REEDSVILLE — The State College boys almost posted a perfect score in their division to highlight a fantastic day for Centre County cross country competitors at the Big Valley Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 2.
Held at the Indian Valley Educational Complex, the meet serves as something of an unofficial starting line for the scholastic season.
Both State College teams won in Class 3A, while Bellefonte captured the Class 2A boys team crown and St. Joseph’s was the runner-up in Class 1A girls.
State College’s Sam Endres was the lone individual champion from the county, but State’s Devon Jackson finished second in her division and Bellefonte’s Alex Crist was third.
Endres posted a time of 16 minutes, 8 seconds — the second-best time in the entire meet and 8 seconds faster than any other Class 3A boy — for his medal. He had plenty of familiar company near the front of the pack, though, as Little Lions captured seven of the top eight finishing slots.
The only one they missed was second place.
The Little Lions’ Stephen Fowler took third, 11 seconds off Endres’ pace, followed by Owen Coughlin at 16:42, Owen Viara at 16:46, Griffin Selber at 16:48, Neil Maguire at 16:51 and Henry Adams at 16:59.
“The boys team certainly made a statement,” State College coach Rebecca Donaghue said. “Our one-to-five runners spread of just 41 seconds and having all seven runners dipping under the 17-minute mark was a big part of it.”
The Little Lions finished with 19 team points, 43 ahead of second-place Altoona and four off a perfect score. The top five finishers count toward team scoring, but the sixth and seventh runners can add to the gap through displacement points.
Things were a little closer on the girls side, but State College still won fairly convincingly. Jackson’s 18:56 was 9 seconds off the pace of DuBois’ Morgan Roemer, and Chloe Poindexter took fourth individually for State College with a time of 19:54. The Lady Lions accumulated 33 points, with Hollidaysburg next in the team standings with 62.
“The girls looked strong throughout the race and handled the hot conditions really well,” Donaghue said.
Devyani Wadhia (sixth, 20:03) and Julia Bigger (ninth, 20:33) also cracked the top 10 for the Lady Little Lions. Abigail Bigger and Kristen Schellberg weren’t far behind them, taking 12th and 13th, respectively.
Brooke Shellenberger rounded out the Lady Little Lions lineup and finished 23rd.
Crist reached the finish in 16:49 to power the Bellefonte boys, who finished with 45 points, 14 fewer than Juniata in 2A boys. Alexander Mansfield and Caleb Vinnedge helped key the Red Raiders, taking seventh in 18:11 and eighth in 18:13, respectively.
Elijah Davis and Keith Eicholtz completed the scoring for the Bellefonte boys by taking 13th and 14th place. Grady Garrison was 18th. Ethan Wilson placed 33rd.
“It is very exciting to start out the season the way the team has already performed,” Red Raiders coach Chad Wiler said.
Philipsburg-Osceola placed eighth as a team with 186 points. Tyke Phillips’ 21st-place showing led the way for the Mounties, while Nick Matweecha was 27th.
The rest of the P-O contingent had Sam Massung 40th, Peyton Warner 48th and Grant Lutz 55th.
In Class 1A girls, St. Joseph’s scored 74 points to finish second to United. However, the top individual finisher in the division was Penns Valley’s Lilyanna Smith, who was sixth with a time of 21:44. The WolfPack’s Abby Ridenour was next to the finish with a time of 22:11.
Penns Valley’s Ayva Fetterolf and St. Joseph’s Brynn Wright also were in the top 10 with times of 22:23 for ninth and 22:43 for 10th, respectively, while the WolfPack’s Evelyn Reynolds was 11th.
Penns Valley placed sixth as a team with 129 points.
Rounding out St. Joseph’s lineup was Leah Wright in 18th and Lizzie Eby in 32nd. Penns Valley’s Marinn Peters placed 29th, while teammates Elizabeth Dean, Chloe Showers and Anneliese Racette finished 40, 59 and 64.
Bellefonte (81 points) and Philipsburg-Osceola (150) were third and seventh in Class 2A girls. Bellefonte’s Emma Liadis was the top county finisher in the classification, taking eighth and finishing in 21:35.
Emma Raish was 14th, Natalie Jolley 15th, Ashleigh Aukerman 20th and Emma Burger 27th to round out the Lady Raiders scorers, while Alexis Fravel came in 39th and Josie Underwood was 44th.
P-O’s best finish came courtesy of Lily Warlow, who was 22nd. Marlee Butterworth and Kate Matweecha were 34th and 35th for the Lady Mounties, while Evelyn Raker, Madison Nybeck and Brynna Parish nailed down the 40th through 42nd positions and Emma Wisor was 51st.
Penns Valley was fourth and St. Joseph’s seventh in boys Class 1A. The Rams scored 94, the WolfPack 173.
St. Joseph’s Colin Simander was the top individual finisher in the class, clocking 17:23 and placing fourth.
Penns Valley’s McClain Reamer was 11th and the Rams’ Dilon Reilly 12th, followed by teammate Taven Price in 19th. Vince Smith took 27th and Garrett Banyay 35th to round out the Rams’ scoring. Ethan Roland missed the team scoring cut but not by much, taking 44th.
For St. Joseph’s, Anthony Woomer was 39th, Nick Dible was 48th, Dean Deplato was 54th, Abel Reynolds was 70th and Matt Rogan was 75th.
Lady Mounties split
PHILIPSBURG — Warlow placed third with a time of 25:56 to lead the host Philipsburg-Osceola girls to a split in their season-opening meet with Cambria Heights and West Branch on Wednesday, Aug. 30.
The Lady Mounties notched a 15-50 victory against West Branch but dropped an 18-37 decision to Heights.
The P-O boys nearly swept but came out of the meet 0-2, trimmed 28-30 by Cambria Heights and 22-33 by West Branch.
The Lady Mounties placed four runners in the back half of the top 10, with Butterworth seventh, Raker eighth, Wisor ninth and Katie Matweecha 10th.
Nick Matweecha took third with a 21:23 time for the Philipsburg-Osceola boys. Brown placed sixth and Masgung seventh.
