NEWVILLE — Marlee Kwasnica finished fourth, Chloe Poindexter fifth and Amy Devan seventh as the State College Area High School girls cross country team defended its Mid Penn Conference championship successfully on Saturday, Oct. 15, at Big Spring High School.
All the Lady Little Lions’ scoring runners placed in the top 10.
Nick Sloff was the runner-up in the boys race, powering the Little Lions to a fourth-place team finish.
“The team ran incredible out there today. We had senior Marlee Kwasnica out front, but we also had a closely knit chase pack with girls stepping up where needed,” State College girls coach Rebecca Donaghue said.
“This may very well be our strongest showing at this meet to date. To have all of our seven place in the top 20, our top five all in the top 10 and under 20 minutes on this course tells us we’re moving into some new territory. We’re very excited with the direction we are headed in and to now get in another solid block of training before the district and state meet.”
Kwasnica timed 18 minutes, 53.91 seconds, hanging in the lead pack of four runners until about the 2-mile mark. Chambersburg’s Camryn Kiser was the eventual individual winner with a time of 18:10.72, about 20 seconds ahead of Hershey’s Brooke Preputnick.
Poindexter ran a 19:29.27, while Devan crossed the finish line at 19:46.12.
Freshman Devon Jackson placed ninth, completing the race in 19:46.12. Natalie Koncoski concluded the runners to make the scoring cut for State College with a 10th-place showing at 19:57.16.
Grace Morningstar and Sophie Baylis rounded out Donaghue’s lineup, finishing 15th and 19th, respectively. Morningstar clocked in at 20:11.12, Baylis at 20:15.28.
State College’s 35 team points easily outdistanced runner-up Hershey for the team title by 40 points. Chambersburg was the only other team under 100.
Sloff crossed the finish line in 16:02.00, a little under 10 seconds off the pace of Central Dauphin’s Timothy Rhoden. The Little Lions wound up with 113 team points, 11 behind third-place Greencastle-Antrim. Cumberland Valley’s 89 points won it the team championship.
Isaac Opperman was State College’s second-place runner, posting a time of 16:55.54 to take 20th. Sam Viglione finished 26th with a time of 17:02.25.
All seven Little Lions were among the fastest 40 finishers. Sam Endres (30th) and Henry Adams (35th) rounded out the State College scorers with times of 17:11.45 and 17:23.53, respectively. Owen Vaira crossed the line just behind Adams in 36th, running 17:25.71, and Griffin Selber was 39th at 17:29.57.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
Chad Muckey ran away as boys medalist, but Philipsburg-Osceola was swept in a non-league meet on Thursday, Oct. 13, at Cambria Heights.
The Mounties came up short by a 26-31 count. The Philipsburg-Osceola girls dropped a 22-35 decision.
Muckey posted a time of 19:57, winning by 77 seconds. P-O’s next finisher was Tyke Phillips in fifth, with Nick Matweecha running sixth and Shane Parish seventh.
Led by Zoe Adams’ 25:08, Cambria Heights captured the top four spots in the girls’ race. Lily Warlow topped the list of Lady Mountie finishers at 27:51. P-O also took the last five positions in the top 10, with Manna Potter, Marlee Butterworth, Camryn Chvercko, Sarah D. Bock and Emma Wisor following Warlow.
The Lady Mounties slipped to 6-5. The Mounties are 2-5.
