×

Northern Bedford’s Furry comes of age

LOYSBURG – Blake Over, as expected, was a dominating presence for the host Black Panthers at the 10th annual Northern Bedford County Track and Field Invitational.

Judging by Whitley Furry’s performance on Friday, Northern Bedford will have someone just as commanding on the girls side for the next few years.

Furry made a mark in her first-ever appearance in the meet. Just a freshman, she finished first in three individual races to highlight the afternoon and evening for area girls competitors at a rainy and chilly Panther Community Stadium.

Bedford’s Katie Lippincott was a double winner, placing first in the high jump and triple jump. Chestnut Ridge’s Amanda Kostryk (pole vault) and Emily Finnegan (discus) and Tussey Mountain’s 400-meter and 1600-meter relays were the other girls winners from the area.

On the boys side, Over won four events, while Williamsburg’s Michael Biddle set a meet record in the javelin. In addition, Bedford’s William Kachman and Zane Growden won the 3200 and shot put, respectively, and Northern Bedford’s Collin Sherlock finished first in the 1600.

Over and Sherlock’s efforts helped Northern Bedford emerge with the boys team championship in a down-to-the-wire battle against Windber.

Furry triumphed in the 100, 200 and 400. Although the conditions generally were unfavorable – always wet and sometimes a torrential downpour – Furry actually posted her best times of the year in the two longer sprints: 27.40 was sixth-tenths of a second better than Tussey Mountain’s Devin Folk in the 200, and 1-minute, 15-hundredth of a second was almost 1.5 seconds ahead of Folk in the 400.

“I feel really good. I was really nervous about running against all these really good athletes that are much older than me. The weather wasn’t really good, but it worked out,” Furry said. “Being nervous helped me. I used that energy to push myself running.

“This shows that I can do almost all my events through any conditions. It doesn’t really affect it.”

Furry beat second-place Bethany Corson of Forest Hills to the finish line by 19-hundredths of a second, finishing with a time of 13.56 in the 100.

Furry actually seldom runs the 200. She started out as a middle-distance runner and still has raced in the 800 meters more than the 200 this season. However, it seems like she’s found a nice niche as a sprinter.

“The 200 and the 800 are back to back, so I normally get into the events I need to depending on who I’m running against,” Furry said. “When you work with the 400, it gets you better and better in the shorter events. It gets you more endurance for the shorter ones. So it’s helped me.”

Committed to track, Lippincott actually made her date to Bedford’s prom wait for her to complete her events. It turned out to be worth the effort for Lippincott – in addition to her two victories, she finished second in the long jump and third in the shot put.

Not bad for someone who broke her nose at the Shippensburg Invitational.

“It was nice that she was healthy today. That’s a really big thing, she’s getting more healthy,” Bedford coach Brian Creps said of Lippincott, who left directly for the dance after finishing the meet. “To come out tonight and jump 33 feet in the triple jump on a miserable night and win the high jump – it’s not about heights, it’s about competing – she had a good night.”

Lippincott’s 33-foot, 2 -inch triple jump actually was only 4 inches off her best mark of the season and was good enough for first place by a half-foot.

The wet weather really impacted the girls high jump. Lippincott’s winning leap of 4-9 was 3 inches lower than her best coming in. Windber’s Katie Charney was second at 4-7.

In the four-by-100, Tussey’s quartet of Courtney Rupert, Allysa Bollman, Jaclyn Bollman and Ivie Morningstar posted a time of 54.14. That was two-tenths of a second better than second-place Forest Hills. Rupert, Jaclyn Bollman and Morningstar teamed with Folk to run a time of 4:30.60 to win the 1600 relay by almost 4 seconds.

A proven commodity in the discus, Finnegan, the top seed, had a best throw of 92-9 in the rain to prevail by nearly 2 feet over Bedford freshman Halee Davis. After a long delay, Kostryk prevailed in the girls pole vault. Her top height of 8-9 was 6 inches better than Kim Boyd of Forest Hills. Kostryk and Boyd were part of a group of three performers that came in tied for the best seed at 8-6.

Headlining the boys side of the competition, Over won all three jumps and the 110 hurdles, matching his showing at the Tri-State Invitational earlier in the week.

“When the weather’s like this, rainy, cold, you just don’t expect to come out and do your best performances. Sometimes you do, but most of the time you don’t. If you don’t, you can’t get upset. You just have to keep going,” Over said.

Over ran the 110 in 15.77 and long jumped 20-10 to win both those events convincingly. He was pushed more in the high jump, where his winning 5-10 leap actually was equalled by Chestnut Ridge’s Jacob Miksich and Clear Spring’s Collin Schultz, and the triple jump, where his 43-0 only edged Forest Hills’s Joe Donoughe by and inch and a half.

