REEDSVILLE - One area boys program with a ton of tradition nearly added an impressive notch in its belt while another area individual won with the hopes of building a program at the District 6 Cross Country Championships Saturday.
Altoona, which finished behind Mifflin County and State College most of the year with a young team, came within three points (36-39) of upsetting Mifflin County for its sixth straight District 6 Class AAA title.
"We knew it was going to be very, very close," Altoona coach Lee Baranik said. "Our dual meets were close, but we were very proud of them. We're only losing two seniors off the team and have a great crew of young guys coming up.
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Photo for the Mirror by Buffie Boyer
Williamsburg’s Bryce England wins the Class A title by three seconds.
"This is the first time we've lost in five years, but no one gave us a prayer this year until October came around when people started to see we were a little bit better than they thought we were."
Three Altoona boys, Dominic Stroh, Terry Futrell and Brad Foust, advanced to the PIAA state championships next Saturday in Hershey.
The trio finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
"They have been our leaders," Baranik said. "They have been our leading racers all year, and those three, we knew, had very good chances of moving on."
In Class A, a new classification this year, Williamsburg student Bryce England captured the title in 16:51 over Richland's Nick Marx (16:54).
England is the only boy on the three-person squad at Williamsburg, which does not have an official team and runs with Central during the regular season.
"I think that my winning might help future people that want to run at Williamsburg," England said. "It might help the school build a team and a future."
England also qualified for state competition a year ago at the Class AA level.
"I did a lot of sprints and a lot of hills this past year to get ready," England said. "My coach pushed me a lot harder this year, and I am so happy."
Justin Jeffers, a junior at Central Cambria, was the only other area runner to advance in Class A, finishing 10th with a time of 17:35.
Westmont Hilltop edged Richland, 79-98, for the team title and both squads will compete in Hershey.
Somerset topped Bedford, 56-64, in Class AA but only the Eagles advance under the new configuration.
The Bisons usually compete in District 5, but because there were no other Class AA teams in that district, Bedford made the trip to Reedsville.
Two Bedford freshmen will be making a longer trip next week. William Kachman finished second overall behind Bellefonte's Mitchell Smith (16:19) in 16:32. Zane Baker, who took fourth, will also be competing at states.
"This course had longer hills than the District 5 course," Kachman said. "I'm not really happy with my finish. I had the lead through a mile."
Notes: Altoona won the junior varsity race, 24-43, over State College. Joe Uliano (17:42) and Jerrod Sunderland (17:45) finished first and second for the Mountain Lions.
CLASS A
TEAM RESULTS (TOP TWO ADVANCE): 1, Westmont Hilltop (WH), 79; 2, Richland (R), 98; 3, Bishop McCort (BM), 114; 4, Penns Valley (PV), 120; 5, Central Cambria (CC), 135; 6, Blairsville (B), 166; 7, Purchase Line (PL), 186; 8, West Branch (WB), 193; 9, United (U), 199; 10, Penns Manor (PM), 200; 11, Marion Center (MC), 218; 12, Bellwood-Antis (BA), 265.
INDIVIDUALS (TOP 10 MINUS ADVANCING TEAM MEMBERS ADVANCE): 1, England, Williamsburg, 16:51; 2, Marx, R, 16:54; 3, Dailey, WH, 17:01; 4, Eckroth, WH, 17:16; 5, Lichvar, United, 17:19; 6, Decker, PV, 17:25; 7, Horchar, B, 17:27; 8, Albright, WB, 17:31; 9, Anderson, MC, 17:32; 10, Jeffers, CC, 17:35; 11, Horwat, PM, 17:42; 12, Gagnon, WH, 17:48; 13, Tate, PM, 17:49; 14, Eckenrod, BM, 17:54.
OTHER AREA FINISHERS IN TOP 25: 20, Descavich, CC, 18:19; 21, Woodley, Northern Cambria, 18:20; 25, Brumbaugh, Central, 18:34.
CLASS AA
TEAM RESULTS (TOP TEAM ADVANCES): 1, Somerset (S), 56; 2, Bedford (B), 64; 3, Bellefonte (BF), 80; 4, Ligonier Valley (LV), 139; 5, Forest Hills (FH), 144; 6, St. Joe's Catholic (SJ), 147; 7, Penn Cambria (PC), 168; 8, Tyrone (T), 214; 9, Cambria Heights (CH), 221; 10, Philipsburg-Osceola (PO), 288; 11, Bald Eagle Area (BEA), 289.
INDIVIDUALS (TOP FIVE MINUS ADVANCING TEAM MEMBERS ADVANCE): 1, Smith, BF, 16:19; 2, Kachman, B, 16:32; 3, Hopple, SJ, 16:41; 4, Baker, B, 16:56; 5, Bastian, S, 17:01; 6, Josh Patrick, LV, 17:08.
OTHER AREA FINISHERS IN TOP 25: 8, Williams, B, 17:20; 9, Sutton, PC, 17:24; 10, Dautlick, CH, 17:25; 19, Karns, B, 18:02; 21, Slatko, PC, 18:09; 23, Everhart, T, 18:15; 24, Boothman, CH, 18:19.
CLASS AAA
TEAM RESULTS (TOP TEAM ADVANCES): 1, Mifflin County (MC), 36; 2, Altoona (A), 39; 3, State College (SC), 45; 4, Hollidaysburg (H), 120; 5, Central Mountain (CM), 143.
INDIVIDUALS (TOP FIVE MINUS ADVANCING TEAM ADVANCE): 1, Colwell, MC, 16:17; 2, Cather, SC, 16:29; 3, Monroe, MC, 16:39; 4, Stroh, A, 16:48; 5, Futrell, A, 16:54; 6, Foust, A, 17:01; 7, Adams, SC, 17:02; 8, Golembeski, SC, 17:02; 9, Parker, MC, 17:06.
OTHER AREA FINISHERS IN TOP 25: 10, Heasley, A, 17:13; 14, Delozier, A, 17:27; 16, Endress, A, 17:31; 19, Nail, A, 17:51; 20, Snyder, H, 17:54; 23, Jennings, H, 18:06; 24, Pierce, H, 18:19
