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Record day at Altoona event part of Central’s Lanee Berkhimer’s resume

By Buck Frank 5 min read

Central High School's Lanee Berkhimer established herself as one of the top cross country runners in the area several years ago.

Now a senior, Berkhimer continues to build her resume.

Berkhimer set a Logan Elementary School course record in winning the varsity girls race on a sunny Saturday morning in the annual Altoona Cross Country Invitational.

Berkhimer blitzed the course in 18 minutes, 9.33 seconds to best the record of 18:33 set by Emily Fisher of Somerset last season. Altoona junior Ashlyn Noce was the runner-up, finishing in 18:34.45.

"I've had a couple of meets (so far this year), and I knew this one was bigger, so I knew I would have the opportunity to (set the course record) -- and with good girls (to compete against),'' Berkhimer said. "So I just wanted to come out, race hard, feel good and if first (place) and the course record were at the end, then that was just God's plan.''

Berkhimer has been enjoying a strong season -- she also broke the Hollidaysburg course record earlier last week. She said it's been enjoyable after having bronchitis at the end of her junior season when she saw some of her times increase.

"I've constantly had injuries, sickness, trying to figure out what training works,'' Berkhimer said. "But I thank God through it all because he helped me learn things that I wouldn't have been able to learn. So, now that the training is good, I have some things figured out, it's starting to click, and I'm just super hopeful.''

Berkhimer was the District 6 1A champion as a freshman and sophomore, when she also finished 10th and seventh at the PIAA Championships, respectively. Last year, in 2A, she was second at districts and was 17th at states.

"I just want to stay consistent, get faster and put up a good time as states, and hopefully place pretty high,'' she said.

While Berkhimer was one of four Central girls runners in Saturday's meet -- not enough to compete in the team standings -- Noce has been using the Lady Lions' full lineup to her advantage. She set a personal-best time on the Logan course.

"My season is going really well,'' Noce said. "I've been consistently under 19 (minutes) for all the big races, and it's honestly been really nice. And our team's been working together a lot more, and we've just been focusing on the team aspect, and it's just helping us all overall.''

Noce, who led Altoona to a second-place finish in the team standings behind Mount Lebanon, has run against Berkhimer many times but said she was more focused on herself than the competition Saturday.

"Going into the race, I really just wanted to be under 19 on our course and just continue getting better,'' she said. "Looking out on the race, I knew that it was going to be a quick race, but I'm just excited to be back out and racing on our course again.''

Noce qualified for states in 3A her first two varsity seasons, finishing 63rd as a freshman and 27th last year.

"This season I'm obviously looking forward to going to the state meet once I hopefully qualify at districts,'' Noce said. "And once I get there, I'm hoping to get a state medal (top 25) as I was only two places off last year.''

Other area girls to finish in the top 20 Saturday included Altoona's Emma Etters (sixth) and Lana Luke (11th), Williamsburg's Ava Dixon (ninth) and Bellwood-Antis' Blake Pennington (18th).

Mount Lebanon also won the boys team title with the Blue Devils' Evan Yurasko overtaking Forest Hills' Tyler Caron for the individual title. The Altoona boys, who placed third as a team, had three individuals in the top 20 -- Seth Lieb (ninth), Archie Glover (14th) and Konner Broadrick (18th).

Meet notes: Hollidaysburg eighth grader Mason Kephart set a course record in the middle school boys race by finishing in 8:09.39. Tyrone's Sage Harbst won the middle school girls race. ... Altoona alumni, past coaches and current coaches were honored as the invitational began three decades ago with the vision of Lee Baranik, Gordon White and Gary Isenberg.

BOYS

Teams: 1, ML--Mount Lebanon 29; 2, P--Punxsutawney 93; 3, A--Altoona 105; 4, HE--Hempfield 150; 5, U--United 163. ALSO: 9, T--Tyrone 237; 11, BA--Bellwood-Antis 276; 16, HO--Hollidaysburg 409; 17, PC--Penn Cambria 418.