A double medalist at last year’s PIAA meet, Over has been tough on the competition all season, though. He has some bigger aspirations.

“There’s competition in some events, but it’s mostly me wanting to beat my records,” Over said. “Usually, that will help me get by my competition.”

Speaking of records, Biddle’s third attempt in the javelin of 182-4 broke the three-year old meet mark of Central’s Derek Nothstein by more than 6 feet.

“It was something I was definitely aiming for. I knew it was going to be a good throw. I just didn’t know how far it was going to be,” Biddle said. ” It would have been a lot better if it were dry, but it calmed down when I was throwing so I felt it was pretty decent.”

Biddle’s throw was better than his seeded distance, but it still was a little behind the 184-0 Bedford’s Cody DeMoss had thrown earlier this season. DeMoss, finished second on Friday at 164-0, but their competition still has a month to continue to play out.,

“It makes me want to throw better because it is such a fun time to go back and forth and compete with him,” Biddle said.

Sherlock’s win in the mile might have turned out to be what won the team title for Northern Bedford over Windber, 81-78. Sherlock opened up about a 10-meter gap heading into the bell lap and pulled away from top-seeded William Kachman of Bedford in the boys 1600 meters.

“I knew that if I stayed with him, I had confidence that I’d be able to outkick him at the end. So I just sat on him for three laps and went at the end,” Sherlock said. “I was pretty excited. He’s a pretty good runner. I love running against him. He’s good competition. It was fun.”

Kachman bounced back to run a 10:03.98 in winning the 3200. Kachman was the No. 1 seed in the event, but the same couldn’t be said for his teammate, Growden, whose best throw in the shot this season placed him fifth in the event at Friday’s meet.

However, Growden’s 41-8 was good enough to overcome second-place Matthew Deb of Bishop Walsh by 7 inches.

Several key performers didn’t appear at the event. Tussey state medalist sprinter Darrin Sipes was away because of his senior class trip. Meanwhile, Bedford thrower Josiah Koontz and middle-distance runner Zane Baker weren’t on hand, either; Bedford’s prom was Friday night.

Forest Hills was a runaway winner with the girls team scoring. The Lady Rangers used depth, only winning four events, to score 128 ? team points. Windber was next in line with 71.

BOYS

Key, team scoring: 1, NB-Northern Bedford, 81; 2, WN-Windber, 78; 3, BD-Bedford, 61; 4, CR-Chestnut Ridge, 42; 5, H-Hancock, Md., 41; 6, CT-Conemaugh Township, 35; 7, FH-Forest Hills, 34; 8, S-Shade, 32; 9, SH-Southern Huntingdon, 28; 10, TM-Tussey Mountain, 23; 11, BW-Bishop Walsh, 22; 12, E-Everett, 21; 13, FM-Fannett-Metal, 16; 14, CS-Clear Spring, Md., 13; 15, BB-Berlin Brothersvalley, 11; 16 (tie), PO-Philipsburg-Osceola and WL-Williamsburg, 10; 18, SF-Southern Fulton, 0.

100 dash: 1, Formica, CT, 11.85; 2, Wolford, H, 11.89; 3, Cook, BD, 12.10; 4, Crist, CR, 12.26; 5, Mann, H, 12.51; 6, Krouse, BB, 12.51.

200 dash: 1, Formica, CT, 23.63; 2, Jones, SH, 23.73; 3, Cook, BD, 24.34; 4, Morrow, TM, 24.57; 5, Crist, CR, 24.65; 6, Mills, CS, 24.90.

400 dash: 1, De. Tomlinson, WN, 52.18; 2, Jones, SH, 53.81; 3, Morrow, 54.31; 4, McClintock, FH, 54.65; 5, Ebersole, NB, 54.70; 6, Eisman, BD, 55.52.

800 run: Charney, WN, 2:05.02; 2, Da. Tomlinson, WN, 2:05.59; 3, Glessner, S, 2:06.77; 4, Black, TM, 2:09.59; 5, Maticic, FH, 2:11.17; 6, Sherlock, NB, 2:12.56.

1600 run: 1, Sherlock, NB, 4:37.46; 2, Kachman, BD, 4:39.30; 3, Leonardis, WN, 4:49.71; 4, Burkholder, E, 4:53.07; 5, Heck, NB, 4:53.40; 6, Black, TM, 4:54.83.

3200 run: 1, Kachman, BD, 10:03.98; 2, Heck, NB, 10:40.41; 3, Husick, TM, 10:56.73; 4, Burkholder, E, 10:58.78; 5, Linn, 11:24.54; 6, Troutman, NB, 11:29.13.

