The high school track and field season has just begun, but Nick Patton, Charles Wilson-Adams, Ryan Steinbugl and Nikki Kerns already look to be in midseason form.
Kerns set a record in the girls 300-meter hurdles as part of her three individual victories, while Patton took first in three boys individual events at the 37th annual Altoona Igloo Invitational Track and Field Meet at Mansion Park on Saturday.
Wilson-Adams, meanwhile, continued on course toward a potential top medal at states in May by winning the high jump to cap a huge first week for him. And, while Steinbugl didn't prevail in the pole vault, he showed he's capable at putting up a height that would result in an incredible duel wih Kane's Patrick Anderson in the pole vault.
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Area winners were scarce: Aside from Kerns, Patton and Wilson-Adams, the only local performers to take first were Altoona's Kevin Johnson in the boys triple jump and his teammates Dylan Mountain and Korey Replogle in the 800 and 1600, respectively.
There was no team scoring for the 29-team meet.
Kerns, a senior at Altoona, crossed the finish line in the 300 hurdles in 46.42 seconds. The previous mark of 46.84 was established in 1996.
"I'm definitely off to a better start than I was last year,'' Kerns said. "My training has put me at a much better advantage right now. I've been lifting all summer, all fall, so I'm stronger. I'm ready to go.''
Kerns finished almost two full seconds ahead of anyone else. It was her third victory of the day. Earlier, she prevailed in the 100 hurdles and the high jump.
"You can always do better. I'm not satisfied,'' Kerns said. "I was looking more for results [than wins]. Especially in the hurdles, anything can happen. Do one thing wrong and you're done, so you just have to make yourself better. I have to work on my start in the 100s, the 300s even. If you don't get going, you never get going.''
Kerns' record wasn't the only one set on the girls side of the meet. Homer-Center's Angel Piccirillo broke two meet marks, in the mile and the half-mile.
She smashed the 30-year-old record in the 1600 run by more than four seconds with a time of 4:53.43, but she was pushed just to win the race. Elk County Catholic sophomore Kennedy Weisner stayed with the Villanova recruit the whole way and tried to pass in the last 10 meters but was held off; she also bettered the previous meet mark.
Patton, though, didn't face that kind of a challenge in the sprints, even competing against bigger schools than he'll have to in adding to his state medal count. The Tyrone senior did as expected by cruising to victories in the 400 and 200 meters in times of 22.26 and 50.51 seconds, respectively.
Patton even appeared to ease up at the end of both races and still won with room to spare.
"It's great competition for this early in the season. I love coming to this meet, even though the weather's not always great, although it was great this year,'' Patton said. "It's a good place to see where you're at and learn what you need to work on. I'm pleased with my times.''
It's looking like he's added another weapon to his point-scoring arsenal this spring: the long jump. Although he scratched on a couple of jumps, the 21-foot, 7-inch result that stood up was 13 inches beyond what Steinbugl posted in placing second.
Patton said he stumbled upon the event while following his sister to a jumping clinic.
"I just tried it at practice the one day and had a little bit of a knack for it. I decided to stick with it and see how I could do in a meet,'' Patton said.
Now, he thinks he might stick with it, something of a surprise considering he has medaled in the relays at states - "It depends how this keeps going,'' Patton said.
The 6-4 height Wilson-Adams posted in his victory would have had almost anyone else jumping for joy. Not the Tyrone junior, though - he cleared 6-8 at a meet on Tuesday at Philipsburg-Osceola.
The latter height would have won at last year's PIAA meet. Even 6-4 would have finished sixth.
"I feel like I didn't do nearly as good as my best or nearly as good as I wanted,'' Wilson-Adams said. "In indoor states, I [won the silver medal] with 6-6, and I felt I could do better because I had been playing basketball and only jumped at two indoor meets. I figured if I could get 6-6 with no practice, I should be able to get 6-8.''
Altoona's Deshae Lee also made 6-4 but finished second because Wilson-Adams had fewer misses.
Only an incredible performance by Anderson prevented Altoona senior Steinbugl from a gold medal.
Steinbugl cleared 15-10, surpassing his seeded height by 8 inches and the previous meet record by more than a half-foot. Anderson, though, was up to the challenge, going on to win with a height of 16-2 and barely missing on his first attempt at 16-2.
"Ryan Steinbugl's pole vault was very exciting. To jump that high this early in the year, that's got to put him pretty high up there. They are probably one-two in the state now,'' Mountain Lions coach Mike Adams said. "That also will get him in the Penn Relays, which is really nice. Good for him.''
Altoona's Mountain was nine-hundredths of a second from winning two events, coming up just short of Replogle in the mile but coming back to edge Kiski Area's Brent Kennedy - who seemingly had the race won - at the tape in the 800.
