SPRING MILLS — With the dual-meet schedule winding down and the league and district championship meets on the horizon, three Centre County high school track and field teams squared off on April 18 when Penns Valley hosted Bald Eagle Area and Philipsburg-Osceola in a Mountain League triangular.
And it turned out to be a big day for BEA.
The Eagles and Lady Eagles swept their rivals. On the boys side, Bald Eagle downed Penns Valley, 91.5-58.5, and put away P-O by a 108-32 count. The Lady Eagles turned back Penns Valley, 86.5-63.5, while defeating Philipsburg-Osceola, 97-51.
Kieran Jodon placed first in the discus and shot put, Chase Thompson won the 100-meter dash and the pole vault and Colton Wagner beat everyone to the tape in the 800 and 1600 runs to lead the way for the Bald Eagle boys. BEA also won the 3200 and 1600 boys relays, while Kaiden Gates, Aaron Sharp and Beau Taylor posted the best results in the high jump, 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles, respectively.
The Lady Eagles relied on depth to overcome Penns Valley, as they won fewer events than did the Lady Rams. BEA came on strong in the field events, though, where Abby Hoover swept the throws, Claudia Irvin took the triple jump and Heather Leskovansky cleared the top height in the pole vault. Leah Bryan was Bald Eagle’s lone individual winner on the track, taking the 100 hurdles; the Lady Eagles also won the 4-by-400.
Several Penns Valley individuals had meets to write home about, as Lady Rams were first in 10 of the 18 events. Miley Hubler was first in both the 300 hurdles and high jump, Ann-Marie McMurtrie took both the 200 meters and the long jump, Lillyanna Smith triumphed in the mile and two-mile runs and Abby Stitzer was preeminent in the 400 and 800.
The Lady Rams also won the 400 relay and got first-place points from Jadyn Alexander in the 100 dash. Penns Valley scored an 87-57 victory against Philipsburg-Osceola; the Lady Mounties won the 4-by-800 relay.
The Penns Valley boys overcame Philipsburg-Osceola by a 103-45 count, led by Miles Brooks’ wins in the long and triple jumps. Micah Good captured the 400 and Mason Greene the 200 for the Rams, who also were first in the 4-by-100.
Chad Muckey (3200) and Matthew Reese (javelin) won events for the Mounties.
LADY LITTLE LIONS CLIP ALTOONA
State College and Altoona always run neck-and-neck for District 6 Class 3A accolades, and if the results of April 20’s dual meet are indication, that will remain the case this season.
The Lady Little Lions got a pair of victories from Alex Antoniono in the long and triple jumps and won eight events on the track to hold off the visiting Lady Lions, 84-66. The boys side of the meet ended in a 75-all deadlock in spite of State’s Jesse Myers’ sweep of the 100 and 200.
The State College girls thrived on the track, where Malia Abdullah won the 100, Kylie Field the 200, Devon Jackson the 400, Marlee Kwasnica the 800, Sophie Baylis the 1600 and Sarah Tate the 100 hurdles, individually. The Lady Little Lions also won the 4-by-100 and 4-by-400.
In addition to Myers, the State College boys got first-place points from Max Bodner in long jump, David Brown in the 110 hurdles, Stephen Fowler in the 1600, Gabe Gamson in the triple jump, Nathan Haas in the discus, Owen Vaira in the 800, Thomas Zipf in the pole vault and its 1600 relay team.
RAMS CRUISE AGAINST WOLFPACK
In addition to its tri-meet two days earlier, Penns Valley hosted St. Joseph’s on April 20, emerging with a 110.5-23.5 win on the boys side and a 93-37 victory in the girls meet.
The Lady Rams won 10 of the 15 contested events — there were no relays. Penns Valley’s Chamiqua Gentzel was a double winner, prevailing in the high jump and long jump, while Hubler won the 100 hurdles, McMurtrie the shot put, Smith the 400, Stitzer the 200, Elizabeth Dean the javelin, Maura Horner the discus, Madelyn Miller the pole vault and Elizabeth Romig the 100.
