BELLWOOD - Coach Nick Lovrich has about 70 boys out for his Bellwood-Antis High School track and field team this year, a tremendous turnout for a Class AA school that's played no small part in the Blue Devils being unbeaten in dual meet competition.
Meanwhile, on the north side of Bellwood, there's a pretty successful little team in the Worthing household, including three Blue Devil sprinters. The meets don't end there until long after the Worthings have left the stadium.
"We never stop. We'll go home and talk to 11:30, 12 o'clock about the meet, and then we'll talk about the next couple of meets,'' Seth Worthing said. "You don't get too much individual attention when you have 66 guys on a track team. You can't really focus and analyze every little step. But, if somebody picks that up, we can talk to each other and build up better.
Article Photos
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Jeremy Claypoole wins the triple jump for Bellwood-Antis Monday.
"It works really easily when you have brothers and family members watching you do that. We can watch every bit.''
It definitely worked at Monday's 50th running of the Bellwood-Antis Invitational at Memorial Stadium, as Seth ran legs of two record-setting sprint relays, including one with his twin brother, Cameron. Led by the relays and meet outstanding jumper Jeremy Claypoole's two victories, the Blue Devils cruised to first in the boys team competition.
Bellwood also prevailed in the distance relay en route to pilingz up 132 team points, more than twice as many as second-place Richland with 65.
"I'm really excited,'' Seth Worthing said.
Seth Worthing ran the anchor leg of a four-by-400-meter relay of Zach Sinisi, Andrew DeGol and Ian O'Shea that shattered its own one-year old meet mark of 3 minutes, 29.27 seconds with a time of 3:27.10. The Worthings were joined by DeGol and O'Shea in the 400 relay, where B-A's 43.70-second time was good for first by almost a second.
Bellwood's 1600 relay time was almost 6 seconds faster than that of second-place Bedford.
"Beating the record by 2 seconds is huge for us. We dropped a lot of time from this meet to states last year to get our school record. I think we just beat it again,'' Seth Worthing said.
The previous record in the four-by-one was 43.74, set by Bishop McCort in 2006.
"It was nice to have my brother out there with me. Last year, he was out there with me, and I knew we were going to be good with the two of us returning. The two new guys are both very fast guys. So I figured we could be a fast team, but I didn't know we could break records,'' Cameron Worthing said. "It was really nice that we could do something that special.''
"It's awesome being on that team with my brother. It's easy to get things down,'' Seth Worthing added.
Seth and Cameron are two of five athletically minded brothers ranging in age from 31 to 12 - the juniors are joined on this Blue Devil team by sophomore sibling Owen.
There's also a sister, Emily, who was a good athlete and relay standout in her own right about a decade ago at Bellwood-Antis; recently married, she's went into the Army and is currently on a one-year tour in Afghanistan.
"I remember going to basketball games, watching my mom get together pregame meals, coming to the track to watch her run,'' Seth Worthing said. "She's reason Cameron and I got into track. My two older brothers both played baseball. She talked us into it, and I'm glad.''
Claypoole, a senior, came in as the top seed in the triple jump and ranked second to Cambria Heights' returning state qualifier Zack Prohonic in the long jump. The Blue Devil easily won in the triple with a leap of 44 feet, 11.5 inches. However, he also took the long with a personal-record of 21-6 to edge Prohonic by 4 inches.
"That helped me a lot, because it motivated me to do better than my usual just to make sure I could hold that first without a worry,'' Claypoole said of going up against Prohonic. "I was consistently 44 for triple.'';
To increase his distance in the long jump, Claypoole actually moving back.
"I was using my penultimate step. I told Coach I didn't think it was going to work, but it was a good thing. It ended up working. It's a long, short step. I had to move 3 feet back for my steps,'' Claypoole said. "My goal was to make it to states and win districts in the triple jump. I could probably do it in the long, too, if I keep this up.''
Thad O'Shea, Kyle Bartlett, Sam Mills and Daylon Breon teamed to win the 3200 relay for Bellwood in 8:23.53.
Area schools produced five other boys wins: Philipsburg-Osceola's Cole Curtis with a 16.12 in the 110 hurdles, Northern Cambria's Derek Bearer and Gus Yahner with a 50.84 in the 400 and a 13-9 in the pole vault, and Tyrone's Charles Wilson-Adams and Nick Patton with a 6-5 in the high jump and a 11.34 in the 100 meters - Patton, who holds the meet record in the 200 and 400 only ran one event as he is coming off a hamstring pull.
