Font ResizeMercersburg teams place 5th
Saturday, at Hightstown (N.J.)
Mid-Atlantic Prep League championships
Mercersburg Academy's cross country teams placed fifth overall at the MAPL championships ... Jan Smilek had his best race of the year, finishing 14th in 17:45 in the boys race ... Stefan Kempe also had a personal record of 18:32 ... Newell Woodworth (18:39), Max Furigay (19:02), Kevin Duda (19:16) and Jim Crevier (20:28) all had their best races of their careers ... The final Mercersburg varsity runner was Alex Jackson, who finished in a season-best 20:29 ... Mercersburg coach Matthew Geeza said, "I am pleased with the way the boys raced. The course at Peddie is a fast course, and we typically see several lifetime PRs, and today was no exception. This is the meet we train to have our peak performances of the season, so it is great to see that all of the hard work the boys put in has paid dividends." ... The girls' team also placed fifth but had a number of personal bests ... The top runner for the Blue Storm was Brittany Burg, who finished in 21:15 ... Francesca Vecchiarelli (22:13) and Maddie Nelson (22:22) also had lifetime bests ... Mercersburg coach Betsy Cunningham said, "The team was focused on improve their season and lifetime PRs, and they did a great job."
Next meet: Saturday, at the PAISSA Championships in Philadelphia, 2:15.
