Bonner-Prendergast stays cool, defends District 12 cross country title

PHILADELPHIA — Ava Ezzie admitted to being “really nervous” before she and her Bonner-Prendergast teammates went out and successfully defended their District 12 Class 2A girls cross country team title Thursday afternoon at Belmont Plateau.

She hid it well. The sophomore was the picture of calm as she waited to warm up before the championship race.

“I was confident because of what we did win last week,” Ezzie said.

Five days earlier, the Pandas edged Lansdale Catholic by 15 points on the very same course to win their first Catholic League title. That was enough to keep Bonner-Prendie at ease, even though the Pandas knew they had a huge target on their backs.

“There’s always pressure because teams always want to beat the reigning champs,” junior Allison O’Brien said. “We knew we just had to come together as a team.”

That group effort proved to be successful as the Pandas topped the Crusaders by an even wider margin this time, 59-81, to take home the team title and qualify for next week’s PIAA championships as a team.

Bonner-Prendie’s top five runners all earned medals. O’Brien led the way. She was fifth overall (22:31.1), one spot ahead of Ezzie (22:39.2). Senior CeCe Perkins took ninth (22:56.5). Junior Bridget Jacobson was 15th (23:30.3) and sophomore Misa Love was 24th (25:10.4).

O’Brien ran more than a second faster than she did at the Catholic League championships. Ezzie chopped seven seconds off her time from a week earlier.

“We definitely wanted to keep it going,” Jacobson said. “It was really hard, especially on the major hills, but we had to push each other up to get our places and our points right to take this title again. We all just helped each other, pushed each other and motivated each other and that really kept us going because we all knew we had to do it for each other.”

The Pandas used basically the same strategy as they did in the Catholic League championships, with one minor alteration, according to coach Kevin Kee.

“(Last) Saturday, my fifth and sixth runners (Love and Ryan Smith) went out a little too fast,” Kee said. “I told them to slow it down and close a little bit more within a half mile into the woods so they were able to pass people rather than getting passed.”

Although Smith did not factor into the scoring, she did whittle nearly 52 seconds off of her time from the Catholic League championships.

“We just went out and gave it our all,” Perkins said. “We knew that’s what we had to do to get the win.”

Cardinal O’Hara sophomore Sarah Lorenz earned her second straight trip to the PIAA championships with a third-place finish in the Class 2A race. She was the top Delco runner with a time of 22:13.0 to finish behind overall winner Isabella Greco of Lansdale Catholic (20:25.4) and Erica Panei of the Philadelphia School for the Creative and Performing Arts (20:41.8).

“It’s really tough,” Lorenz said. “The hills make your legs burn every time. I think this is one of the hardest courses I’ve ever ran. But it means a lot (to get back to the state meet). I’m really excited. Last year, I didn’t do as well as I wanted so this year I’m hoping to do a lot better.”

Lorenz won’t be the only Lion in Hershey, even though O’Hara just missed qualifying as a team by three points to Masterman. Teammates Joanie Quinn and Erin Bray also earned a trip to Hershey. Quinn, a sophomore, placed 13th (23:34.0) and Bray was 20th (24:44.3).

In boys Class 2A, Archbishop Carroll’s Michale Glavin and Cardinal O’Hara’s Noah Sharretts booked trips to Hershey. Glavin was third overall in 17:25.9. Sharretts was 14th in 18:51.00. Gary Martin of Archbishop Wood breezed to the individual title by nearly a minute over Lansdale Catholic’s Anthony Gargani. The Vikings and the Crusaders both qualified as a team.

Constance Wojton and Juliana Burke finished 1-2, respectively, to lead Conwell-Egan to the Class A girls title. Sabreeya Travis was the overall winner as Central claimed the girls 3A crown.

Ike Willis finished first to lead Masterman to the boys Class A title. Wil Rau and Drew Brill took the top two spots as La Salle breezed to the boys 3A championship.