Baker missed half her prom Friday to win the pole vault at the Northern Bedford County Invitational. She didn't post a height in that event on Monday, but she did gain a measure of redemption in the 400, in which she was unhappy with her performance at NBC.
Baker posted a 1:02.28 to cross the finish line a little more than a second before Casey Henry of Cambria Heights. After that, she came back to edge Bellwood's Ellen Crook for first in the 800 with a time of 2:27.36.
"I was pretty happy with my times. The pole vault is disappointing,'' Baker said. "The goal today was to do good in the four. That was the main goal. I got out faster today instead of waiting [like at Northern Bedford]. It was hard to switch from the track to the pole vault and to focus on the technique.''
Had she been able to beat Baker in the half-mile, Crook would have been a double winner - she was first in the mile at 5:30.24. Her teammate, Morgan Mercer, prevailed in the pole vault at a height of 8-9. Philipsburg-Osceola's Nickelle Hughes was the only other area girls winner, taking the long jump with a distance of 15-0.5.
Richland's Paige Lumley won three individual events - both hurdles and the triple jump - and was part of the winning 400 relay. United's Leah Skedel placed first in two of the three throwing events, the discus and the javelin. Lumley and Skedel were the meet's outstanding runner and thrower, respectively; Lumley and Baker were joined as double winners on the track by Mount Union's Alana Saulen (100, 200).
Penns Valley's Grace Gover was voted outstanding girls jumper. United's Stefan Moreau was the outstanding boys thrower after winning the all three throws. Outstanding runner went to Penns Valley's Bryan Brown, who finished first in the mile and two-mile runs.
Richland edged Penns Valley for the girls team title, 86-85.5.
BOYS
KEY, TEAM SCORING: 1, BA-Bellwood-Antis, 132; 2, R-Richland, 65; 3, T-Tyrone, 59; 4, BD-Bedford, 55; 5, PV-Penns Valley, 46; 6, PO-Philipsburg-Osceola, 40; 7 (tie), NC-Northern Cambria and U-United, 33; 9, SH-Southern Huntingdon, 18; 10, CH-Cambria Heights, 17; 11, WIL-Williamsburg, 16; 12 (tie), CEN-Central and WB-West Branch, 11; 14, MU-Mount Union, 10; 15, JV-Juniata Valley, 8; 16, BEA-Bald Eagle Area, 4; 17, SJ-St. Joseph's, 0.
100 dash: 1, Patton, T, 11.34; 2, S. Worthing, BA, 11.41; 3, I. O'Shea, BA, 11.44; 4, Grissinger, JV, 11.57; 5, Oliver, T, 11.61; 6, King, PV, 11.74.
200 dash: S. Worthing, BA, 22.96; 2, King, PV, 23.36; 3, Slippey, WB, 23.55; 4, Claypoole, BA, 23.69; 5, Popornak, R, 23.81; 6, Flick, R, 23.89.
400 dash: 1, Bearer, NC, 50.84; 2, Evans, BD, 51.24; 3, Decker, PV, 51.44; 4, Popornak, R, 52.19; 5, T. O'Shea, BA, 52.20; 6, Slippey, WB, 52.26.
800 run: 1, Colvin, R, 2:05.42; 2, Zook, T, 2:06.45; 3, Stroup, BD, 2:07.43; 4, Brumbaugh, CEN, 2:07.56; 5, Wheland, WIL, 2:07.78; 6, I. Brown, PV, 2:09.31.
1600 run: 1, R. Brown, PV, 4:32.68; 2, McKeehan, MU, 4:36.59; 3, Zook, T, 4:41.33; 4, Kartlett, BA, 4:42.02; 5, Knapic, U, 4:51.78; 6, Kutruff, CH, 4:52.44.
3200 run: 1, R. Brown, PV, 10:17.02; 2, Bartlett, BA, 10:22.39; 3, Dean, SH, 10:31.16; 4, England, WIL, 10:31.80; 5, Fuller, PV, 10:33.32; 6, Williams, BD, 10:35.46.
110 hurdles: 1, Curtis, PO, 16.12; 2, Hanley, R, 16.20; 3, Sinisi, BA, 16.23; 4, Wakefield, BD, 16.75; 5, Guy, T, 16.87; 6, McGraw, CEN, 17.10.
