CC’s maneuvering pays off on the medal stand
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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Central Cambria is expected to be in the hunt to win the District 6 boys track and field team championship, but head coach Matt Miller recently spent some time trying to figure out how to expand his team's point potential.
"We were looking at some of the dual meets, some of the closer meets, at how we could get points," Miller said. "(Nolan Wyrwas) suggested trying (the long jump). He tried it at practice and was jumping like 20 feet, so it was kind of a no-brainer from there. Anyone who is fast usually can be a good long jumper."
After two practices, Wyrwas, a senior who was only doing the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter relay previously, was penciled in as a long jumper for the rest of the season.
Tuesday at the first day of districts, it more than paid off as Wyrwas found himself on top of the medal stand as the District 6 Class 2A long jump champion after a leap of 21 feet, 4 inches at Mansion Park.
"It feels good," Wyrwas said. "I haven't long jumped since middle school until three meets ago. I got told I'm long jumping. Now, I'm here at districts and just took first."
Wyrwas entered the meet seeded sixth and recently finished third at the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference meet behind third-place finisher Josh Stolarski of Penn Cambria, who also advanced to states in the event.
"Speed," Wyrwas said. "I was lacking speed at the beginning, but after the 100 (prelims), I was feeling pretty good and had one more attempt left, so I just gave it my all. There were a lot more people here. A lot more competition, and I was really motivated to get up to the top three. Here I am with first place."
Now, Wyrwas will get a chance to compete at the PIAA championships.
"It's very impressive," Miller said. "He works hard though. He lifts almost every day. He's a vocal leader with the running workouts we do. All the pieces were there, we just had to get him in the event."
Central Cambria is in second place as a team after the first day, which saw five of the 18 total events scored.
"That could be a game-changer, for sure," Miller said. "It's kind of like found money."
The team currently in first place, Central, had the winner and runner-up in the javelin. Rylan Daugherty won the District 6 title with a throw of 175 feet, 11 inches, and Kade Rhule was second with a throw of 165 feet, 9 inches.
"Our goal the whole year was to come here and be No. 1 and No. 2," Daugherty said. "We knew we were the two top seeds coming into this, but we had to get the job done, and we did."
Daugherty has come on lately and won a LHAC title last week.
"It feels good after finishing seventh (at districts) last year," Daugherty said. "I didn't quite get where I wanted to last year. I put a lot of hard work in, and I'm glad it paid off in the end."
Scarlet Dragons teammate Eli Lingenfelter will join Daugherty and Rhule at states after finishing second in the high jump. Portage's Bode Layo was third and will also advance. Ben Griffin, also from Central, was third in the discus to punch his ticket to Shippensburg, and Bishop Carroll's Jacob Harker was the runner-up.
Central Cambria's Aiden Lechleitner qualified for the PIAA meet by finishing as the runner-up in the mile race to Huntingdon's Tyler Radar.
Penn Cambria hurdler Andre Marinak avoided disaster when he wiped up and collapsed on his last hurdle while way out in front in the 300-meter hurdle preliminaries but was able to stand up and finish the race ahead of everyone else in his heat and qualify for finals today.
In Class 3A boys competition, Altoona junior Nathan Lutz continued his stellar season with a pole vault championship by clearing 15 feet, 6 inches.
"I crushed the infamous 15-6, so I'm excited for that," Lutz said. "I love it. I have been working hard all year, and to be a district champion is a good feeling for sure."
Lutz is eyeing the Altoona school record of 16 feet for the state meet.
"I'd love to win, but 16 would be great," Lutz said. "I just have to keep pushing and keep working, and I'll get there."
Hollidaysburg's Caden DeLattre finished as the runner-up in the triple jump, but he made states by reaching the state qualifying mark of 45 feet.
"I'll have way more confidence at (Shippensburg) now that I made it," DeLattre said. "At the Altoona Classic, he jumped like a 41, so I was pretty confident that I was going to win. I just showed up today and wasn't feeling my best. I had a few bad jumps, but I got into the finals. On my last jump in finals, I knew I had to hit 45 to go to states, so I got myself together and jumped a good one."
