Local Sports

AAHS boys, girls make the best of rainy conditions

Track & field

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

The forecast heading into Friday's Altoona Mountain Lion Track and Field Classic at Mansion Park called for a 100 percent chance of rain throughout the day.

The weatherman didn't miss.

Conditions were "brutal" in the words of Altoona senior Jake Adams, but the star long jumper provided one of the local highlights of the day by winning his best event with a jump of 23 feet and earned the boys Class 3A outstanding performer honor for his effort.

"Everyone has to compete in it, so you just work through it," Adams said. "You have to keep your mind right and come to play. Everyone else is, so no excuses."

Adams was only 8 and a half inches from his top-seeded best jump of the season, and considering the conditions, it might have been his best performance.

"I'm right where I want to be for districts," Adams said. "Hopefully we'll be taking home that team title for districts and that state title for long jump. It feels great to be healthy at this time of the year."

Adams' teammates Ethan Stroup (javelin), Ty Friedenberger (100-meter dash), Branson Adams (triple jump) and the Altoona boys 400-meter relay team also had first-place finishes as Altoona finished third in the 15-team field. South Western won the 3A boys team title.

"We have been relying on some top-heavy kids all year," Altoona boys coach Mike Adams said. "Ethan Stroup once again in the javelin, and he placed well in the shot. He wasn't able to throw the disc today, but Jake (Adams) had another 23 (foot) performance today in the long jump. Ty Friedenberger had a nice time in the 100-meter dash, and the (400-meter relay) is obviously running really well. We were really happy with some of the performances today."

On the girls side, Altoona's Brooke Long won the long jump over State College rival Shannon Mullin, but Mullin returned the favor and won the triple jump over Long. Hailey Kravetz captured first place in the 100-meter hurdles for the Lady Lions, and the Altoona girls won the 400-meter relay.

The Altoona girls also finished third, and Hempfield and State College tied for first in 3A girls.

"We're really elated with the results of the meet," Coach Adams said. "There were some really great performances considering how poor the weather was all day long. There were some amazing state-leading performances, and we had some records broken. The majority of the teams still showed up, and we were happy about that."

In 2A, however, many of the local teams chose not to attend.

Bellwood-Antis, Cambria Heights, Central Cambria, Penn Cambria and Tyrone were just a few of the teams that opted not to make the trip to Mansion Park. Hollidaysburg did not compete in the 3A competition.

"I don't necessarily think it was unsafe, I just don't think there were conditions that were conducive to sending our kids over there to compete," Hollidaysburg athletic director Homer DeLattre said. "We asked the kids, we talked to the coaches and they thought it wasn't a good idea to compete today, so we didn't."

Bellwood-Antis was originally scheduled to compete in the West Central Coaches Invitational in Windber but switched to Friday's event at Mansion Park before making the decision Friday morning not to attend. The meet in Windber was canceled.

"It was going to be a long day for our kids sitting outside in rain," Bellwood-Antis boys track and field coach Nick Lovrich said. "We were going to get there at 11:30 to get checked in for the pole vault, and they weren't going to compete until 1:30. We just didn't think it was worth the risk of getting a kid injured. We started to hear some of the other teams were pulling out. The goal of going was to get some really good times and compete against really good competition, and the way the weather was looking, it didn't look like that was going to happen.

"We have our conference meet on Monday, so we didn't want anything to happen. At a smaller school, if you lose one of your better athletes, that kind of puts a big hole in what you're trying to do for the rest of the season."

Punxsutawney won both the boys and girls Class 2A competitions by a narrow margin. The Punxy boys edged Kane, 104-101, and the girls topped Lewisburg, 103.5-100.

Bishop Carroll Catholic, Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic and Grier were the only teams from the Mirror's core coverage area that competed in 2A.

The Huskies' Jacob Harker won both the discus and shot put.

"It's a Friday, I got out of school early and I get to do what I love to do and throw," Harker said. "It was very wet, very cold. I just kept moving, warming up my arms and keeping active. I was happy to take first and throw decently."

Harker now has his eyes set on the District 6 competition in two weeks and the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference meet on Tuesday.

