AAHS boys get 7 to states
By Buck Frank
bfrank@altoonamirror.com
The cold and rainy spring hindered many of the area track and field performers this year, but maybe none more so than the pole vaulters.
Altoona Area High School’s Tyler Delozier had already compiled an impressive pole vaulting resume before this season, but when he didn’t get a chance to compete in big events like the Altoona Igloo Invitational and the West Central Coaches Meet due to weather issues, he had trouble improving on his personal-best height of 15 feet set last year.
“It’s been tough this year with the weather, even at practice,” Delozier said. “When it’s cold and raining, it’s not the best day to pole vault. We would work on technique and the basics and just try to do the best we can.”
On Thursday, the sun finally broke through and Delozier rose to the top. The Saint Francis University-bound senior cleared a season-best 14 feet, 9 inches and won the event at the District 6 Class 3A Championships at Mansion Park.
“It was humid,” Delozier said. “But there was no headwind, and it was nice and warm with no rain. It was a good day to jump.”
Delozier was one of three Altoona boys athletes to win titles. Junior Mike Folcarelli won the javelin, and sophomore Ben Tofano placed first in the discus. Winners of each event Thursday and those meeting a pre-determined qualifying standard earned tickets to the PIAA Championships next Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.
In addition to Delozier, Folcarelli and Tofano, Altoona junior Mitch Lawhead qualified for states in the 200-meter dash and junior Connor Adams qualified in the long jump. Those two also combined with juniors Isaiah Barnes and Kurt VonColln to qualify for states in the four-by-100 relay.
Also, Hollidaysburg senior Dan Molliver clinched a spot at states by narrowly winning the 400 dash. State College won eight of the 18 events and claimed the team title with Altoona second in the eight-team field.
Delozier earned a seventh-place medal at states last year and said he expects the competition to be stronger next weekend. On Thursday, he scratched on his first attempt but regrouped and wound up being the only one to eventually clear 14-9.
State College junior Luke Kipe came in tied with Delozier for the top seed but ended up second at 14-3.
“I knew (Kipe) could jump the same as me, so I had to out-jump him in some way,” Delozier said. “I just tried to keep my composure and try not to get too tired throughout the day and keep jumping.”
Folcarelli’s composure was tested in a big way. He led the javelin competition throughout the event and was on the verge of winning it when Mifflin County senior Davis Wagner passed him with a throw of 173 feet, 1 inch on the event’s next-to-last attempt.
Folcarelli, though, stepped up and delivered a personal-best throw of 176-9 to win on the final attempt.
“I was going up, and I saw he threw 173 and thought this is it to go to states,” Folcarelli said. “I was happy he threw that, but I wanted to beat that and go to states. I gave it everything I had, and it worked out.”
Folcarelli didn’t show much emotion, except for getting a few high-fives from a coach and his mother. While the official read off the final results, Folcarelli was across the field behind the Mansion Park visitors’ bleachers talking with his grandfather, Jim.
“I started (throwing the javelin) in ninth grade because it was the only event here that I was decent at,” he said. “I got better at it, picked it up and now I’m here (as district champ).”
Tofano finished third in the shot put behind Somerset’s Nick Hyde and Dustin Hyde but came back to top them in the discus with a throw of 135-11. Nick Hyde, the top seed, scratched on two of his three throws in the first round and all three in the finals.
“I knew Hyde was going to be my competition, and I knew I had my work cut out for me,” Tofano said. “I went into the discus after the shot with a good mindset. When I came into the finals seeded first, I knew I had to beat whatever (Hyde) threw.”
Tofano said he’s hoping to throw more than 153 feet at states and will be helped by not having to worry about training for the shot put next week.
Adams and Lawhead will each have two events to practice for states. Adams finished fourth in a loaded long jump field but passed the state qualifying standard of 22-0 by hitting 22-5.5 on his final attempt. He will also train for the 400 relay after the quartet finished second to State College but ran a 42.33 to advance to states.
“We had good handoffs for the first time,” Adams, son of Altoona boys coach Mike Adams, said. “We’d like to run in the low 42s at states and hopefully medal.”
Lawhead will be part of the 400 relay group while also competing in the 200 dash. He was beaten by Johnstown’s Gerrell Simon by 0.09 seconds on Thursday in the 200 but made it to states by one one-hundredth of a second.
“I was hoping to win districts, but I didn’t think I’d run that fast,” Lawhead said. “It’s the first time I ran against (Simon), and I knew I had to run fast. I did (set a personal record). I think (Simon) got a little bit more out of me than I normally would.”
Molliver was also helped by a competitor, but in his case, it was his own teammate. Junior Trent Howe of Hollidaysburg had the lead in the 400 but was caught at the end by Molliver, who won with the same recorded time as Howe, 50.92.
“At the beginning of the year, Trent was kind of injured, and my times weren’t increasing,” Molliver said. “Since he came back, he’s helped with lowering my time.”
Molliver is in just his first year of competing in track. He said he’s going into the Marines after graduation and thought track would help get him in shape. He’s now a district champion after out-leaning Howe at the tape.
“I was trying to run my heart out because it was my last meet,” Molliver said. “I wanted to go out on a strong note.”
Key, team standings: 1, SC–State College 226; 2, A–Altoona 145; 3, MC–Mifflin County 86; 4, SO–Somerset 70; 5, H–Hollidaysburg 68; 6, B–Bellefonte 47; 7, J–Johnstown 28; 8, CM–Central Mountain 27.
100 dash: 1, Russell, SC, 10.92; 2, Adams, A, 11.39; 3, Edwards, SC, 11.41; 4, Jones, CM, 11.50; 5, Knipe, SC, 11.54; 6, Campbell, H, 11.67; 7, Simon, J, 11.74; 8, Wolford, H, 11.82.