110 hurdles: 1, Over, NB, 15.77; 2, Keefer, H, 16.55; 3, Patton, SH, 17.24; 4, Bryan, WN, 17.26; 5, Piner, FH, 17.27; 6, Contaldi, BW, 17.55.

300 hurdles: 1, Keefer, H, 41.71; 2, Bryan, WN, 42.24; 3, Sipes, E, 43.17; 4, Piner, FH, 43.66; 5, Patton, SH, 43.79; 6, Contaldi, BW, 45.26.

400 relay: 1, Hancock (Wolford, Keefer, Mann, Teeter), 46.47; 2, Chestnut Ridge, 46.66; 3, Shade, 47.42; 4, Southern Huntingdon, 47.99; 5, Northern Bedford, 48.30; 6, Berlin Brothersvalley, 48.42.

1600 relay: 1, Windber (Bryan, Maurizio, Leonardis, Da. Tomlinson), 3:38.27; 2, Shade, 3:45.84; 3, Forest Hills, 3:46.13; 4, Everett, 3:47.13; 5, Bedford, 4:48.64; 6, Philipsburg-Osceola, 3:51.10.

3200 relay: 1, Windber (Leonardis, Da. Tomlinson, Charney, De. Tonlinson), 8:29.85; 2, Northern Bedford, 9:06.74; 3, Bedford, 9:12.14; 4, Shade, 9:18.66; 5, Philipsburg-Osceola, 9:39.49; 6, Everett, 9:42.47.

High jump: 1, Over, NB, 5-10; 2, J. Miksich, CR, 5-10; 3, Schultz, CS, 5-10; 4, Chilcote, FM, 5-8; 5, Donoughe, FH, 5-6; 6, Maurer, CT, 5-6.

Long jump: 1, Over, NB, 20-10 ; 2, Maurer, CT, 19-3; 3, Donoughe, FH, 19-2; 4, Crist, CR, 18-11 ; 5, Barkley, WN, 18-7 ; 6, Wolford, H, 18-6 .

Triple jump: 1, Over, NB, 43-0 ; 2, Donoughe, FH, 42-11; 3, J. Miksich, CR, 42-7; 4, Barkley, WN, 41-0; 5, Wolford, H, 39-4; 6, Maurer, PO, 38-5 ;

Shot put: 1, Growden, BD, 41-8; 2, Deb, BW, 41-1; 3, Day, PO, 40-6; 4, Foor, BD, 40-0; 5, Krouse, BB, 39-10; 6, Snyder, BB, 39-2 .

Discus: 1, Deb, BW, 139-9; 2, Peppernick, FM, 133-9; 3, Kline, CS, 119-1 ; 4, Snyder, BB, 116-3; 5, Vincent, TM, 115-5; 6, Quarry, NB, 109-8.

Javelin: 1, Biddle, WB, 182-4 (meet record); 2, DeMoss, BD, 164-0; 3, Oswalt, NB, 145-5; 4, Peppernick, FM, 144-9; 5, Knox, E, 140-6; 6, Boyer, BB, 136-9.

Pole vault: 1, Kauffman, CR, 11-0; 2, Yuko, S, 10-6; 3, Maurer, CT, 10-6; 4, T. Shaffer, WN, 10-0; 5, C. Shaffer, WN, 10-0; 6, Gontis, BB, 10-0.

GIRLS

Key, team scoring: 1, FH-Forest Hills, 128 1/3; 2, WN-Windber, 71; 3, BB-Berlin Brothersvalley, 68; 4, SF-Southern Fulton, 54; 5, TM-Tussey Mountain, 49; 6, BD-Bedford, 48 1/2; 7, NB-Northern Bedford, 38; 8, CR-Chestnut Ridge, 36; 9, E-Everett, 20; 10, BW-Bishop Walsh, 16; 11, PO-Philipsburg-Osceola, 7 1/3; 12, CS-Clear Spring, Md., 7; 13, S-Shade, 6; 14, CT-Conemaugh Township, 4 1/3; 15 (tie), H-Hancock, Md. and SH-Southern Huntingdon, ; , 2; 17, FM-Fannett-Metal, 1/2; 18, WL-Williamsburg, 0.

100 dash: 1, Furry, NB, 13.56; 2, Bethany Corson, FH, 13.77; 3, Pisarczyk, FH, 13.88; 4, Staley, CS, 14.13; 5, Corle, CR, 14.13; 6, Trulick, BB, 14.20.

200 dash: 1, Furry, NB, 27.40; 2, Folk, TM, 28.00; 3, Toki, WN, 28.35; 4, Corson, FH, 28.76; 5, Bollman, TM, 28.85; 6, Staley, CS, 28.99.