"It's all really close with a kid from Penns Manor, Homer-Center and Central Cambria," Harker said. "I want to finish in the top three with my eyes on first."

Grier's only competitor, Edith Manfred, finished second to Elk County Catholic's Grace Neubert in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:42.47.

Though it never stopped raining, the meet was completed before dark.

"It was very important to us (to get it in)," Coach Adams said. "We had a lot of calls from people asking if we were canceling, and we never blinked. We said 'no absolutely not. We're running this no matter what.'"

CLASS 3A

BOYS

TEAM STANDINGS/KEY

1, South Western (SW) 116; 2, State College (SC) 108; 3, Altoona (A) 97; 4, Lewisburg (L) 71; 5, Hempfield (H) 66; 6, Indiana (I) 35; 7, Clearfield (C) 33; 8, DuBois (D) 32; T-9, Central Mountain (CM) 24; T-9, Mifflin County (MC) 24; 11, Bellefonte (B) 20; 12, Bradford (BR) 14; 13, Juniata (J) 10; 14, Warren (W) 7; 15, Saint Marys (SM) 6.

100 dash: 1, Friedenberger, A, 11.12; 2, Michaels, L, 11.36; 3, Benjamin, D, 11.5; 4, Burkett, D, 11.5; 5, Putman, SW, 11.56; 6, Reid, A, 11.62. 200 dash: 1, Prola, H, 22.95; 2, Lesher, SW, 23.08; 3, Putt, I, 23.09; 4, Michaels, L, 23.09; 5, Benjamin, D, 23.63; 6, Sanchez-Rodriguez, L, 23.66. 400 dash: 1, Putt, I, 50.25; 2, Prola, H, 51.09; 3, Bankert, SW, 52.07; 4, Staniar, SC, 52.65; 5, Lesher, SW, 52.67; 6, Berzonsky, I, 52.94. 800 run: 1, Hess, L, 1:55.79; 2, Singh, SW, 1:58.36; 3, Tzolov, SC, 2:02.58; 4, Zook, L, 2:03.62; 5, Tuttoilmondo, H, 2:03.76; 6, Boutiller, A, 2:04.19. 1600 run: 1, Sloff, SC, 4:29.83; 2, Dinant, SC, 4:33.54; 3, Royer, MC, 4:36.25; 4, Hess, L, 4:38.25; 5, Singh, SW, 4:39.2; 6, Berznosky, I, 4:40.68. 3200 run: 1, Endres, SC, 9:53.36; 2, S. Endres, SC, 10:02.01; 3, Singh, SW, 10:11.38; 4, Coffey, MC, 10:16.45; 5, Bomberger, J, 10:21; 6, Stroup, J, 10:21.16. 110 hurdles: 1, Bell, SW, 15.25; 2, Kline, C, 15.86; 3, Williams, A, 16.33; 4, Collins, C, 16.51; 5, Best, W, 16.56; 6, Sites-Byers, SW, 16.58. 300 hurdles: 1, Lindenberg, SC, 41.37; 2, Kline, C, 41.93; 3, Collins, C, 42.9; 4, Mercado-Bonan, L, 43.29; 5, Sites-Byers, SW, 43.6; 6, Best, W, 43.92.

