Elk Lake’s bittersweet cross country finish

Elk Lake’s boys’ cross country team took second place overall in the team standings at the District II Class AA cross country championships held in Dimock on Wednesday.

Warrior sophomore Luke Jones topped the field of Class AA male runners taking first at 16:45.

However, Jones had a tough time savoring his victory, as his thoughts were focused on the well-being of teammate Mike Bedell.

For most of the race on Wednesday, Jones and Bedell ran side-by-side at the front of the field.

But in the final half mile, Bedell began to fade. Then, about 200 yards from the finish line, the

senior collapsed.

Not only did that allow Jones to go on and win the race, but enabled Holy Redeemer to swipe to team title away from the Warriors.

Bedell spent Wednesday night in the hospital and was released Thursday. He underwent a stress test Friday and has since been cleared to compete in the PIAA Championship as part of Elk Lake’s team.

“They didn’t find anything but they did just want someone who’s used to dealing with athletes to look at the results,” Squier said. “They just want to look at all the pieces of the puzzle. If they say he’s OK, then he’ll be cleared to go.”

Squier said that Bedell ran on Sunday and on Monday at about 80 percent, waiting to hear the final word on his tests.

“He ran the past two days, and he looked good,” Squier said. “The doctors haven’t found any physical reason this could have happened, but are taking one last look at the data before clearing him 100 percent.”

On Wednesday, Jones too, noticed Bedell beginning to fade. But as Jones continued on and cross the finish line, he expected his teammate to follow shortly behind him.

“At the top of the hill, he started falling back a little bit,” Jones said. “I know something was up with him, so I knew I had to get going to help the team out.

“When I crossed the finish line, I thought he was right behind me. When I turned around and didn’t see him, I got worried. It was a big shocker.”

Following Jones instead of Bedell in the standings, was Sean Carney in fifth place at 17:27, with teammate Jeff Horvath coming in at 10th in 17:49.

The boys’ were bested by Holy Redeemer in the team standings with the Warrior boys taking second at 73 points and the Royals topping at 52 points.

Elk Lake’s team qualified for the PIAA Class AA state championship taking place in Hershey at the Parkview Cross Country Course on Saturday, Nov. 6.

Blue Ridge’s Jake Hinkley will head to states after taking eighth at 17:25, as will Montrose’s Ryan Martin, who took 16th at 18:06.

Montrose’s Meteors took eighth with 242 points behind Blue Ridge in seventh with 222.

Bryce Carlton finished in 35th behind Martin with a time of 19:07, followed by Ben Ely in 57th at 19:49.

In the team standings, Blue Ridge’s boys took seventh as Ethan Mansfield finished behind Hinkley in 25th at 18:36 followed by Chris Carlsen took 32nd at 19:00.

Mountain View’s boys’ team was led by Ridge Bernosky, who took 41st at 19:20, followed by Anthony Miller in 88th at 21:00 and Michael Purdy in 98th at 21:54.

The Eagle boys took 17th overall in the team standings at 456, ahead of MMI Prep with 485 and behind Meyers with 435.

Susquehanna’s Tim Flanagan entered the race on Wednesday taking 142nd overall at 26:26, followed by teammate Zach Stanford in 144th at 27:08.

Forest City entered a few runners as Matt Terry topped for the Foresters at 33^rd in 18:59.

AA Boys’ Team Standings: 1-Holy Redeemer (HR) 52; 2-Elk Lake (EL) 73; 3-Holy Cross (HC) 86; 4-Mid Valley (MV) 145; 5-Lackawanna Trail (LT) 181; 6-Dunmore 205; 7-Blue Ridge (BR) 222; 8-Montrose (MA) 242; 9-Lake-Lehman (LL) 248; 10-Hanover (HA) 272; 11-Lakeland (LA) 278; 12-Northwest (NW) 316; 13-Wyoming Seminary (WS) 364; 14-Wyoming Area (WA)_ 370; 15-Riverside (RI) 418; 16-Meyers (ME) 435; 17-Mountain View (MV) 456; 18-MMI Prep (MM) 485; 19-Greater Nanticoke (NA) 492; 20-Western Wayne (WW) 580.

BOYS’ AA RACE 

1-Luke Jones (EL), 16:45

2-AJ Limongelli (HR), 17:02

3-Rico Galassi (HC), 17:23

4-Austin Burling (DUN), 17:25

5-Sean Carney (EL), 17:27

6-Mitchel Ford (HR), 17:30

7-Brandon Murray (DUN), 17:34

8-Jacob Hinkley (BR), 17:35

9-Timmy Lambert (HR), 17:41

10-Jeff Horvath (EL), 17:49

15-Justin Clarke (LT), 18:03

16-Ryan Martin (MA), 18:06

24-Will Bennett (EL), 18:29

25-Ethan Mansfield (BR), 18:36

33-Matt Terry (FC), 18:59

32-Chris Carlsen (BR), 19:00

33-Seth Carney (EL), 19:03

34-Bryan Grosvenor (EL), 19:05

35-Bryce Carlton (MA), 19:07

41-Ridge Bernosky (MV), 19:20

57-Ben Ely (MA), 19:49

66-Chris Arnold (MA), 20:15

67-George Ward (BR), 20:17

68-Chris Hollenbeck (MA), 20:20

69-Thomas Lewis (MA), 20:20

82-Will Ferrill (MA), 20:47

88-Anthony Miller (MV), 21:00

90-Patrick Cramer (BR), 21:01

98-Michael Purdy (MV), 21:54

113-Joe Marshalik (MV), 22:56

114-Bobby Noone (FC), 22:37

116-Liam Maloney (MV), 23:07

123-Owen Flannery (MV), 23:59

124-Austin Chudlinski (MV), 24:08

134-Zack Reynolds (FC), 24:12

138-Mike Palmer (FC), 25:36

142-Tim Flanagan (SC), 26:26

144-Zach Stanford (SC), 27:08

Times-Shamrock writer Scott Walsh also contributed to this report.