300 hurdles: 1, Hanley, R, 41.12; 2, Wakefield, BD, 41.40; 3, Sinisi, BA, 41.41; 4, Curtis, PO, 41.93; 5, I. O'Shea, BA, 42.32, ; 6, Guy, T, 43.09.
400 relay: 1, Bellwood-Antis (S. Worthing, C. Worthing, DeGol, I. O'Shea), 43.70 (new meet record); 2, Richland, 44.62; 3, Bedford, 45.66; 4, Penns Valley, 45.93; 5, Philipsburg-Osceola, 46.22; 6, Northern Cambria, 46.29.
1600 relay: 1, Bellwood-Antis (Sinisi, DeGol, I. O'Shea, S. Worthing), 3:27.10 (new meet record); 2, Bedford, 3:32.80; 3, Philipsburg-Osceola, 3:36.14; 4, Richland, 3:37.99; 5, Bald Eagle Area, 3:40.69; 6, Mount Union, 3:46.03.
3200 relay: 1, Bellwood-Antis (T. O'Shea, Bartlett, Mills, Breon), 8:32.53; 2, Bedford, 8:37.51; 3, Richland, 8:40.0; 4, Philipsburg-Osceola, 8:47.00; 5, Southern Huntingdon, 8:47.68; 6, United, 8:52.69.
High jump: 1, Wilson-Adams, T, 6-5; 2, Olish, NC, 6-0; 3, Civis, R, 6-0; 4, Confer, WB, 5-10; 5 (tie), Claypoole, BA, and DeGol, BA, 5-8.
Long jump: 1, Claypoole, BA, 21-6; 2, Prohonic, CH, 21-2; 3, Wilson-Adams, T, 21-0.75; 4, Grissinger, JV, 19-8; 5, DeGol, BA, 19-7.5; 6, McKnight, PO, 19-7.
Triple jump: 1, Claypoole, BA, 44-11.50; 2, Prohonic, CH, 42-11.5; 3, Wilson-Adams, T, 42-9; 4, McKnight, PO, 41-9; 5, Frost, BEA, 41-3.75; 6, Steffan, BA, 40-6.75.
Shot put: 1, Moreau, U, 51-10.5; 2, Leidy, WIL, 45-3; 3, Jenkins, BA, 45-0.5; 4, Tucker, PV, 42-3; 5, Thomas, SH, 42-1.5; 6, House, MU, 41-11.5.
Discus: 1, Moreau, U, 155-5; 2, Jenkins, BA, 125-3; 3, Chencharik, PO, 124-1; 4, Wirick, BA, 123-11; 5, Thompson, BA, 123-4; 6, David, BD, 118-1.
Javelin: 1, Moreau, U, 178-11; 2, Snyder, T, 162-0; 3, Speicher, R, 154-0; 4, Ludwig, NC, 153-2; 5, Biddle, WIL, 153-0; 6, Kojadinovich, PO, 148-2.
Pole vault: 1, Yahner, NC, 13-9; 2, Cornelius, SH, 12-6; 3, McGraw, CEN, 12-0; 4, Denny, BA, 11-6; 5, Curtis, PO, 11-6; 6, Bottenfield, BD, 11-6.
GIRLS
KEY, TEAM SCORING: 1, R-Richland, 86; 2, PV-Penns Valley, 85.5; 3, U-United, 79; 4, BA-Bellwood-Antis, 68; 5, BD-Bedford, 57; 6, PO-Philipsburg-Osceola, 45; 7, T-Tyrone, 26; 8, CH-Cambria Heights, 25; 9, MU-Mount Union, 22.5; 10, BEA-Bald Eagle Area, 20.5; 11, NC-Northern Cambria, 18; 12, SH-Southern Huntingdon, 8.5; 13 (tie), CEN-Central and WB-West Branch, 6; 15, JV-Juniata Valley, 4; 16, WIL-Williamsburg, 1; 17, SJ-St. Joseph's, 0.
100 dash: 1, Saulen, MU, 13.37; 2, Swogger, T, 13.45; 3, May, BD, 13.68; 4, Hughes, PO, 13.70; 5, Patton, T, 13.80; 6 (tie), Nevling, BA, and Swogger, BA, 13.82.
200 dash: 1, Saulen, MU, 27.65; 2, Swogger, T, 27.71; 3, Swogger, BA, 28.20; 4, Hershberger, R, 28.28; 5, Patton, T, 28.49; 6, May, BD, 28.71
400 dash: 1, Baker, BD, 1:02.28; 2, Henry, CH, 1:03.35; 3, Cunningham, NC, 1:03.52; 4, Diehl, T, 1:04.19; 5, Hollen, BA, 1:04.97; 6, George, R, 1:06.03.