400 relay: 1, Altoona, 43.48; 2, South Western, 44.78; 3, Lewisburg, 44.92; 4, State College, 44.99; 5, DuBois, 45.75; 6, Hempfield, 47.07. 1600 relay: 1, South Western, 3:32.19; 2, Indiana, 3:32.32; 3, State College, 3:32.65; 4, Lewisburg, 3:45.49; 5, Hempfield, 3:51.57; 6, Altoona, 4:01.28. 3200 relay: 1, State College, 8:10.7; 2, Altoona, 8:16.01; 3, Bradford, 8:35.13; 4, Bellefonte, 9:05.44; 5, DuBois, 9:08.09; 6, Hempfield, 9:09.76. High jump: 1, Derry, SW, 6-0; 2, Martin, SW, 5-10; 3, B. Adams, A, 5-10; 4, Gerlach, CM, 5-10; 5, Ser, H, 5-8; 6, Shaffer-Doan, D, 5-8. Long jump: 1, J. Adams, A, 23-0; 2, Kane, BR, 19-11.5; 3, Bodner, SC, 19-5; 4, Miller, B, 19-2.5; 5, Hummel, B, 19-1.5; 6, Stumbris, L, 19-0. Triple jump: 1, B. Adams, A, 43-3; 2, Djameh, SW, 41-2; 3, King, MC, 40-4; 4, Gerlach, CM, 39-9.5; 5, Hummel, B, 37-11.5; 6, Martin, SW, 37-11. Shot put: 1, Sierk, H, 49-1; 2, Stroup, A, 48-9; 3, Maher, SC, 48-8.25; 4, Gose, L, 47-1.25; 5, Murray, H, 45.9.25; 6, Dawes, CM, 44-1. Discus: 1, Murray, H, 156-9; 2, Gose, L, 149-0; 3, Sierk, H, 138-7; 4, Stratts, CM, 138-6; 5, Spencer, SC, 137-11; 6, Price, MC, 114-1. Javelin: 1, Stroup, A, 158-1; 2, Haas, SC, 140-1; 3, Morgan, SW, 130-4; 4, Samsel, C, 130-3; 5, Sites-Byers, SW, 127-9; 6, Becker, D, 124-9. Pole vault: not held.

GIRLS

TEAM STANDINGS/KEY

T-1, State College (SC) 97; T-1, Hempfield (H) 97; 3, Altoona (A) 86; 4, Saint Marys (SM) 75; 5, Indiana (I) 60; 6, DuBois (D) 58; 7, South Western (SW) 53; 8, Central Mountain (CM) 37; 9, Clearfield (C) 29; 10, Bradford (BR) 21; T-11, Somerset (S) 20; T-11, Mifflin County (MC) 20; 13, Bellefonte (B) 10.

100 dash: 1, Rios, S, 12.67; 2, Hileman, A, 12.85; 3, Ullman, I, 13.04; 4, Long, A, 13.16; 5, Smith, C, 13.32; 6, Caskey, SM, 13.35. 200 dash: 1, Huey, I, 25.1 (new meet record); 2, Rios, S, 25.97; 3, Ullman, I, 26.98; 4, Smith, C, 28.03; 5, Field, SC, 28.71; 6, Plowman, CM, 28.74. 400 dash: 1, Huey, I, 59.96; 2, Bentzel, SW, 1:01.4; 3, Poindexter, SC, 1:02.45; 4, Shulski, SW, 1:04.12; 5, Winters, C, 1:04.55; 6, Schubach, CM, 1:05.18. 800 run: 1, Morningstar, SC, 2:19.96; 2, Cubbison, MC, 2:20.83; 3, Blahovec, H, 2:22.81; 4, Murphy, H, 2:29.59; 5, Bigger, SC, 2:30.12; 6, Blythe, SM, 2:30.6. 1600 run: 1, Cubbison, MC, 5:05.88; 2, Kwasnica, SC, 5:09.55; 3, Roemer, D, 5:10.09; 4, Pistner, SM, 5:17.68; 5, Koncoski, SC, 5:24.02; 6, Wilber, A, 5:33.79. 3200 run: 1, Roemer, D, 11:15.63; 2, Devan, SC, 11:36.45; 3, Weimer, H, 11:49.44; 4, Kelley, A, 11:59.23; 5, Watson, SW, 12:11.22; 6, Dougherty, H, 12:12.14. 100 hurdles: 1, Kravetz, A, 16.34; 2, Simmons, H, 16.42; 3, Tate, SC, 16.91; 4, Bender, C, 17.03; 5, Torri, H, 17.04; 6, Caskey, SM, 17.05. 300 hurdles: 1, Caskey, SM, 48.04; 2, Bender, C, 48.31; 3, Simmons, H, 48.35; 4, Leppo, SW, 49.44; 5, Irwin, A, 49.69; 6, Gray, H, 50.04.