St. Joseph’s got wins from Brandi Carmack in the 1600, Karimar Henriquez in the triple jump, Sachi Ohmoto in the 300 hurdles, Abby Ridenour in the 3200 and Brynn Wright in the 800.
Sean Pollock propelled the Rams by winning all three throwing events, while Greyson Kimler swept the hurdles to go along with a victory in the triple jump, and Simeon Patel captured the high jump and long jump and Simon Smith the 1600 and 3200. Good and Gavin Robb rounded out the Rams’ firsts in the 400 and pole vault, respectively.
St. Joseph’s Taylor James was first in the 200, while Colin Simander paced the field in the 800 meters.
WEST CENTRAL COACHES MEET
It was a great week for Bald Eagle Area, as the Lady Eagles also emerged from the West Central Coaches Meet on Friday, April 21. with the team championship.
The Lady Eagles finished with 99.5 points.
Leskovansky and Olivia Taylor won events for the Lady Eagles. Leskovansky pole vaulted 8 feet, 6 inches. Taylor long jumped 16-3.5.
Taylor also captured two bronze medals, placing third in both the 400 meters and the javelin. Leskovansky finished eighth in the 100.
Irvin, meanwhile, medaled in four individual events, getting silver in the triple jump, third in the 300 hurdles, seventh in the 100 hurdles and eighth in the long jump. Hoover medaled in all three throws, coming in runner-up in the javelin, fourth in the discus and sixth in the shot put.
BEA’s Sybil Thompson took fourth in the 1600 and seventh in the 700.
Bryan (second, high jump), Sybil Thompson (fourth, 1600; seventh, 800), the 1600 relay (fourth), Khloe Cunningham (fourth, 800), Sydney Bender (fifth, 200), Grace Crestani (sixth, discus) and Kyleigh Maye (tie for seventh, pole vault) also got to the medal stand for the BEA girls.
The Eagles were eighth in the team standings with 44 points, topped by Gates’ silver medal in the high jump, Chase Thompson’s bronze in the pole vault and Jodon’s fourths in the discus and shot put.
Isaach Dechow and Sharp also won multiple individual medals, Dechow’s coming with a fifth in the 3200 and an eighth in the 1600 and Sharp’s with a sixth in the 110 hurdles and seventh in the triple jump.
Beau Taylor was fifth in the 300 hurdles, Talon Thompson sixth in the javelin and Tre Greene seventh in the shot put.
BALD EAGLE INVITE
The Penns Valley boys and girls were ninth and 11th, respectively, at Lock Haven University’s Bald Eagle Invite on April 21. The Rams scored 29 team points, the Lady Rams 28.
Good, Stitzer and Lillyanna Smith had the best days for Penns Valley, Good bringing home silver in the boys 400 meters, Smith finishing runner-up in the girls 3200 and Stitzer taking second in the girls 800 and fourth in the 400.
Kimler was third in the boys 300 hurdles and eighth in the 110 hurdles.
For the Penns Valley boys, McClain Reamer took fourth in the two-mile run, Vince Smith placed fifth in the 2000-meter steeplechase and Dilon Reilly was eighth in the 3200. The Lady Rams’ four-person relay was fifth and the 1600 relay sixth.
BALD EAGLE AREA
BEA swept a dual meet from visiting West Branch on Monday, April 24, the girls rolling, 124-24 and the boys prevailing, 98-50.
Sharp spearheaded the Eagles with victories in the 110 hurdles, long jump and triple jump, while Jodon took the discus and shot put and Chase Thompson the 100 and the pole vault. The BEA boys also won the 400 and 3200 relays.
Bald Eagle’s other boys winners were Gates in the high jump, Beau Taylor in the 300 hurdles, Talon Thompson in the javelin and Colton Wagner in the 3200.
The Lady Eagles swept the relay races and received three individual wins apiece from Hoover (discus, javelin, shot put), Irvin (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, triple jump) and Olivia Taylor (100, 200, long jump). Cunningham, meanwhile, finished first in the 400 and 800. In addition, Bryan won the high jump, Leskovansky the pole vault, Rebekah Guenot the 3200 and Sybil Thompson the 1600.
