NEWVILLE — Last year NEB's Jackson Martin was five spots out of the medals at the state championships. On Saturday he made sure he'd get on the podium, taking 11th at the PIAA, Class A Boys Championships.

Martin ran 16:20 to finish just outside the top 10.

"I went out and got in the right spot," Martin said. "I just praise God for giving me the strength."

Martin was 23rd at the mile then shot up to 15th by the halfway point of the race. He got to 11th with 1,000 meters left, then nearly got the two guys in front of him with a strong kick at the end.

"My plan was to go out as good as I could and just to not gas myself but not too slow," said Martin. "Picking people off is always better than getting passed. It's just really good for the mentality of you're passing people, and just getting further up into higher places. I really wanted the guy in front of me, I was trying to but just couldn't quite get him."

He'll have one more year to try to get into the top 10, or even higher, but for now, he's going to enjoy this one.

"It feels amazing," he said. "Just all the work in the summer you can see here that's it really paying off."

As a team NEB took fourth with 140 places.

Levi Dewing (17:17) took 42nd, Xavier Lockwood (17:40) was 67th, Josiah Russell (18:10) came in 105th, and Keagan Netherton (18:13) was 109th to round out the scorers.

Jesse Dewing (19:25) took 198th, and Ian Bacon (19:59) finished 221st.

In the Class A girls race NEB was 11th with 291 points.

For the second race in a row NEB needed won the spot on a tie-breaker as their sixth runner beat Covenant Christian's sixth runner.

Sophie Bennett (20:45) was 34th to lead the Panthers, while freshman Julia Laudermilch (20:50) took 39th.

Charlotte Martin (22:02) was 114th, Ruth Laudermilch (22:38) came in 143rd, and Bella Russell (25:52) was 222nd to round out their top five.

Beth Bartlett (27:17) was 235th to win them the tie-breaker, while Riley Lamson (27:58) came in 236th.

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