200 dash: 1, Simon, J, 22.40; 2, *Lawhead, A, 22.49; 3, Barron, SO, 23.35; 4, Ealy, SC, 23.54; 5, Knipe, SC, 23.55; 6, Wolford, H, 23.99; 7, Molliver, H, 24.42.
400 dash: 1, Molliver, H, 50.92; 2, Howe, H, 50.92; 3, Longenecker, SC, 51.62; 4, Hardison, J, 51.88; 5, Yakut, CM, 52.19; 6, Hovis, B, 52.32; 7, Myers, B, 52.87; 8, Futrell, A, 53.11.
800 run: 1, Phillips, MC, 2:00.52; 2, Allerheiligen, SC, 2:01.30; 3, Walker, SO, 2:02.31; 4, Wolfgang, MC, 2:02.43; 5, Green, CM, 2:04.76; 6, Boutiller, A, 2:07.38; 7, Ballard, SC, 2:08.02; 8, Frolov, MC, 2:08.90.
1600 run: 1, Macknair, MC, 4:28.02; 2, Boethius, SC, 4:34.38; 3, Norton, SC, 4:35.25; 4, Green, CM, 4:36.20; 5, Williams, A, 4:38.58; 6, Mazzariello, SO, 4:40.55; 7, Banerjee, SC, 4:42.53; 8, Boutiller, A, 4:43.51.
3200 run: 1, Macknair, MC, 9:46.75; 2, Harris, MC, 9:47.01; 3, Pope, B, 9:52.39; 4, Isham, SC, 9:56.17; 5, Norton, SC, 10:11.39; 6, Williams, A, 10:16.55; 7, Horn, SC, 10:26.15; 8, Melius, B, 10:43.54.
110 hurdles: 1, Longenecker, SC, 15.05; 2, Barnes, A, 15.64; 3, Toney, A, 15.83; 4, Sinkus, MC, 16.18; 5, Kravetz, A, 16.57; 6, Howell, SC, 17.26; 7, Troll, SO, 17.46; 8, Johnson, H, 17.78.
300 hurdles: 1, DeCarmine, SC, 39.42; 2, S. Hamilton, SC, 40.29; 3, Toney, A, 41.83; 4, Sinkus, MC, 42.34; 5, Troll, SO, 42.61; 6, Kravetz, A, 43.79; 7, Hynoski, SC, 43.94; 8, Allison, H, 44.82.
400 relay: 1, State College, 41.66; 2, *Altoona (Adams, Barnes, VonColln, Lawhead), 42.33; 3, Johnstown, 43.78; 4, Somerset, 44.79; 5, Hollidaysburg, 44.83; 6, Central Mountain, 46.98; 7, Mifflin County, 47.46; 8, Bellefonte, 47.61.
1600 relay: 1, State College, 3:25.27; 2, Altoona, 3:31.97; 3, Hollidaysburg, 3:34.10; 4, Bellefonte, 3:36.18; 5, Somerset, 3:39.23; 6, Central Mountain, 3:43.30; 7, Mifflin County, 3:46.04.
3200 relay: 1, Mifflin County, 7:56.38; 2, *State College, 7:57.71; 3, Hollidaysburg, 8:47.29; 4, Altoona, 8:56.91; 5, Somerset, 9:45.12; 6, Johnstown, 9:54.73.
High jump: 1, Moore, SC, 6-1; 2, Hayford, H, 5-11; 3, (tie), S. Hamilton, SC; Metzger, H, and Barnhart, SO, 5-9; 6, Basal, H, 5-9; 7, Zerbee, A, 5-7; 8, Franklin, A, 5-7.
Long jump: 1, L. Hamilton, SC, 23-8.75; 2, *Hefkin, SC, 22-11.75; 3, *Fernandez, B, 22-8.25; 4, *Adams, A, 22-5.5; 5, Clark, SC, 21-8.5; 6, Wagner, A, 20-8.5; 7, Britt, J, 20-5.5; 8, Petucci, A, 20-5.25.
Triple jump: 1, L. Hamilton, SC, 48-4; 2, *S. Hamilton, SC, 46-5; 3, *Clark, SC, 46-0.5; 4, *Fernandez, B, 45-0.25; 5, Wagner, A, 43-4; 6, Zerbee, A, 41-5.5; 7, Crownover, A, 40-10.5; 8, Hayford, H, 40-4.5.
Shot put: 1, N. Hyde, SO, 55-11; 2, D. Hyde, SO, 47-2.25; 3, Tofano, A, 46-11.5; 4, Lambert, B, 44-1.25; 5, Thompson, SC, 43-11.75; 6, Lieb, SC, 43-5.5; 7, Kroell, B, 43-1.25; 8, Ford, A, 40-9.
Discus: 1, Tofano, A, 135-11; 2, D. Hyde, SO, 128-11; 3, Lambert, B, 128-9; 4, N. Hyde, SO, 126-6; 5, Renninger, MC, 123-8; 6, Kifolo, SC, 118-8; 7, Mitchell, H, 116-8; 8, Kroell, B, 116-8.
Javelin: 1, Folcarelli, A, 176-9; 2, Wagner, MC, 173-1; 3, Shoemaker, MC, 140-3; 4, Guay, SC, 133-6; 5, Lambert, B, 131-10; 6, Otto, H, .29-3; 7, Allmond, A, 127-3; 8, Thompson, SC, 125-4.
Pole vault: 1, Delozier, A, 14-9; 2, *Kipe, SC, 14-3; 3, Osborne, SC 12-9; 4, (tie), Flarend, A, and DeAngelis, A, 11-9; 6, Moore, CM, 11-9; 7, Bellissimo, SC, 11-3; 8, Haduck, H, 11-3.
*–Qualified for states by meeting a pre-determined qualifying standard