800 run: 1, Baker, BD, 2:27.36; 2, Crook, BA, 2:28.07; 3, Yoder, PV, 2:28.52; 4, Diehl, BD, 2:36.21; 5, Kopera, NC, 2:37.12; 6, Bodenschatz, R, 2:38.21.
1600 run: 1, Crook, BA, 5:30.24; 2, Yoder, PV, 5:32.73; 3, S. Fether, U, 5:40.51; 4, Limbaugh, PV, 5:43.19; 5, Clark, CEN, 5:53.52; 6, Bodenschatz, R, 6:03.64.
3200 run: 1, S. Fether, U, 12:18.35; 2, Limbaugh, PV, 12:43.58; 3, Federinko, PV, 12:47.04; 4, Simcox, PO, 13:13.04; 5, Kurtz, JV, 13:19.71; 6, Albert, PO, 13:25.67.
100 hurdles: 1, Lumley, R, 15.73; 2, Warshel, R, 17.14; 3, Nevling, BA, 17.30; 4, Pudliner, U, 17.42; 5, Czar, PO, 17.55; 6, Jenkins, JV, 17.60.
300 hurdles: 1, Lumley, R, 46.96; 2, Cunningham, NC, 48.39; 3, Pudliner, U, 51.21; 4, Czar, PO, 51.22; 5, Shimmel,WB, 51.43; 6, Warshel, R, 51.61.
400 relay: 1, Richland (Warshel, Lumley, Hershberger, Lee), 51.83; 2, Bedford, 52.69; 3, Penns Valley, 53.01; 4, Bellwood-Antis, 53.04; 5, Tyrone, 53.22; 6, Juniata Valley, 55.09.
1600 relay: Penns Valley (Heckman, Yoder, Bowersox, Gover), 4:19.87; 2, Bellwood-Antis, 4:20.56; 3, Richland, 4:22.33; 4, Bedford, 4:23.68; 5, Philipsburg-Osceola, 4:30.92; 6, United, 4:31.22.
3200 relay: 1, United (G. Fether, Bloom, Overdorff, S. Fether), 10:37.56; 2, Philipsburg-Osceola, 10:49.23; 3, Penns Valley, 10:53.00; 4, West Branch, 10:56.03; 5, Bedford, 10:57.05; 6, Cambria Heights, 10:58.91.
High jump: 1, Gover, PV, 4-10; 2, Grimes, BD, 4-8; 3, Martin, BA, 4-8; 4, Spaid, CH, 4-8; 5, Hammon, MU, 4-6; 6, Wasson, PV, 4-6.
Long jump: 1, Hughes, PO, 15-0.5; 2, Henry, CH, 14-9.5; 3, Ward, BEA, 14-9.5; 4, Ka. Leamer, BA, 14-8.5; 5, Meyers, BD, 14-6; 6, Lippencott, BD, 14-5.5.
Triple jump: 1, Lumley, R, 36-4; 2, Warshel, R, 33-3; 3, Czar, PO, 33-3; 4, Gover, PV, 32-11; 5, Ka. Leamer, BA, 32-5.5; 6, Lippencott, BD, 31-9.
Shot put: 1, McGaha, U, 36-2.5; 2, Flick, BEA, 33-5; 3, Emel, PV, 33-0.5; 4, Skedel, U, 32-10; 5, Lane, CH, 32-7; 6, White, MU, 32-5.5.
Discus: 1, Skedel, U, 108-9; 2, Pecora, R, 102-5; 3, Fletcher, U, 101-10; 4, Emel, PV, 97-10; 5, Boring, CH, 93-7; 6, Hanwell, BA, 90-9.
Javelin: 1, Skedel, U, 121-10; 2, Walker, SH, 110-0; 3, Flick, BEA, 106-11; 4, Shriver, CEN, 104-1; 5, Fletcher, U, 100-7; 6, Crouch, WIL, 99-0.
Pole vault: 1, Mercer, BA, 8-9; 2, Feather, R, 8-9; 3, Paolini, PV, 8-3; 4, Simcox, PO, 8-3; 5, Tubo, NC, 8-3; 6 (tie), Hardy, BEA, and Winter, SH, 7-6.
