NTL CROSS-COUNTRY: CANTON LOOKS TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN 2025 (2025-08-21)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
The Canton boys’ cross-country team has been building the past few seasons and they hope that work will come to fruition in 2025.

“I’ve got a good group of guys back,” said Canton coach Casey Aylesworth. “We’re going to have a full guys team, and they have a good, positive attitude. They’re ready for this season to begin.”

They return state qualifier Lawrence Halbfoerster to lead the effort.

“I’m a little nervous because ‘can I live up to that expectation?’ remarked Lawrence. “But I’m also very excited to see what I can do.”

He didn’t get as many miles in this off season as he was planning but feels his strong track season will carry over.

“I did go to cross-country camp, and we did double threshold every day,” Lawrence said. “I felt really good in that.”

Aylesworth feels Lawrence has a good chance at getting into the state medals this November.

“You’ve got to keep it simple, you’ve got to keep them healthy, and just simply have the training plan set up,” he said. “Don’t get too aggressive and have too big of an appetite too early in the season.”

His brother Manuel Halbfoerster will be looking to take a step up for his sophomore season.

“I have high hopes,” he said. “I want to make it known I’m out there, but other than that I want to bring everybody else up on my team.”

He learned a lot during his freshman year.

“Consistency is key,” said Manuel. “One race you can do really good, and the next race you can do really bad. You’ve got to stay at it with practice and all that kind of stuff, and keep a good diet.”

He also enjoys running with his brother.

“I live with him so he’s always on me like, ‘he, we could be doing this better,’” said Manuel. “It’s a lot of fun - he’s always encouraging, and he tries to bring everybody else up.”

Canton was second at the District IV, Class A Championships a year ago, and winners NEB lost a lot of their top five to graduation.

“It’s in the back of our minds,” said Aylesworth. “It’s not like other sports where we can play defense against Northeast running, so we have to take care of ourselves. We’ve got to be healthy, we’ve got to peak at the right time, and, if the cards are in play, then we have a chance to maybe scare them a little bit. That would be awesome - they’ve been king of the hill for a very long time.”

ROSTER
BOYS
Lawrence Halbfoerster
Manuel Halbfoerster
Landon Lake
Sawyer Vroman
Nicholas Weaver
Elton Weingartner

SCHEDULE
Sep. 2 at Wyalusing w/NPM, 4 p.m.
Sep. 9 at Sayre w/CV, 4 p.m.
Sep. 16 at Sullivan County w/Wellsboro, 4 p.m.
Sep. 23 vs NEB, 4 p.m.
Sep. 30 at Towanda w/Athens, Troy, 4 p.m.
Oct. 11 at NTL Championships
Oct. 23 at District IV Championships

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