400 relay: 1, Altoona, 50.72; 2, DuBois, 53.05; 3, Hempfield, 53.55; 4, Central Mountain, 54.17; 5, Bradford, 54.65; 6, Saint Mary's, 55.04. 1600 relay: 1, State College, 4:09.62; 2, Saint Mary's, 4:12.73; 3, Indiana, 4:18; 4, South Western, 4:20.1; 5, Hempfield, 4:21.52; 6, Central Mountain, 4:30.89. 3200 relay: 1, Hempfield, 9:54.96; 2, Saint Mary's, 10:01.81; 3, Altoona, 10:17.06; 4, State College, 10:18.69; 5, Bradford, 10:27.98; 6, Indiana, 10:31.69. High jump: 1, Lehker, SW, 5-2; 2, Geist-Salone, D, 4-7; 3, Crabtree, D, 4-5; 4, Kilmartin, A, 4-5; 5, Anthony, SM, 4-5; 6, Iwig, H, 4-3. Long jump: 1, Long, A, 18-0.25; 2, Mullin, SC, 17-9; 3, Hendricks, CM, 16-2; 4, Gray, H, 15-11; 5, Antoniono, SC, 15-8.25; 6, Proctor, B, 14-9.5. Triple jump: 1, Mullin, SC, 38-9.25; 2, Long, A, 37-7.5; 3, Hendricks, CM, 35-8.5; 4, Stroka, D, 34-7; 5, Nuzzo, BR, 31-9; 6, Underwood, B, 31-4.75. Shot put: 1, Tapper, H, 34-9.25; 2, Bauer, SM, 33-4; 3, Nicklas, SM, 30-5.5; 4, Harnois, SW, 30-1.75; 5, Kovalchick, I, 30-0.25; 6, Ostrosky, H, 29-11.25. Discus: 1, Bauer, SM, 104-11; 2, Harnois, SW, 104-6; 3, Tapper, H, 94-1; 4, Dull, A, 91-4; 5, Rizzo, CM, 90-7; 6, Kovalchick, I, 90-6. Javelin: 1, Lubold, I, 99-0; 2, Nuzzo, BR, 98-9; 3, Banker, SC, 89-1; 4, Springer, H, 87-0; 5, Banfill, CM, 83-8; 6, Kopysciansky, CM, 82-7. Pole vault: not held.

CLASS 2A

BOYS

TEAM STANDINGS/KEY

1, Punxsutawney (P) 104; 2, Kane (K) 101; 3, Westmont Hilltop (WH) 84; 4, Philipsburg-Osceola (PO) 56; 5, West Branch (WB) 48; 6, Bishop Carroll (BC) 46; 7, Purchase Line (PL) 39; 8, Homer-Center (HC) 33; 9, Penns Valley (PV) 30; 10, Elk County Catholic (ECC) 25; 11, Marion Center (MC) 24; 12, Derry (D) 22; 13, River Valley (RV) 18; 14, Bishop Guilfoyle (BG) 4.

100 dash: 1, Zitnay, WH, 11.34; 2, Bean, WH, 11.35; 3, Droz, WH, 11.65; 4, Greenblatt, P, 11.86; 5, West, K, 12.04; 6, Farabaugh, BC, 12.04. 200 dash: 1, Zitnay, WH, 23.08; 2, Bell, K, 23.14; 3, Greenblatt, P, 24.25; 4, Little, PO, 24.54; 5, Simmons, HC, 25.51; 6, Ryan, BC, 25.94. 400 dash: 1, Bell, K, 51.13; 2, Syster, PL, 52.18; 3, Risinger, MC, 53.79; 4, Little, PO, 53.91; 5, Carr, WB, 54.69; 6, O'Donald, PV, 54.87. 800 run: 1, Groce, P, 2:06.79; 2, George, WH, 2:11.51; 3, Stavola, WB, 2:18.6; 4, Todd, HC, 2:20.78; 5, Kovach, WH, 2:21.05; 6, Polaski, ECC, 2:25.92. 1600 run: 1, Green, MC, 4:51.54; 2, George, WH, 4:52.07; 3, Kovach, WH, 4:57.69; 4, Straub, ECC, 5:00.33; 5, Wright, PL, 5:01.84; 6, Reamer, PV, 5:05.14. 3200 run: 1, Muckey, PO, 10:07.47; 2, Reamer, PV, 10:37.2; 3, Mishic, K, 10:46.15; 4, Wright, PL, 11:08.2; 5, Lenze, P, 11:25.21; 6, Lanzel, ECC, 12:07.07. 110 hurdles: 1, Elliott, P, 16.34; 2, Bainey, WB, 17.4; 3, Faust, PO, 18.28; 4, Revoir, D, 19.11; 5, Farabaugh, BC, 19.55; 6, Sirsikar, BC, 21.12. 300 hurdles: 1, Elliott, P, 44.44; 2, Bainey, WB, 44.46; 3, Kimler, PV, 46.15; 4, Urmann, ECC, 46.64; 5, Faust, PO, 48.51; 6, Miller, D, 50.09.

