Chambersburg Trojan cross country season ends with D-III title
NEWVILLE, Pa. — Chambersburg’s Trojan boys鈥� cross-country team won the title at the District 3 Cross Country Championships at Big Spring High School.
The Trojans rode a great run by No. 5 Julian Clark to a district Class 3A title鈥攊ts first since 2011, edging Manheim Township 114-117.
“I was being interviewed by PAMileSplit and the guy seemed shocked when I told him I thought we could win it,鈥� Ambrosio said, 鈥淢anheim Township is ranked No. 3 in the state and Hershey is No. 7 and we were No. 15. But we’d lost to Hershey twice by a point (in invitationals) and they lost to Township by a point, so I thought we had a chance.”
For the Trojan boys, Ari Snyder ran a time of 16:00.9 over the 5,000-meter course to take fourth place overall. That was an expected finish for Snyder.
Liam Kirkpatrick had perhaps his best day of the season, taking 9th place in 16:21.1 and Owen Shrader was 16th in 16:29.5. Aiden Alleman placed 45th (17:12.2) and Clark was 49th in 17:15.9.
Ambrosio said, “Kirkpatrick and Shrader had good days 鈥� Kirkpatrick was 16th at Mid Penns and Shrader was 14th. Alleman did OK 鈥� he really hung in there in the second half of the race.
“After those four, we were 7 points behind Manheim Township. But Clark finished 10 places ahead of their No. 5 guy, so that made up the difference.”
The last time Chambersburg qualified for states as a team was also 2011.
“I was absolutely thrilled to be going to states,” Ambrosio said. “And then having three guys medal and winning the team title was even better.鈥�
The Lady Trojans also had a good day, taking second place behind Manheim Township.
But neither team was victorious in the PIAA Championship.
The Trojans competed in both the 3A boys and girls races 鈥� the girls took 11th and the boys were 12th. The girls team did not have a finisher in the top 75, but had a gap of only 1:27 between its first and fifth runners that helped the team.
“The time gap was pretty small,” Trojan coach Chris Monheim said. “I was hoping for a top 10, but we got close. It was not our best day of the year, but still pretty good.”
The placers for Chambersburg included Madelyn Koons (80th, 20:24), Lexi Boyd (81, 20:26), Samantha Faust (119th, 20:57), Brook Boone (151st, 21:21) and Dana Rosenberry (174th, 21:51). Natalie Quinn (175th, 21:51) and Raegan Hepner (190th, 20:22) also competed.
Trojan boys scored 303 points, while winner Council Rock North had 134. Manheim Township and Hershey also were ahead of the Trojans.
Chambersburg’s five runners scoring points included Ari Snyder (27th, 16:39), Liam Kirkpatrick (67th, 17:05), Aiden Alleman (133rd, 17:39), Kaden Rife (155th, 17:52) and Owen Shrader (160th, 17:56), while Julian Clark (172nd, 18:08) and Sam Kinton (200th, 18:23) also competed. “The boys felt they were a little off; a little flat,” Trojan coach John Ambrosio said. “The course was fast and we had a tough time catching anybody.鈥�
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.