Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Mirror Athletes of the year are Penn Cambria’s Garrett Harrold and Bellwood-Antis’ Lydia Worthing. Both were three-sport standouts during their scholastic careers.

Penn State Altoona men’s basketball coach David McGreal stressed versatility in his message to the high school athletes gathered at Monday’s 18th annual Altoona Mirror Athlete of the Year Banquet at the Casino at Lakemont Park.

“I was a four-sport letterwinner in high school,” McGreal said. “I’m a big believer in kids developing themselves in multiple sports to see what their true talent is in. Nobody should be specializing in sports at 7 or 8 years old. I had a parent tell me about his kid about to come to our basketball camp, and the dad told me he was going to have to make his son decide what he wants to do. The kid was 8. Let’s not start specializing these young men and women at 6, 7 or 8. Let’s let them see what they want and let them develop on their own and find their own passion in sports.”

Fittingly, this year’s Mirror’s Male and Female Athletes of the Year each star in three different sports.

Penn Cambria senior Garrett Harrold and Bellwood-Antis senior Lydia Worthing received top honors at a banquet filled with many of the most talented athletes in the region.

Harrold is an all-state quarterback, all-state basketball player and one of the top catchers in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference. He will be attending Division I Duquesne to play quarterback on a football scholarship in the fall, but his performance on the court may have been what pushed him to Monday’s honor.

He scored the go-ahead basket in the final seconds of Penn Cambria’s victory over Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic in the District 6 Class 3A championship game and then led the Panthers to their first appearance in the PIAA semifinals in school history.

“Like (McGreal) said, I think it’s crucial to play multiple sports,” Harrold said. “You never know where a sport can put you. It can lead you to many different things, and I think each sport goes hand-in-hand with each other. I think if you can master one sport, it kind of leads to another sport. I think it’s good for you. The more sports you play, the better off you are.”

Harrold edged classmates such as Central’s Jeff Hoenstine — who won the Mirror Male Athlete of the Year last year — and Eli Lingenfelter. Hoenstine had another monster season for the Scarlet Dragons, leading the football team to the PIAA semifinals and throwing for nearly 4,000 yards. He’s helped Central go 19-2 in baseball so far this season and has them in the District 6 semifinals.

“I wouldn’t want any other guy to compete with,” Harrold said. “I know we’re both competitive, but it has been awesome playing against each other. Our dads were college roommates, so we’re pretty familiar with each other. It’s awesome to have someone and some team you look forward to playing each year. It was always a good time.”

Lingenfelter was Hoenstine’s top target in football. He caught a state-record 27 touchdown passes and went on to be voted first team on the Altoona Mirror basketball squad and is one of the top jumpers in the district in track and field.

Off the field or court, Hoenstine, Harrold and Lingenfelter are all good friends.

“I’m really happy for Garrett that he was able to win that award tonight,” Hoenstine said. “He’s a great athlete, probably one of the best this area has to offer, and he definitely deserved it. It was an honor to compete against him throughout our high school careers. It was a really cool experience with some bittersweet moments on the field. We are friends off the field, but we’re both real big competitors, so when it was time to play, we both were really trying to win.”

The Altoona Mirror Female Athlete of the Year went to Worthing, a former all-state volleyball player, a first-team Altoona Mirror basketball all-star as a senior and a multiple-time District 6 pole vault champion who medaled at the PIAA meet last year in the event.

“It’s such a huge honor,” Worthing said. “It took me by surprise, because there are so many great athletes here. I’m just super excited, honored and appreciative of everyone. I owe everything to my family, coaches and teammates for everything I have been able to accomplish over the years.”

When Worthing was at the same age the child McGreal spoke about, she did not specialize. She chose to branch out, and she was rewarded once again for that decision Monday evening.

“I owe any of my athletic ability to my parents,” Worthing said. “They have been driving me to everything since I was 8. I have been doing everything under the sun. I would get bored with one sport. I am stoked for everything in the future and super honored with this award.”

Other athletes honored in addition to the 76 Mirror Athletes of the Week so far this year were Altoona’s Trent Meyers (Frank Kiraly Award for golf), Central Cambria’s Aiden Lechleitner (Angie Gioiosa Award for distance running), Hollidaysburg’s Gretta Rhodes (Herb Faris Award for tennis), Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic’s Lia Simanski (Erin Dodson Award for volleyball), Bellwood-Antis’ Alexis Lovrich (Female Ron Rickens Sportsmanship Award), Altoona’s Sean Bettwy (Male Ron Rickens Sportsmanship Award), Hoenstine (Dean Rossi Leadership Award) and Tyrone’s Chloe LaRosa (Erin Johnson Inspiration Award for overcoming adversity).

McGreal’s final message of the night was to stress sportsmanship and just being a nice person, and those attributes being the true definition of being “cool.”

Perhaps then, Lovrich performed the “coolest” act of the 2022-2023 high school sports season.

When competing in the Blair-Huntingdon County Cross Country meet this past year, Lovrich approached the finish line to find a struggling Edith Manfred, a star runner from Grier School.

Lovrich not only stopped to check on Manfred, she helped her up — and then proceeded to help her across the finish line ahead of herself rather than pass her for a higher individual finish, even though Lovrich and Manfred are just casual friends through track and cross country.

“I was really confused, because she’s an amazing runner,” Lovrich said. “I didn’t know what was going on, but she looked like she was in pain. She deserved to get first that day. She was ahead by a lot. She was going to win. It just felt like instinct took over, and it felt like the right thing to do.”