400 relay: 1, Punxsutawney, 46.13; 2, Westmont Hilltop, 46.14; 3, Kane, 46.8; 4, River Valley, 48.16; 5, Derry, 49.12; 6, Homer-Center, 49.78 . 1600 relay: 1, Kane, 3:40.64; 2, West Branch, 3:50.84; 3, Homer-Center, 4:00.73; 4, Philipsburg-Osceola, 4:06.3. 3200 relay: 1, Kane, 8:44.92; 2, Punxsutawney, 8:56.71; 3, West Branch, 9:04.72; 4, Elk County Catholic, 9:33.37; 5, Marion Center, 9:37.29; 6, Homer-Center, 10:27.18. High jump: 1, Lundeen, K, 5-10; 2, Droz, WH, 5-8; 3, Bloom, WB, 5-4; 4, Nesbitt, P, 5-2. Long jump: 1, Lundeen, K, 22-5.5 (new record); 2, Fenton, PO, 18-4.5; 3, Presloid, P, 13-3; 4, Farabaugh, BC, 18-3; 5, Heigley, P, 17-11.5; 6, Braucht, PV, 17-11.5. Triple jump: 1, Zampogna, K, 43-0; 2, Buday, WH, 38-11.5; 3, Farabaugh, BC, 38-8; 4, Sheridan, WH, 38-2.25; 5, Clark, D, 37-5.25; 6, Ploskunak, MC, 36-11. Shot put: 1, Harker, BC, 43-1; 2, Grusky, P, 40-1.5; 3, Bence, HC, 39-6; 4, Brown, K, 38-8.75; 5, Batten, PL, 38-7; 6, Pollock, BG, 38-0. Discus: 1, Harker, BC, 116-6; 2, Huber, K, 115-4; 3, Roessler, RV, 103-11; 4, Grusky, P, 102-3; 5, Kephart, PO, 101-9; 6, Bence, HC, 91-6. Javelin: 1, Elick, PL, 145-9; 2, Scott, PL, 141-8; 3, Romig, PV, 129-7; 4, Reese, PO, 116-6; 5, Plants, K, 115-4; 6, Kephart, PO, 113-6. Pole vault: not held.

GIRLS

TEAM STANDINGS/KEY

1, Punxsutawney (P) 103.5; 2, Lewisburg (L) 100; 3, Elk County Catholic (ECC) 54; 4, Penns Valley (PV) 49; 5, Warren (W) 48; 6, Derry (D) 47.5; 7, Juniata (J) 44; 8, Westmont Hilltop (WH) 39; 9, Kane (K) 33; 10, Homer-Center (HC) 32; 11, Philipsburg-Osceola (PO) 31; 12, River Valley (RV) 30; 13, Purchase Line (PL) 14; 14, Marion Center (MC) 9; 15, Grier 8; 16, West Branch (WB) 6; 17, Bishop Guilfoyle (BG) 4; 18, Bishop Carroll (BC) 1.

