Trending
Ashlyn Noce, Altoona's school record holder in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, signed to compete at the Division I level for Delaware Friday at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse in both cross country and track and field.
Noce is coming off a successful cross country season that ended with her earning another medal at the state meet last Saturday.
She began to take interest in running while watching Altoona compete at Logan Elementary School while she was in junior high.
"She grew to love it. She was successful at it, and when she got the track side, she was successful as a freshman," Altoona cross country and track and field distance coach Paula Foreman said. "She was successful in pretty much all of our distance events. The 800-, 1600- and 3200-meters, it didn't matter. She has a love for running and has spent a lot of time training. She was very consistent, and she has a lot of natural talent and is gifted in that way. She's worked hard."
Noce said she started to believe she could reach the level of competing at a school like Delaware early in her running career.
"Starting in eighth grade, I took things really seriously," Noce said. "It was definitely about making sure I was taking the time to put more effort into the sport. My freshman year, I realized I had some potential. It was definitely a goal to strive to do the best I could to get a good education and compete at the highest level."
Noce began speaking with Delaware in September of 2025 and made a verbal commitment in August.
"As soon as I was on campus, at the end of April -- it was a beautiful campus, and I was looking at it primarily academically," Noce said. "It was a great fit for Biomedical Engineering, and it had many internship opportunities. I had the chance to meet the team on my official visit in August, and it felt like a family, and that's what I was looking for."
Noce isn't sure which events she will compete in at the collegiate level in track.
"I'm pretty versatile in a lot of events, so it's something they will decide on when I get there," Noce said. "I'll be running cross country in the fall and then seeing what happens in track."
Foreman explained what helps make Noce so special.
"Ashlyn is unique in that she has some foot speed and is able to run the 800 and run it very well," Foreman said. "She also has the endurance side to her where she can run the 3200. I think it was last year, we ran her as part of the 3200 relay team and also ran her in the 800, 1600 and 3200, which is a little unusual to run someone in four events at the district level, but going into districts, we knew we needed the points to win the meet. I remember saying to her when it came to the 3200, the last event of the meet, that she didn't need to go out hard. She said OK and ran it and set a record. It was like -- 'how does she do this?' but she's always had the mindset of she's going to do what she sets out to do."
Now that she's officially signed, Noce is excited to close out her Altoona career strong.
"It's definitely a lot less stressful. I still want to compete and do the best I can," Noce said. "I want to get some more state medals. That would be very nice, and I want to improve my marks I have right now."
Foreman believes the best is ahead for Noce.
"I have no doubt in my mind that she has not peaked yet," Foreman said. "When she gets to the collegiate level, we're going to see her times drop even more."
In addition to Noce, eight other AAHS students signed their intent to continue their sports careers at the collegiate level on Friday.
Gavin Ciampoli will wrestle at Division I Pittsburgh.
The others include Alex Glasgow (Mount Aloysius baseball), Eric McAllister and Connor Waite (Cal Pa. baseball), Raylin Eyer (Penn State Altoona basketball), Taylor Knepper (Gannon gymnastics), Ava Frye (Wheeling University soccer) and Maxwell Coon (Penn State Altoona volleyball).