On the boys’ side Michael Knefley made the cut, while for the girls Jaci Fairchild and Laila Garverick both qualified.

Knefley (16:42.5) took fifth overall as he was the highest NTL finisher in the Class AA boys’ race.

“It was fun,” Knefley said about the race. “I kind of knew who my competition was, and I tried to stay near him.”

He was seventh early, and got as high as fourth, but ultimately hung out in fifth most of the race.

“I really wanted to fight for third,” he said. “I saw (Henry) Whitney from Wellsboro and I started chasing him down. I figured I could calm down but I figured I should have kept pushing.”

Knefley will be hoping to break into the Top 25 at states next week.

“I just want to keep my body healthy,” he said.

NPM (252) was 10th overall with Braden VanLoon (18:59.8) in 56th, Mason Forer (19:04.8) taking 59th, Peter Bishop (19:44.3) in 77th, and Isaiah VanLoon (19:54.8) finishing in 83rd.

For the girls Garverick (20:34.1) and Fairchild (20:35.3) were 15th and 16th overall, taking the final two state qualifying spots.

“I was a little worried it wasn’t going to happen,” Fairchild said about going back to states. “I knew that going off of last year a lot of girls get out really fast, so I knew that I really needed to keep my steady mile, my first mile, and just go from there. That’s really what helped me.”

The freshman Garverick will be headed to Hershey for the first time.

“It feels really god,” she said. “I am very grateful for this opportunity.”

The duo was 30th and 31st early on the race but worked together to move.

They were 17th and 18th with 1,000 meters to go so they did what they needed to do to move up those two spots.

“She’s been pushing me this whole time, and just being so close to her helps me, and lets me know that I can go much harder and push myself,” Garverick said about Fairchild. “We both knew that we both wanted it, and so we just keep pushing ourselves. We would just stay with each other the whole time, and hoped that we would both make it.”

It’s also helped Fairchild to have a running partner.

“It’s very exciting because I’ve never had someone so close with me on my team,” she said.

The strategy has worked so far so don’t expect things to change next weekend.

“We’re definitely going to focus on working together to just continue running, and picking off people like that,” remarked Fairchild.

The Tigers finished fifth as a team with 193 places.

Nora Furry (24:02.6) came in 54th, Kara Barrett (24:06.4) was 56th, and Moira Wheeler (24:34.0) took 63rd.