Hughesville Boys won the PIAA Class A Championship in Cross Country on Saturday, November 6th, in Hershey. The Spartans were able to place two runners in the top 20 finishers, with Morgan Gavitt taking 7th-place with a time of 17:05.70 and Hunter Foust taking 18th-place in 17:28.90. Other Spartans to place were: Logan Long, who took 32nd-place in 17:59.70, Kenny Draper in 64th-place in 18:21.30, and Shea McCusker, who finished in 77th-place with a time of 18:28.40. 2021 team accolades also include 3rd-place at the PHAC Championships at Shikellamy, 2nd-place at the NEPA invitational, and 1st-place at the Back Mountain Invitational at Misericordia University.

Pre-seeded number 1 this year, the team won the Class A title with 97 points by beating out a large field of teams, including second-place finisher Winchester Thurson who scored 140 points, and third-place finisher Riverview that scored 145 points, respectively. Scoring in high school cross country is similar to golf, where the lowest score wins.

This is the first state team title for Hughesville. This win was made all the more impressive because cross country is classified as a club sport at Hughesville and all of the coaches are volunteers. According to East Lycoming School District Athletic Director Ken Tallman, the cross country team will be losing four seniors this year but maintains that there is a lot of talent coming up.

Hughesville’s only loss this year was to 3x Class AA champs Lewisburg. According to head coach Josh Gavitt, the Hughesville High School Cross Country Club was brought back to life in 2011 by Coach Pat Merrifield. “At the time, Pat would haul a small handful of high school runners around in her black suburban, and you would see them on back roads running hills. Pat always described the hills as speed-work in disguise. After her children graduated, she passed the torch in 2015 to myself and Coach Josh Bahr,” said Gavitt.

Within a year, the volunteer coaching staff expanded to include Martha Davis, Patrice Fortin, and William Martens. In recent years it grew once again with the addition of Mark Miller and Griffin Molino. “All of the coaching staff has a background in running,” said Coach Gavitt. “Whether it be occasional 5k races or ultramarathons. Coach Fortin and Coach Molino have decorated high school running careers, and Coach Molino was a two-time state champion for South Williamsport. In 2015 our club only consisted of about 12 runners but has quickly grown. In both 2020 and 2021, the number of runners in the club was around 60 kids. We have junior high girls, junior high boys, varsity girls, and varsity boys, teams.”

Coach Gavitt went on to say that the Hughesville Cross Country athletes and coaches make it a point to make the club as inclusive as possible, and anyone that is able and willing is invited to run. “Cross country is a beautiful sport in that all of our kids compete. No one sits on the bench. We start our seasons with fun runs beginning in late June. When possible, we run the kids on trails or rural country roads, and we even throw in a game of ultimate frisbee to break things up and keep it fun.”

Currently, the club is not sanctioned by the East Lycoming School District, which basically means the school does not finance the club or recognize cross country as an official school sport. According to Coach Gavitt, the school district has been very supportive, however. Currently, the school provides the club with two buses and has purchased jerseys for the athletes. The club is responsible for paying its own way to invitationals, and all coaching staff are volunteers. The athletes organize various fundraisers to have money when needed. Though Hughesville High School Cross Country is classified as a club, it still competes in the PHAC league, and hosts cross country meets during the regular season. In addition, they compete under the PIAA umbrella. According to Coach Gavitt, the only drawback with competing as a club is that the team points do not count during the regular season. This means that even though the current varsity boys’ team has won the league championship in single-A competition more than once, it is unable to accept the plaque.

In 2020 the varsity boys team consisted of Hunter Foust (Jr), Morgan Gavitt (Jr), Kenneth Draper (Jr), Logan Long (Jr), Cole Fortin (So), Camden Fetterman (So), and Caiden Puderbach (So). This team was able to win the district 4 class A championship and finished fourth at states. The team returned in 2021 with the addition of Shea McCusker (Fr), Wyatt Gavitt (Fr), Quinn Draper (Fr), and defended the district title. Moving on to state competition, they were able to remain focused and easily outpaced the second-place team of Winchester Thurston to claim the title.

The XC program consists of junior high boys, junior high girls, varsity boys, and varsity boys drawing around 60 kids, thus necessitating the need to have a large coaching staff. The volunteer coaches include the following individuals: Josh Gavitt, Bill Martens, Griffin Molino, Patrice Fortin, Martha Davis, Mark Miller, and Josh Bahr.

“Cross Country is one of the most demanding sports out there, and these hard boys rose to the challenge,” said Gavitt. “The seniors on this team set out to win this championship when they were freshmen. Everywhere they go, they enjoy making friends with other teams. This year, they insisted on getting a team photo with their friends and class AA champions, Lewisburg. Last year, during the height of COVID restrictions, they were asked by other coaches not to mingle with other teams sharing the same hotel in Hershey. From a coaching standpoint (and the other coaches will agree), the one thing we love is taking these kids out for trail runs and just enjoying nature. It seems to take away the monotony of running and keeps it fun. It’s my understanding that this is the first team state championship in Hughesville High School history. It’s just amazing to see the community support and Spartan pride!”

On the Cover: Back row left to right: Coach Joshua Gavitt, Hunter Foust, Morgan Gavitt, Logan Long, Kenneth Draper, Shea McCusker, Coach Griffin Molino. Front row left to right: Wyatt Gavitt, Cole Fortin, Camden Fetterman, Quinn Draper.