Bierly, Culver lead Penns Valley at Mountain League Championships

CLEARFIELD — Penns Valley distance runner Rebecca Bierly has her eyes set on qualifying for the PIAA meet in the 3200-meter race after her decisive win at the Mountain League Championships on April 27 at Clearfield.

The senior, who will be running for Lock Haven next year, may want to add the 1600 to her to-do list as well. That’s because there wasn’t anyone in sight when she crossed the finish line in that event either.

Bierly clocked a time of 5:36.14 in the 1600, 17 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. In the 3200, she was even more dominant, finishing almost a minute in the clear with a time of 11:43.04.

Bierly and sprinter Isabella Culver were both double winners for the Rams on a rainy day, and they led the Penns Valley girls’ team to a second-place finish overall with a total of 118.3 points. Clearfield edged the Rams by just five points to take the girls’ team championship, with Bellefonte coming in third with 78.4 points.

“It was pretty good,” Bierly said about her win in the 1600. “It felt like a comfortable pace. It wasn’t my PR (personal record), but I was running for a place today. It was a little warm, warmer than I thought it would be, but overall a good race.

“I use (this meet) to gauge where I’m at and get ready for districts, what I need to work on. My goal is to make it to states in the 2-mile at least.”

Apparently, what constitutes a warm day for a distance runner is different from the rest of us, but Bierly nevertheless went out and perfectly positioned herself after following up the win in the 1600 with an even stronger performance in the 3200.

“She (Bierly) is a hard worker,” Penns Valley girls’ coach Kendyl Paolini said, “and we are really hoping to get her to states this year. It’s been a goal of hers. She had an awesome cross-country season this fall — made it to states — and we are hoping to continue that this spring.”

Culver was just as impressive as Bierly. Culver won the 400 (59.48) and the 200 (27.45), and was on PV’s winning 1600 relay team. Culver’s time in the 400 was one-hundredth of a second off the league meet record of 59.47.

Another Rams’ sprinter, Marissa Stecko, won the 100-meter in a time of 13.94.

Other local winners were Bellefonte’s Madison Marucci in the shot put (30-1) and Summer Shirey in the triple jump (32-10).

Bald Eagle Area tied for fourth place in the overall standings, and Philipsburg-Osceola finished in eighth place.

BOYS’ MEET 

In the boys’ meet, Clearfield and Tyrone finished one-two with 151 and 140 points, respectively. Bellefonte had a strong showing as well, coming in third with 95 points.

The Red Raiders had three winners for the day. Nathan Wert won the pole vault (12-0), Brett Pope won the 3200 (9:57.67) and Cole Hovis won the 400 (53.35). Penns Valley’s Jared Hurd won the 300 hurdles in a time of 43.06, and BEA’s Mike Salvanish won the shot put (42-6).

Bellefonte finished second in the 3200 relay, with BEA fourth and Penns Valley fifth.

Other place winners in the boys’ meet were Marcus Woodford (PV), second in the 110 hurdles and in the high jump; Sam Gray (PV), third in the 1600 and the 800; Luke Hollar (BEA), third in the 400; Max Kroell (Bellefonte), third in the shot put; Garrett Fleck (PV), third in the discus; Moryelle Fernandez (Bellefonte), second in the long jump and triple jump; Dane Soltys (P-O), third in the triple jump; and Andrew Hovis (Bellefonte), third in the pole vault.

Penns Valley finished fourth in the team scoring, BEA was fifth and Philipsburg-Osceola came in seventh.