BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports Report
BLOOMSBURG — Canton’s Lawrence Halbfoerster will be heading back to states, and this time he’ll be taking a teammate with him.
Halbfoerster (16:36.3) took home silver at the District IV, Class A Boys’ Cross-country Championships, while Landon Lake (18:15.8) finished sixth to get the final qualifying spot.
“I’m good,” Halbfoerster said about taking second. “The wind was whipping so that definitely affected it, but I felt strong.”
Northwest’s Michael Fritz (16:06.1) went out fast and never looked back, leading Halbfoerster by as much as 40 seconds during the race, but the Canton senior cut it to a 30 second gap by the end.
“It was difficult because I was on my own for most of the race,” Halbfoerster said. “My goal coming into the race was really just keep my eyes on him, and stay as close as I could. That last mile he kind of took off, and I was staying at my pace, and I lost sight of him.”
Halbfoerster will be looking for that elusive state medal next Saturday in Hershey.
“It’s super beneficial to me that I get to run with someone that well equipped and prepared for the state level,” he said
Lake’s race was vastly more different. He spent much of the time on the bubble to qualify or not, falling back to seventh at the mid-point of the race but surged enough down the stretch to take the final spot.
“I was kind of in shock,” Lake said about making it to states. “I wasn’t expecting to make it today, honestly. It’s been a dream to go since ninth grade. I’ve been trying to fight for it ever since then, so I just knew that I really had to push it this race, even with this weather.”
He ran with Manuel Halbfoerster (18:47.4), who finished 13th, most of the way.
The two were side by side with less than a thousand meters to go.
“It was making me a little nervous, just because it was between whether me or him were going,” Lake said. “I was really hoping one of us would go, and when halfway through the race a Montgomery and a Sullivan kid got ahead of me, that’s where I was kind of nervous that one of us wouldn’t make it.”
Manuel Halbfoerster fell off down the stretch while Lake soldiered on through a stiff headwind for 600 meters before making the turn to the finish.
“I wanted to get to the finish line,” he said. “I was getting really cold, and I could hear my dad screaming, getting me across the finish line.”
Canton was third as a team with 56 places as Nick Weaver (21:16.3) took 30th, and Chase Petrowski (21:57.9) was 35th.
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING
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