3A
KEY--Altoona (A); Central Mountain (CM); Johnstown (J); Hollidaysburg (H); Mifflin County (MC); State College (SC).
1600 run: 1, Sloff, SC, 4:14.41**; 2, Viglione, SC, 4:25.25; 3, Endres, SC, 4:26.24; 4, Woomer, A, 4:35.57; 5, Bell, MC, 4:38.59; 6, Fox, A, 4:44.85; 7, Eberhart, H, 4:50.16; 8, Cubbison, MC, 4:50.22. Triple jump: 1, King, MC, 46-1.5; 2, Ca. DeLattre, H, 45-9.5*; 3, Williams, A, 44-9; 4, Adams, A, 43-7; 5, Grabill, H, 42-6.5; 6, Conway, J, 41-10.5; 7, Bodner, SC, 40-7; 8, Brinker, CM, 40-0. Shot put: 1, Spencer, SC, 50-2.75; 2, Dawes, CM, 50-1.25; 3, Mosely, A, 49-0; 4, Haas, SC, 46-9.75; 5, Walk, A, 45-8; 6, Solbakken, SC, 45-0.75; 7, Renninger, MC, 42-4.75; 8, Troutman, A, 41-4.75. Pole vault: 1, Lutz, A, 15-6; 2, Bodner, SC, 13-9; 3, Tryninewski, H, 12-9; 4, A. Bell, SC, 12-3; 5, Singer, H, 12-3; 6, Wright, H, 12-3; 7, Small, MC, 11-9; 8, S. Bell, SC, 11-3.
2A
KEY--Bald Eagle Area (BEA); Bellefonte (B); Bellwood-Antis (BA); Bishop Carroll (BC); Bishop McCort (BM); Blacklick Valley (BV); Cambria Heights (CH); Central (C); Central Cambria (CC); Forest Hills (FH); Homer-Center (HC); Huntingdon (H); Juniata (J); Marion Center (MC); Mount Union (MU); Northern Cambria (NC); Penn Cambria (PC); Penns Manor (PM); Penns Valley (PV); Philipsburg-Osceola (PO); Portage (P); Purchase Line (PL); Richland (R); River Valley (RV); Saint Joseph's (SJ); Southern Huntingdon (SH); Tyrone (T); United (U); West Branch (WB); Westmont Hilltop (WH); Williamsburg (W).
1600 run: 1, Radar, H, 4:17.21; 2, Lechleitner, CC, 4:23.67; 3, Crist, B, 4:26.67; 4, Muckey, PO, 4:29.7*; 5, Simander, SJ, 4:31.61; 6, Ebeling, B, 4:31.63; 7, Stroup, J, 4:32.78; 8, Kuntz, CC, 4:33.82. High jump: 1, Gates, BEA, 6-3; 2, Lingenfelter, C, 6-3; 3, Layo, P, 6-1; 4, Shepps, J, 6-1; 5, Bark, JV, 5-11; 6, Marinak, PC, 5-11; 7, Dunn, C, 5-11; 8, Brooks, BEA, 5-11. Long jump: 1, Wyrwas, CC, 21-4; 2, Sheridan, WH, 21-2; 3, Stolarski, PC, 20-8; 4, McDermott, PC, 20-6.25; 5, Weaver, T, 20-3; 6, Myers, NC, 19-10; 7, Brooks, PV, 19-8.25; 8, Reck, MU, 19-3.75. Discus: 1, Polenik, PM, 158-7; 2, Harker, BC, 145-4; 3, Griffin, C, 137-4; 4, Shutty, NC, 135-6; 5, Albright, C, 134-11; 6, Hancock, R, 132-5; 7, Layo, P, 130-0; 8, Hollis, R, 128-4. Javelin: 1, Daugherty, C, 175-11; 2, Rhule, C, 165-9; 3, Elick, PL, 162-0; 4, Chase, R, 158-2; 5, Lewis, PM, 152-2; 6, C. Schreier, BA, 150-8; 7, Lingenfelter, C, 149-8; 8, Ehrenzeller, J, 149-2.
*--Made PIAA meet by reaching state qualifying standard
**--Meet record