Individuals: 1, Yurasko, ML, 16:49.85; 2, Caron, Forest Hills, 16:54.44; 3, McNamee, ML, 17:29.77; 4, Smith, Forest Hills, 17:30.67; 5, McDonald, Chestnut Ridge, 17:30.87; 6, Conrad, P, 17:32.44; 7, Fair, ML, 17:38.95; 8, Hodgson, ML, 17:40.62; 9, Lieb, A, 17:40.83; 10, Honn, Huntingdon, 17:42.46. ALSO: 14, Glover, A, 17:54.67; 18, Broadrick, A, 18:04.19; 29, Brumbaugh, T, 18:36.13; 30, Fatzinger, BA, 18:36.94; 31, Allison, Central, 18:38.55; 33, Dunkle, A, 18:44.26; 36, Ross, Williamsburg, 18:50.78; 37, Hollenbach, BA, 18:51.79; 43, Davis, T, 19:06.87; 49, Frederick, A, 19:16.83; 51, Erickson, T, 19:21.92; 61, Giraud, PC, 19:47.78; 62, Ricupero, PC, 19:49.45; 64, Despot, A, 19:50.61; 67, Halerz, BA, 19:51.65; 69, Hess, Northern Bedford, 19:57.95; 70, Corl, Williamsburg, 20:01.62; 75, Brasher, T, 20:08.20.

GIRLS

Teams: 1, ML--Mount Lebanon 35; 2, A--Altoona 60; 3, U--United 97; 4, MR--Mountain Ridge 146; 5, FH--Forest Hills 150. ALSO: 6, BA--Bellwood-Antis 173; 9, HO--Hollidaysburg 223; 12, T--Tyrone 296; 13, JV--Juniata Valley 347; 14, PC--Penn Cambria 380.

Individuals: 1, Berkhimer, Central, 18:09.33; 2, Noce, A, 18:34.45; 3, Holliday, ML, 19:31.29; 4, Stiglitz, ML, 19:32.30; 5, Montoya, ML, 19:39.45; 6, Etters, A, 19:44.47; 7, Ascherl, FH, 19:51.30; 8, Hawkins, MR, 19:58.72; 9, Dixon, Williamsburg, 20:06.42; 10, Wildenauer, DuBois, 20:18.87. ALSO: 11, Luke, A, 20:29.98; 18, Pennington, BA, 21:36.55; 21, J. Kraft, BA, 21:48.96; 22, Adams, A, 21:49.13; 31, Snare, A, 22:28.79; 32, Miller, Northern Bedford, 22:30.21; 35, Broadrick, A, 22:37.74; 40, Hammond, BA, 23:15.31; 41, Savino, T, 23:23.22; 42, Watt, HO, 23:24.25; 44, Stone, Williamsburg, 23:27.88; 45, Biddle, Williamsburg, 23:29.89; 46, Harkins, A, 23:30.10; 50, Zenobia, HO, 24:02.63; 51, Diaz, HO, 24:06.51; 63, O'Gorman, HO, 24:58.13; 68, Franks, BA, 25:21.38; 69, Davis, T, 25:23.38; 71, S. Kraft, BA, 25:33.89; 75, Barger, HO, 25:51.75.

JV BOYS: 1, Parkhitko, ML, 18:47.67; 2, Smith, ML, 19:05.50; 3, Svitek, ML, 19:14.25.

JV GIRLS: 1, Doran, ML, 22:41.27; 2, Woodland, ML, 22:41.49; 3, Loughney, MLV, 22:49.63.

MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS: 1, Kephart, HO, 8:09.39; 2, Dipiertro, HE, 8:32.72; 3, Klock, HO, 8:33.53.

MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS: 1, Harbst, T, 9:46.69; 2, Van Kleunen, HO, 9:51.95; 3, Barton, JV, 9:58.20.

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