PINE GROVE — It’s time for times to start dropping and for teams to pack tighter.
Jim Thorpe’s boys and Tamaqua’s girls accomplished both Saturday morning at Pine Grove’s annual Cardinal Clash. As a result, the Olympians and Blue Raiders left Cardinal Stadium with the largest collections of individual medals and the tallest team trophies.
With decisive victories, Johnathan Condly and Jim Thorpe repeated as champions on the boys’ side.
Jim Thorpe’s Kayley Kovac won the girls’ race in 21:36, but Tamaqua’s superior grouping lifted the Blue Raiders to the team title.
Tamaqua’s Derian Stianche (8:17) and Pine Grove’s Megan Wessner (9:05) won the junior high races.
In the four divisions, 233 runners competed.
Condly, Jim Thorpe’s senior ace, got pushed at the start by Northern Lebanon’s Tyler McFeaters and pushed himself down the stretch to win in 16:56 on the 3-mile course. Condly also chopped 33 seconds off the 17:29 he ran to win in 2013.
Condly got plenty of support from his teammates. Jake Saxon (17:30) finished fourth and Dylan Bucior (17:51) took fifth. Ben Saxon (18:06) used a strong final kick to move up to eighth. So the Olympians had four runners in the top eight and seven among the top 19.
“I think we’re doing pretty good, and once the big meets at the end of the season come around, we’ll be ready,’’ Condly said.
While Jim Thorpe’s boys are an experienced bunch, Kovac and the Tamaqua girls are just starting their cross country journeys.
A freshman, Kovac has had some strong performances in dual meets and said she was really excited to run in her final invitational of the regular season. She beat runner-up Kailee Carroll (21:51) of Tamaqua by 15 seconds.
“I’ve never run (cross country) before because I’m a basketball player, and our junior high (season) is in the fall,’’ Kovac said. “So it was a brand new experience coming into the season.
“I feel a lot better knowing how to run certain parts of the course — when to accelerate and when to slow down,’’ she added. “Today was probably the best I’ve felt running.’’
Joining Carroll up front for Tamaqua was Nicole Wasserleben (fourth in 22:14), Chelsea Frantz (eighth in 23:01) and Janette Kabana (ninth in 23:10). The Blue Raiders placed five runners in the top 12 and seven among the top 18.
“They’re not running as individuals anymore,’’ Tamaqua coach Tom Kanger said of his girls. “They’re packing together. They’re running faster because we’re doing it.’’
Cardinal Clash
Saturday at Pine Grove
Varsity: 3.0 miles
Junior high: 1.4 miles
KEY: Blue Mountain (BM), Hamburg (H), Jim Thorpe (JT), Lebanon (L), Minersville (M), Northern Lebanon (NL), Panther Valley (PV), Pine Grove (PG), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Shenandoah Valley (SV), Tamaqua (Tam), Tulpehocken (Tul), Weatherly (W)
VARSITY GIRLS (58 finishers)
Team scores: 1. Tamaqua 35, 2. Minersville 104, 3. Jim Thorpe 106, 4. Pine Grove 136, 5. Schuylkill Haven 203
Individual results: 1. Kovac (JT) 21:36, 2. Carroll (Tam) 21:51, 3. Nalesnik (PV) 22:06, 4. Wasserleben (Tam) 22:14, 5. Foster (L) 22:19, 6. Teaschenko (SV) 22:25, 7. Loyd (JT) 22:34, 8. Frantz (Tam) 23:01, 9. Kabana (Tam) 23:10, 10. Raczka (M) 23:19, 11. Kauffman (H) 23:26, 12. Kostecky (Tam) 23:35, 13. Madison (PG) 23:42, 14. Patel (NL) 23:44, 15. Seip (PG) 23:45, 16. Oshman (M) 23:58, 17. LaBar (Tam) 24:03, 18. Beck (Tam) 24:08, 19. Luna (SV) 24:11, 20. Bross (Tul) 24:14
VARSITY BOYS (84 finishers)
Team scores: 1. Jim Thorpe 34, 2. Tulpehocken 67, 3. Lebanon 107, 4. Northern Lebanon 117, 5. Minersville 127, 6. Hamburg 155, 7. Tamaqua 176, 8. Shenandoah Valley 250
Individual results: 1. Condly (JT) 16:56, 2. McFeaters (NL) 17:17, 3. Klick (L) 17:27, 4. J. Saxon (JT) 17:30, 5. Bucior (JT) 17:51, 6. Klopp (Tul) 17:58, 7. Brennan (SH) 18:05, 8. B. Saxon (JT) 18:06, 9. Arnold-Paine (L) 18:07, 10. Cox (Tul) 18:17, 11. Hare (Tul) 18:35, 12. Brownstein (L) 18:39, 13. Conrad (H) 18:45, 14. DiBiase (M) 18:46, 15. Schlater (Tul) 18:50, 16. Valdez (JT) 19:00, 17. Fields (JT) 19:01, 18. Adams (NL) 19:03, 19. Gentile (JT) 19:06, 20. Werni (L) 19:07
JUNIOR HIGH GIRLS (27 finishers)
Individual results: 1. Wessner (PG) 9:05, 2. Maue (Tam) 9:11, 3. Cory (M) 9:23, 4. Demalis (SV) 9:55, 5. Najunas (SV) 9:56, 6. Dukmen (BM) 10:22, 7. Dumond (Tam) 10:23, 8. Gerber (Tam) 10:24, 9. Brennan (SH) 10:29, 10. Erbe (Tam) 10:41
JUNIOR HIGH BOYS (64 finishers)
Individual results: 1. Stianche (Tam) 8:17, 2. Albitz (BM) 8:18, 3. Berger (NL) 8:23, 4. Halye (SH) 8:35, 5. Conway (BM) 8:47, 6. Anderson (PG) 8:53, 7. Boyer (Tul) 8:55, 8. Stasulli (SV) 8:55, 9. Beidler (NL) 8:56, 10. Purcell (M) 8:56
Marian’s Capparell
places 3rd at NEPA
BLOOMSBURG — Marian freshman Tina Capparell ran a 19:45 to finish third in a field of 140 at the NEPA Invitational at Bloomsburg University.
North Schuylkill’s Jess Yeneskie placed 17th in 21:30.
On the boys’ side, North Schuylkill’s Chris McCormick finished 31st in 18:08. Marian’s top boy was Aaron Srinivasan, who ran 18:59 to finish 75th in a field of 189.