However, there wasn't much more for Mountain Lion fans to cheer. District 6 Class AAAA rival State College won four events, while Kiski collected three firsts and was strong throughout the invitational. State's Dan Cooper was a double winner, taking both boys hurdle races.
Altoona was without state-qualifying sprinter Rafeeq Barnes because of a stress fracture in his hip. Adams expects him back this week.
"We had some nice performances, but, overall, it was disappointing,'' Adams said. "We're a better team than we showed today. Some of our kids are going to have to work a little bit harder if they think we're going to compete at the level we're used to.''
KEY: A-Altoona; AJ-Altoona junior varsity; BEA-Bald Eagle Area; BD-Bedford; BA-Bellwood-Antis; CM-Central Mountain; CL-Clearfield; CU-Curwensville; ECC-Elk County Catholic; HB-Hollidaysburg; HC-Homer-Center; HD-Huntingdon; JB-Johnsonburg; JU-Juniata; KA-Kane; KI-Kiski Area; L-Lewisburg; NC-Northern Cambria; PM-Penns Manor; PV-Penns Valley; PO-Philipsburg-Osceola; PL-Purchase Line; SJ-St. Joseph's Catholic; SM-St. Marys; SA-Sayre; SE-Selinsgrove; SC-State College; T-Tyrone; W-Wellsboro.
BOYS
100 dash: 1, Haines, KI, 11.10; 2, Stamford, A, 11.30; 3, S. Worthing, BA, 11.38; 4, Butts, KI, 11.46; 5, Oliver, T, 11.60; 6, Copney, KI, 11.62; 7, Kellar, SC, 11.63; 8, King, PV, 11.78.
200 dash: 1, Patton, T, 22.26; 2, Shisler, SC, 22.71; 3, Haines, KI, 22.72; 4, Stamford, A, 23.12; 5, Kinnamon, KI, 23.18; 6, S. Worthing, BA, 23.38; 7, Butts, KI, 23.53; 8, King, PV, 23.57.
400 dash: 1, Patton, T, 50.51; 2, Evans, BD, 52.09; 3, Ventura, HB, 52.92; 4, K. Steinbugl, A, 53.65; 5, Juster, SC, 53.95; 6, Merritt, SM, 54.13; 7, T. O'Shea, BA, 54.36; 8, Talton, KI, 54.38.
800 run: 1, Mountain, A, 2:01.26; 2, Kennedy, KI, 2:01.26; 3, Wright, SC, 2:02.91; 4, Jackson, W, 2:04.07; 5, Replogle, A, 2:04.33; 6, Miller, KI, 2:04.66; 7, Blose, PL, 2:05.13; 8, Detsch, ECC, 2:08.19.
1600 run: 1, Replogle, A, 4:30.55; 2, Mountain, A, 4:30.64; 3, Adams, SC, 4:35.53; 4, Cather, SC, 4:36.62; 5, Lednak, KI, 4:37.19; 6, Jackson, W, 4:41.14; 7, Brown, PV, 4:41.85; 8, Snider, KI, 4:41.87.
3200 run: 1, Crowe, SC, 10:14.22; 2, Owlett, W, 10:14.89; 3, K. Barlett, BA, 10:16.47; 4, Brown, PV, 10:21.40; 5, Stroh, A, 10:28.85; 6, Fisher, CM, 10:35.74; 7, Nail, A, 10:42.12; 8, Lingafelt, A, 10:43.92.
110 hurdles: 1, Collins, SC, 15.10; 2, Johnson, A, 15.43; 3, Evans, KI, 15.99; 4, Sinisi, BA, BA, 16.08; 5, Barker, KI, 16.19; 6, Wakefield, BD, 16.28; 7, Curtis, PO, 16.40; 8, Nyman, CM, 16.55.
300 hurdles: 1, Collins, SC, 40.68; 2, Evans, KI, 41.20; 3, I. O'Shea, BA, 41.86; 4, Sinisi, BA, 42.14; 5, Baker, KI, 42.53; 6, Curtis, PO, 42.74; 7, Wakefield, BD, 42.75; 8, Johnson, A, 43.00.
400 relay: 1, Kiski Area (Haines, Rinnamon, Copney, Butts), 44.04; 2, Bellwood-Antis, 44.53; 3, Altoona A, 44.67; 4, Altoona B, 44.99; 5, St. Marys, 45.33; 6, Clearfield, 45.75; 7, Bedford, 46.11; 8, State College, 46.32.
1600 relay: 1, State College A (Collins, Juster, Wright, Shisler), 3:31.50; 2, Bellwood-Antis, 3:33.27; 3, Altoona A, 3:33.98; 4, Bedford, 3:40.96; 5, Altoona B, 3:41.38; 6, State College B, 3:42.25; 7, Elk County Catholic, 3:43.32; 8, Kiski Area, 3:43.38.
