Cedar Crest senior pulls away late, wins in 16:43

Raise your hand if you had Cedar Crest’s Jon Jackson in your Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ cross country individual championship office pool.

The Falcons senior, who was not ranked among the league’s top runner at the end of the regular season, had plenty left in the tank Tuesday afternoon, when he sprinted to the league individual title at Ephrata Middle School in 16:43.

He called it the biggest win of his career – in this just his second season as a varsity cross country runner for Cedar Crest.

Jackson pulled away from a tight pack down the stretch and sprinted to the tape ahead of McCaskey’s Quichon Walker, who took the silver, and Cedar Crest teammate Alex Galli, who finished third.

Hempfield’s Matthew Groff, the top-ranked boys’ runner during the regular season, finished fourth and Garden Spot’s Jesse Mancuso was fifth.

Perfect conditions for the race – sunny with a slight breeze. There were some mud puddles in the straightaway area to the left of the finish line, but it didn’t seem to bother any of the runners, especially Jackson, who was tickled to have won it.

The District 3 championships are set for next Wednesday at the former Park View Golf Course next to the Giant Center in Hershey.