HARRISBURG - The Altoona girls and boys track and field teams both won the championship of the 22-team Pan-Ram Invitational Saturday at Central Dauphin High school.
Brady Gehret won the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 9 inches, the 200-meter dash in 21.81 seconds and the 400-meter dash in 47.43 seconds. Gehret's long jump and 400 meter time were meet records.
Gehret also helped the 1600-meter relay team of Chris Carper, DeRon Lee, Rafeeq Barnes and himself pick up a first-place finish in 3:23.53.
Evan Salvo also took a first place for Altoona in the pole vault, reaching 13 feet.
Chris Carper (110-meter hurdles, 15.04; 300 IM hurdles, 49.70; javelin, 195 feet, 5 inches) took second in three different events, and Wade Endress was second in two events. (400-meter dash, 51.01, and 3200-meter run 9:49.24).
DeRon Lee finished third in the triple jump at 43 feet, 11 inches.
Trevor Beiswenger finished fourth in the shot put at 48 feet, 7 inches and fourth in the discus at 134 feet, 4 inches. Altoona's 3200-meter relay team also took fourth with Jordan Liberman, Mike Harf, Pat Reade and Endress in 8:22.57.
Liberman added a fifth-place finish in the 1600-meter run at 4:33.33. Dylan Mountain also finished fifth in the 3200-meter run at 9:59.95.
Bert Johnson took sixth in the triple jump at 41 feet, 10 inches, and Killian Steinbugl was sixth in the pole vault at 11 feet.
Tyler Lidwell rounded out Altoona's top-eight finishers with a seventh-place finish in the 1600-meter dash in 4:36.13
The girls didn't win any events, but they placed in 16 out of the 18 events, including seven second places.
Kelly Davis was second in the 100-meter dash in 12:38, which is a school record, and second in the long jump (16-71/2). Chelsea McClellan was second in the 100 low hurdles (15.97). Nikki Kearns was second in the 300 hurdles (48.70). Lysa Mealing was second in the triple jump (36- 1/2).
The 3200 relay team of Ashley Lidwell, Sasha Peterman, Emily Luciano and Alexis Ebersole was second (10:17.22), and the 400 relay team of Brittany Smith, Mandi Meade, Mealing and Davis was second (50.56).
Third-placers were Kearns in the 100 low hurdles (16.96) and Mealing in the long jump (16-2) and in the high jump (5-2). Fourth-placers were Lidwell in the 1600 (5:33.87), Ebersole in the 800 (2:28.91), Casey Murtagh in the high jump (5-0), Samantha Strayer in the pole vault (9-0) and Makenzie Wilt in the discus (100-7).
Wilt was also fifth in the shot put (33-0). Sixth-placers were Lidwell in the 800 (2:30.42) and the 1600 relay team of Kearns, Kaylee Stangl, Ebersole and Davis (4:20.10). There was one seventh-placer in Smith in the triple jump (33-41/4). Eighth-placers were Luciano in the 3200 (12:42.09) and Lyndzi Lauritsen in the discus (96-8) and in the javelin at (95-6).
BOYS TOP 5 TEAM SCORING
1. Altoona 127; 2. Milton Hershey 67; 3. Central Dauphin 60; 4. Bishop McDevitt 52; 5. Cumberland Valley 49.
Girls TOP 8 TEAM SCORING
1. Altoona 114; 2. Cumberland Valley 92; 3. Milton Hershey 63; 4. Carlisle 51; 5. Harrisburg 45; 6. Mechanicsburg 41; 7. Central Dauphin 35; 8. Manheim Central 32.