3200 relay: 1, Kiski Area (Lednak, Snider, Kenney, Miller), 8:06.62; 2, State College, 8:12.02; 3, Altoona, 8:16.31; 4, Elk County Catholic, 8:48.67; 5, Wellsboro, 8:5.94; 6, Bellwood-Antis, 8:56.74; 7, Purchase Line, 8:58.55; 8, Hollidaysburg, 9:02.77
High jump: 1, Wilson-Adams, T, 6-4; 2, Lee, A, 6-4; Shuey, JB, 6-2; 4, Olish, NC, 6-0; 5, McCloy, CM, 6-0; 6, Herbstritt, ECC, 6-0; 7, DeGol, BA, 6-0; 8, Nodell, SC, 5-8.
Long jump: 1, Patton, T, 21-7; 2, R. Steinbugl, A, 20-6; 3, Wagner, SC, 20-1.5; 4, DeGol, BA, 20-1; 5, Randecker, CM, 19-11.5; 6, Claypoole, BA, 19-7.5; 7, Wilson-Adams, T, 19-7.5; 8, H. Hess, BD, 19-3.
Triple jump: 1, Johnson, A, 43-0; 2, Randecker, CM, 42-7; 3, Wilson-Adams, T, 42-7; 4, Bytner, PM, 42-7; 5, Claypoole, BA, 42-5.5; 6, Wagner, SC, 42-5; 7, Luciano, A, 42-3; 8, McKnight, PO, 42-3.
Shot put: 1, Price, PL, 46-11; 2, Werner, SM, 45-6.5; 3, Colecchi, KI, 43-4.25; 4, Newhouse, HC, 43-4; 5, Mitchell, A, 43-3.75; 6, Jenkins, BA, 42-9; 7, Posatko, SC, 42-8.50; 8, Allen, KI, 41-6.25.
Discus: 1, Werner, SM, 138-6; 2, Lanich, PO, 138-0; 3, Colecchi, KI, 132-2; 4, Posatko, SC, 131-6; 5, Miller, HC, 122-11; 6, Koontz, BD, 120-4; 7, Wirick, BD, 118-11; 8, Kojadinovich, PO, .
Javelin: 1, Shuey, JB, 183-11; 2, DeMoss, BD, 168-3; 3, Zaccagnini, KI, 155-9; 4, Klein, CM, 155-5; 5, Irwin, SC, 153-3; 6, Snyder, T, 150-2; 7, Weigand, AJ, 149-8; 8, Pierce, PL, 148-6.
Pole vault: 1, Anderson, KA, 16-2; 2, R. Steinbugl, A, 15-10; 3, Wolfe, KA, 14-0; 4, Swisher, SC, 13-6; 5, Koeck, A, 13-0; 6, Yahner, NC, 13-0; 7, Younkins, SC, 12-6; 8, Peters, HD, 12-0.
GIRLS
100 dash: 1, Valentine, SC, 12.60; 2, Hay, SC, 13.23; 3, Morris, KI, 13.25; 4, Toner, CM, 13.28; 5, Swogger, T, 13.43; 6, Saquin, KA, 13.44; 7, Palmer-Bacon, W, 13.45; Shomo, CL, 13.47.
200 dash: 1, Acorn, W, 26.77; 2, Hay, SC, 27.02; 3, Toner, CM, 27.06; 4, Bence, PM, 28.15; 5, Overman, HC, 28.25; 6, Hatch, A, 28.28; 7, Bowser, HB, 28.84; 8, Colder, KI, 28.88.
400 dash: 1, Book, SC, 1:00.74; 2, Acorn, W, 1:01.68; 3, Bridges, SM, 1:03.81; 4, Murray, KI, 1:04.28; 5, Pond, HB, 1:04.28; 6, Wehler, ECC, 1:04.63; 7, Derr, SC, 1:05.46; 8, Black, HB, 1:05.58.
800 run: 1, Piccirillo, HC, 2:15.37 (new meet record); 2, Weisner, ECC, 2:18.32; 3, Cousins, SC, 2:19.25; 4, Crawford, SC, 2:23.75; 5, McNaughton, SC, 2:23.78; 6, Collins, KI, 2:29.07; 7, Preston, HB, 2:30.42; 8, Baker, BD, 2:32.63.
1600 run: 1, Piccirillo, HC, 4:53.43 (new meet record); 2, Weisner, ECC, 4:53.62; 3, Gennocro, SM, 5:15.37; 4, Adams, SC, 5:26.67; 5, Keibler, KI, 5:32.43; 6, Lidwell, A, 5:40.36; 7, Uoder, PV, 5:40.95; 7, Crook, BA, 5:40.99.
