."When that final stretch came around, he had enough of a kick to leap everyone but one runner."Towards the end, maybe like the last 200 or 300, that's when I really started to kick in," Kemery said. "I took off maybe like six guys until I was catching up to Zach, but I fell short."On the girls' side, Saucon Valley's Kiele Riefenstahl wasn't tested much as the final stretch came into sight. Riefenstahl led a charge of 77 girls over 27 seconds faster than the next finisher.But coming in second place was a familiar face in Northwestern's Molly Tarvin (20:13.60), followed by Tiger teammate Madeline Consuelos in third (20:18.40). An even more recognizable sight was Northwestern hoisting the team trophy once again."That's a honor…to keep the streak going for the people we hear about every day," Tarvin said. "We hear about Lindsay Keer and Haley Yost, and they are our idols. It's so nice to take up their place and say here we are again."Wednesday's meet was just the second time that Tarvin, a sophomore, competed against Riefenstahl. The only other time was in the Moravian Invitational earlier in the year."All of the league meets that we competed against her, she had a soccer game," Tarvin said. "This is actually the first time running against her officially other than Moravian. She gives me someone to chase. I know [Palisades'] Sophie Doman is there, too."MAKE IT FIVE STRAIGHT ... Wednesday's team victory for the Northwestern girls was its fifth straight league championship title.SHE'S JUST A FRESHMAN? ... The Tigers' Consuelos made the most of her first postseason cross country meet by finishing in third place.LEAPING TO THE FRONT ... Kemery and Svetik, who placed sixth and eighth in last year's Colonial League Meet, respectively, made great strides in their senior seasons. Tarvin improved from her ninth-place finish as a freshman to earn a silver medal Tuesday.GIRLSTEAM1. Northwestern (NW) 36, 2. Wilson (Wil) 74, 3. Saucon Valley (SV) 84, 4. Southern Lehigh (SL) 107, 5. Bangor (B) 131, 6. Notre Dame-Green Pond (NDGP) 131, 7. Palisades (Pal) 204, 8. Moravian Academy (MA) 206, 9. Northern Lehigh (NL) 214, 10. Catasauqua (Cat) 299INDIVIDUALTop five plus locals1. Kiele Riefenstahl (SV) 19:46.20,L 2. Molly Tarvin (NW), 3. Madeline Consuelos (NW), 4. Sydney Brannon (Wil), 5. Abby Rustay (Wil), 8. Abigail Supplee (NW), 9. Abigail Smith (NW), 14. Hannah Herzon (NW), 15. Brooke Devers (NW), 17. Angela Alden (NW), 21. Rachel Mikols (NW), 22. Katie Guelcher (NL).BOYSTEAMS1. Notre Dame-Green Pond (NDGP) 61, 2. Southern Lehigh (SL) 64, 3. Saucon Valley (SV) 129, 4. Northwestern (NW) 133, 5. Wilson (Wil) 133, 6. Palmerton (Palm) 165, 7. Bangor (B) 167, 8. Northern Lehigh (NL) 170, 9. Moravian Academy (MA) 233, 10. Palisades (Pal) 269, 11. Pen Argyl (PA) 297, 12. Salisbury (S) 299, 13. Catasauqua (Cat) 387.INDIVIDUALTop five plus locals1. Zach Svetik (Palm) 17:57.58, 2. Gavin Kemery (NL), 3. John Koons (NDGP), 4. Raahi Klar-Chaudhari (SL), 5. Ethan Bernsteain (SV), 15. TJ Dooley (NL), 17. Robert Leiser (NW), 18. Phillip Castrine (NW), 19. Jake Martinez (Palm), 25. Anthony Venerra (NW), 31. Matt Grim (NW), 33. Carter Waibel (Palm), 37. Gage Christ (NL).