100 dash: 1, Pannebaker, J, 13.08; 2, Still, L, 13.39; 3, Gatto, W, 13.56; 4, Spicher, L, 13.59; 5, Madigan, W, 13.67; 6, Omlor, D, 13.7. 200 dash: 1, Pannebaker, J, 27.24; 2, Gatto, W, 28.23; 3, Bozella, L, 28.61; 4, Omlor, D, 28.66; 5, Barger, PO, 29.16; 6, Getch, P, 29.97. 400 dash: 1, McConnell, RV, 1:03.86; 2, Stitzer, PV, 1:04.28; 3, Madigan, W, 1:05.52; 4, Bish, P, 1:07.37; 5, Gatto, W, 1:09.12; 6, Williams, D, 1:09.45. 800 run: 1, Stitzer, PV, 2:25.77; 2, Hicks, P, 2:28.77; 3, Huss, D, 2:30.35; 4, Ward, PL, 2:31.72; 5, Binney, L, 2:35.63; 6, Beyer, W, 2:36.26. 1600 run: 1, Beyer, W, 5:33.14; 2, Bille, ECC, 5:35.33; 3, Admire, WH, 5:36.89; 4, Dum, PV, 5:39.58; 5, Binney, L, 5:42.87; 6, Poole, P, 5:56.49. 3200 run: 1, Neubert, ECC, 11:41.37; 2, Manfred, Grier, 11:42.47; 3, Stitzer, PV, 11:50.74; 4, Rulander, W, 11:54.53; 5, Dill, WH, 12:00.99; 6, Poole, P, 12:45.28. 100 hurdles: 1, Brazier, L, 15.84; 2, Ikeler, L, 16.71; 3, Bennett, J, 17.65; 4, Kane, WH, 17.83; 5, Quinn, BG, 18.29; 6, Stambolia, HC, 19.01. 300 hurdles: 1, Brazier, L, 49.51; 2, Cardello, L, 51.26; 3, Straub, ECC, 53.73; 4, Gianvito, P, 53.77; 5, Peterman, D, 55.29; 6, Smith, J, 55.64.

400 relay: 1, Lewisburg, 52.9; 2, Juniata, 54.65; 3, Punxsutawney, 55.15; 4, Elk County Catholic, 56.33; 5, Penns Valley, 56.7; 6, Homer-Center, 57.26. 1600 relay: 1, Lewisburg, 4:14.11; 2, Derry, 4:32.39; 3, Punxsutawney, 4:38.69; 4, Kane, 5:10.07. 3200 relay: 1, Lewisburg, 10:04.81; 2, Punxsutawney, 10:13.6; 3, Elk County Catholic, 10:16.78; 4, Marion Center, 10:25.23; 5, Derry, 10:32.58; 6, Purchase Line, 10:47.88. High jump: 1, Upcraft, PV, 5-0; 2, Hanley, P, 4-8; 3, McConnell, RV, 4-8; T-4, Leidan, WH, 4-4; T-4, Griebel, P, 4-4; 6, Graybill, J, 4-4. Long jump: 1, Riley, P, 15-8; 2, Kane, WH, 14-6; 3, Geci, ECC, 14-5; 4, Bainey, PO, 14-4; 5, Sloff, ECC, 14-2.25; 6, Gentzel, PV, 14-0. Triple jump: 1, Kane, WH, 33-9.75; 2, Baker, D, 33-3.5; 3, Bainey, PO, 31-6.5; 4, Straub, ECC, 31-6.25; 5, Conklin, K, 30-6; 6, Page, HC, 30-2. Shot put: 1, Sharp, HC, 40-4.25; 2, Miller, P, 34-2; 3, Jackson, RV, 33-8; 4, Grusky, P, 31-6; 5, Leasure, MC, 31-0; 6, Bungard, D, 30-11.5. Discus: 1, Sharp, HC, 125-3; 2, Costanzo, K, 92-1; 3, Jackson, RV, 90-11; 4, Grusky, P, 88-1; 5, Miller, P, 84-3; 6, Falisec, PL, 82-3. Javelin: 1, Grusky, P, 114-4; 2, Hillman, K, 101-9; 3, Croyle, WB, 101-6; 4, Costanzo, K, 100-5; 5, Still, L, 100-4; 6, Butler, PO, 97-11. Pole vault: not held.