3200 run: 1, Gennocro, SM, 11:28.03; 2, Balogh, SC, 12:08.37; 3, Sorg, ECC, 12:24.51; 4, Catalano, SC, 12:34.42; 5, Ansley, HB, 12:36.21; 6, Limbaugh, PV, 12:39.61; 7, Conrad, CL, 12:59.96; 8, Worthington, W, 1:00.34.
100 hurdles: 1, Kerns, A, 15.73; 2, Skerpon, SA, 16.39; 3, Cloud, KI, 16.47; 4, Petrosky, ECC, 16.51; 5, Albright, A, 17.29; 6, Guggenheimer, KI, 17.38; 7, Marple, W, 17.47; 8, Wylie, SC, 17.83.
300 hurdles: 1, Kerns, A, 46.24 (new meet record); 2, Skerpon, SA, 48.04; 3, Cloud, KI, 48.09; 4, Rogers, W, 49.29; 5, Saquin, KA, 49.61; 6, Muir, HB, 51.06; 7, Cunningham, NC, 51.10; 8, Marple, W, 51.80.
400 relay: 1, State College (Bonness, Hay, Torretti, Valentine), 50.42; 2, Wellsboro, 52.94; 3, Kiski Area, 53.43; 4, Altoona, 53.80; 5, Penns Valley, 53.85; 6 (tie), Bellwood-Antis and Hollidaysburg, 53.95; 8, Clearfield, 53.99.
1600 relay: State College (Book, Cousins, McNaughton, Crawford), 4:16.39; 2,Wellsboro, 4:19.48; 3, Altoona, 4:20.23; 4, Hollidaysburg, 4:23.32; 5, Kane, 4:26.10; 6, Homer-Center, 4:28.24; 7, Kiski Area, 4:28.73; 8, Elk County Catholic, 4:32.16.
3200 relay: 1, Lewisburg (Fisher, Gerhard, Baylor, Farmer), 9:54.00; 2, Kiski Area, 9:58.12; 3, St. Marys, 10:11.74; 4, Elk County Catholic, 10:42.17; 6, Altoona, 10:57.39; 7, Kane, 11:05.90; 8, Penns Manor,11:08.92.
High jump: 1, Kerns, A, 5-2; 2, Zidek, KI, 5-0; 3, Florio, ECC, 4-10; 4 Itie), Gover, PV, and Mulhern, A, 4-8; 6, Rogers, W, 4-8; 7, Anderson, KA, 4-8; 8 (tie), Grimes, BD, Wasson, PV, and Williams, HB, 4-8.
Long jump: 1, Shomo, CL, 16-1; Hughes, PO, 15-9.5; 3, Toner, CM, 15-4.5; 4, Robinson, SC, 15-1; 5, Knezovich, PM, 15-0; 6, Lender, A, 14-11.5; 7, Skerpon, SA, 14-10; 8, Ka. Leamer, BA, 14-8.5.
Triple jump: 1, Knezovich, PM, 36-2.5; 2, Wagner, A, 34-9; 3, Ka. Leamer, BA, 34-1; 4, Robinson, SC, 33-6; 5, Czar, PO, 33-6; 6, Bucheit, KA, 32-9; 7, Shomo, CL, 32-8.5; 8, Baker, BD, 32-6.5.
Shot put: 1, McCartney, SE, 36-7.25; 2, Laich, A, 31-10.75; 3, Nicholson, KA, 31-10.25; 4, Krepps, BA, 31-3.5; 5, Emel, PV, 31-2; 6, Williams, JU, 31-0.75; 7, Galasso, HC, 30-10.75; 8, Nicklas, ECC, 30-8.25.
Discus: 1, Williams, JU, 114-2; 2, Misner, PM, 105-11; 3, McCartney, SE, 105-9; 4, Ogorek, KA, 103-3; 5, Frech, KI, 98-11; 6, Laich, A, 94-10; 7, Goodman, A, 93-11; 8, DaBella, PM, 93-11.
Javelin: 1, Misner, PM, 114-11; 2, Goodman, A, 113-11; 3, Krepps, BA, 112-8; 4, DaBella, PM, 108-1; 5, Nicholson, KA, 107-9; 6, Flick, BEA, 107-2; 7, Mirenda, AJ, 106-10; 8, Thompson, CL, 102-4.
Pole vault: 1, Love, SC, 10-0; 2, Baker, BD, 10-0;3, Mulhern, A, 9-0; 4, Cunningham, HD, 9-0; 5, Kocjancic, KA, 8-6; 6, M. Mercer, BA, 8-6; 7, Paolini, PV, 8-0; 8, Skerpon, SA, 8-0.