400 dash: 1, Furry, NB, 1:00.15; 2, Folk, TM, 1:01.55; 3, Toki, WN, 1:04.99; 4, Sprankle, S, 1:06.16; 5, Lambert, BB, 1:06.87; 6, Rupert, TM, 1:07.11.

800 run: 1, Trulick, BB, 2:31.63; 2, Tokarsky, WN, 2:32.52; 3, Weaver, WN, 2:41.28; 4, Stoudnour, TM, 2:45.85; 5, Smith, FH, 2:48.23; 6, Eckenroad, BB, 2:48.84.

1600 run: 1, Varner, FH, 5:37.35; 2, Hollenshead, SF, 5:49.31; 3, Tokarsky, WN, 5:50.81; 4, Czapski, BW, 6:02.94; 5, Mann, H, 6:06.30; 6, Bischof, CR, 6:08.32.

3200 run: 1, Varner, FH, 12:13.56; 2, Czapski, BW, 13:05.27; 3,Bischof, CR, 13:17.76; 4, Snyder, BW, 13:25.02; 5, Felski, WN, 13:32.90; 6, Bradshaw, SF, 13:54.74.

100 hurdles: 1, Novotny, FH, 17.32; 2, McIntosh, FH, 17.35; 3, Merchant, SF, 17.74; 4, Clegg, BB, 17.80; 5, Morris, NB, 18.40; 6, Anderson, CR, 18.67.

300 hurdles: 1, Kline, FH, 49.99; 2, McIntosh, FH, 51.67; 3, Merchant, SF, 52.19; 4, Clegg, BB, 53.02; 5, Starr, TM, 53.36; 6, Morris, NB, 53.69.

400 relay: 1, Tussey Mountain (Rupert, A. Bollman, J. Bollman, Morningstar), 54.14; 2, Forest Hills, 54.34; 3, Berlin Brothersvalley, 55.51; 4, Chestnut Ridge, 55.84; 5, Clear Spring, 56.12; 6, Windber, 56.33.

1600 relay: 1, Tussey Mountain (Rupert, Morningstar, J. Bollman, Folk), 4:30.60; 2, Windber, 4:34.36; 3, Forest Hills, 4:40.09; 4, Southern Fulton, 4:41.85; 5, Shade, 4:47.83; 6, Northern Bedford, 4:50.76.

3200 relay: 1, Windber (Tokarsky, Weaver, Vasas, McClain), 10:51.53; 2, Forest Hills, 10:57.38; 3, Berlin Brothersvalley, 11:44.53; 4, Northern Bedford, 11:58.37; 5, Southern Huntingdon, 12:08.53; 6, Southern Fulton, 12:15.13.

High jump: 1, Lippincott, BD, 4-9; 2, Charney, WN, 4-7; 3 (tie), Clark, E, Fleegle, BB, and Folk, TM, 4-5; 6 (tie), Belinda, PO, Fockler, CT, and Kline, FH, 4-5.

Long jump: 1, Merchant, SF, 16-4; 2, Lippincott, BD, 14-11; 3, Mills, E, 14-10; 4, Pittman, E, 14-9 ; 5, Smith, FH, 14-6 ; 6, Kline, FH, 14-6 .

Triple jump: 1, Lippincott, BD, 33-2 ; 2, Smith, FH, 32-7; 3, Weaver, WN, 32-4 ; 4, Lazorka, BD, 31-5 ; 5, Hollenshead, SF, 31-3 ; 6, Yuhas, FH, 31-2 .

Shot put: 1, Roman, SF, 32-9 ; 2, Craig, BB, 32-7 ; 3, Lippincott, BD, 32-5; 4, Fleegle, BB, 32-1 ; 5, Koontz, BD, 31-01 ; 6, Gully, FH, 27-9.

Discus: 1, Finnegan, CR, 92-9; 2, Davis, BD, 90-11; 3, Barkman, E, 90-0; 4, Ponczek, WN, 88-4; 5, Long, FH, 86-2; 6, Watro, PO, 82-11.

Javelin: 1, Fleegle, BB, 109-0; 2, Craig, BB, 100-10; 3, Bertothy, PO, 97-6; 4, Luprek, CT, 96-4; 5, Claycomb, CR, 95-7; 6, Smith, FH, 86-5.

Pole vault: 1, Kostryk, CR, 8-9; 2, Boyd, FH, 8-3, 3, Rok, FH, 7-9; 4 (tie), Pryor, SF, and Williams, SF, 7-3; 6 (tie), Falcone, FM, and Tokarczyk, BD, 7-3.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today