Trending
By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Altoona's Bron Mosley has been enjoying a pretty special senior year athletically for the Mountain Lions.
He led the Mirror's coverage area in rushing for the football team last fall and leads the Mirror's honor roll in the shot put and has come close to Mike Reid's long-standing school record in the event.
Mosley didn't break the record at Tuesday's first day of the District 6 Class 3A championships at Mansion Park, but he redeemed himself from what he called a disappointing third-place finish in the event as a junior by taking home district gold and earning a trip to the PIAA meet in Shippensburg next week.
"Ever since last year placing third, this has been my goal," Mosley said. "It's really fulfilling for me."
Mosley won the shot put with a throw of 54 feet, 11.75 inches, a throw he made after nearly falling in a slippery shot circle.
"Especially for people that spin, any kind of slippery surface is not ideal," Mosley said. "On my last throw, I actually almost fell. I had to recover and throw again. It's always more difficult, but everyone is throwing in the same conditions, so you can't complain."
Mosley's experience and knowing his form helped him reset and avoid disaster on the last throw.
"Whenever I come through my first rotation and I feel like all of my weight is on the tips of my toes, I already know that it's going to be a bad throw, because I don't have any push off it," Mosley said. "Any time I feel unbalanced or uncentered or maybe my timing isn't correct, that's when I know I have to reset."
The conditions weren't ideal to set the school record, but he's hoping that comes at states.
"Pushing off my left foot on my first rotation, I couldn't have any push or else I'd slip," Mosley said. "The conditions affected it a little bit."
Hollidaysburg also had a champion crowned on Tuesday when Caden DeLattre won the triple jump on his last jump at 47-7 after fouling on his first two attempts in the finals.
"I always seem to save it for my last jump," DeLattre said. "It's crazy. I scratched the first two in the finals. They were all good jumps, so I knew I just had to move back a little bit and get one in. I scratched a bunch of jumps today. My first jump was probably my best jump of the day. Everyone was saying it was out there close to 48, so if I can save that for states next week, that would be great."
DeLattre's final jump pushed Altoona's Xavier Williams to second, but he qualified for the PIAA meet by reaching the state standard with a jump of 46-9.5.
"I think I did pretty well," Williams said. "I just started last year during districts, and to hit what I did today, I think it's a big thing. I was very excited for triple jump going into this year and I'm happy to be moving on."
DeLattre will be among the favorites to win today's long jump and said he has mixed feelings on the meet being split into two days.
"Sometimes whenever you do well in one event, you're hyped up," DeLattre said. "Then, if you have to wait until the next day, your adrenaline goes down. But it's good to have a nice rest day in between too to hopefully get a medal the next day too."
But DeLattre is thankful he'll already come into the day as a District 6 champion.
"It's awesome," DeLattre said. "I'm just so blessed to be able to have this ability to jump consistently every year."
On the girls side, freshman Ashlyn Noce of Altoona won the 1600-meter District 6 championship in 5:07.79.
"I work really hard at practice, and I do my best to keep pushing myself further," Noce said. "I'm really excited about this. I worked really hard this season, and I have just been improving so much. I was really happy with my race today. It's a great opportunity to be able to advance to states."
Noce said she's looking forward to her first state meet.
"I just want to improve my time even more," Noce said. "I'm looking forward to getting better through my following seasons."
Central Mountain's Lily Hendricks won the triple jump, but two Altoona jumpers reached the state qualifying standard to also make it to Shippensburg.
Triumph Kilmartin was second with a distance of 37-2.25, and Jill Long was third in 36-9.75.
KEY: Altoona (A); Bellefonte (B); Central Mountain (CM); Hollidaysburg (H); Johnstown (J); Mifflin County (MC); State College (SC)
BOYS
1600 run: 1, Smith, MC, 4:16.15; *2, Coughlin, SC, 4:18.18; *3, Endres, SC, 4:18.66; *4, Opperman, SC, 4:19.13; 5, Woomer, A, 4:30.06; 6, Bell, MC, 4:31.63; 7, Webster, A, 4:38.87; 8, Cubbison, MC, 4:43.25.
Triple jump: 1, Ca. DeLattre, H, 47-7; 2, Williams, A, 46-9.5; 3, Co. DeLattre, H, 41-10.25; 4, Grabill, H, 41-5.25; 5, Plank, MC, 41-2.75; 6, Warren, CM, 40-2.5; 7, Bodner, SC, 39-6.25; 8, McNitt, MC, 39-6. Shot put: 1, Mosley, A, 54-11.75; 2, Dawes, CM, 48-0; 3, Haas, SC, 47-4; 4, Harrington, A, 44-11.25; 5, Troutman, A, 43-9.75; 6, McCoy, H, 43-3.5; 7, Renninger, MC, 41-10.75; 8, Bechtel, SC, 41-1.75.
GIRLS
1600 run: 1, Noce, A, 5:07.79; 2, Jackson, SC, 5:14.76; 3, Stoltz, A, 5:20.28; 4, Bigger, SC, 5:22.4; 5, Keohane, CM, 5:22.89; 6, Wadhia, SC, 5:24.64; 7, Carney, H, 5:24.86; 8, Snare, A, 5:34.73.
Triple jump: 1, Hendricks, CM, 37-8.5; *2, Kilmartin, A, 37-2.25; *3, Long, A, 36-9.75; *4, Abdullah, SC, 36-9.5; *5, Sekon, SC, 36-8.75; 6, Clapper, H, 36-1; 7, Owulede, A, 34-11.5; 8, Helms, B, 34-2.75. Shot put: 1, Tate, SC, 35-10.75; 2, Noel, A, 35-5; 3, Miller, B, 32-6; 4, Yost, A, 31-10.5; 5, King, MC, 29-6; 6, Muth, H, 29-3; 7, Lipski, SC, 28-8; 8, Brick, H, 28-7. Pole vault: 1, Schellenberg, B, 10-7; 2, Zimmerman, CM, 9-6; 3, Bower, A, 9-6; 4, Banker, SC, 8-6; 5, Pastore, A, 8-6; 6, Roop, SC, 8-6; 7, Nau, B, 8-6; 8, Billetdeaux, A, 8-6.
*Advancing to states by state qualifying standard