The Mountain League Cross Country conference meet was run on Wednesday at the Indian Valley course. Both local schools took part. The Bellwood-Antis boys won the Class AA title and were second overall to Hollidaysburg, who won the Class AAA championship.
Bellwood-Antis , with 73 points placed all five runners in the top 25, led by sophomore Aaron Bell who finished fourth overall, second in Class AA with a time of 18:07. Judson Brooker of Penns Valley won the race in 17:19 followed by Nate Sylvester of Hollidaysburg (17:38), John Foltz of Lewistown (17:56), Bell and Aaron Clark of West Branc (18:08) to round out the top five.
Will Edwards placed 12th in 18:36, Kyle Shiffler was 15th in 18:42, Jason Nedimyer 17th in 18:47 and Dan Himes 25th in 19:24 for the Blue Devils.
“All the boys ran very well today,” said B-A coach Julie Roseborough. “Our top five were all in the top 25 of the race, it was a really good team effort. Their times were good, especially considering how soggy the course was. A strongpoint of the boys team is their mental attitude and mental preparation. Their outlook helps them run. We wanted to beat Hollidaysburg as well as win the Class AA championship. We didn’t quite make it, but we were able to run with them for most of the race, which makes us feel good about staying close to the top Class AAA school in the league.”
Jimmy Gehret led the Tyrone boys, who finished ninth as a team overall, fifth in Class AA, with a 13th place finish in 18:40, Trevor Harbst was 35th, and Doug Brown, Dane McCloskey, Nick Barndt and Eric Sweet finished in a bunch back in the field.
“The boys did a wonderful job,” said Tyrone coach Tammy Snyder. “Again all their times went down. Jimmy Gehret finished under 19 minutes and Trevor set a personal best for this season. The kids have all worked very hard and I am very proud of them.”
The Tyrone girls team finished fourth in the competition, second only to champion Penns Valley in Class AA.
Sarah Pentland, who recently moved back into the district, was the top Lady Eagle placer finishing 11th with a time of 22:14. Rebbeca Mogle placed 22nd with a time of 23:19, followed by Angel Diehl (31st), Emily Ingle (33rd) Erin Langenbacher (40th) and Adeena Harbst (57th). In Class AA competition, Sarah was 9th, Rebbeca 14th, Angel 23rd, Emily 24th Erin 27th and Adeena 33rd.
“I was very pleased with both teams,” said coach Snyder. “Our girls came back strong today taking fourth overall in the conference and second in Class AA. There were some really tough teams running out there. Having Sarah return and become part of the team gave us the little boost we needed. Rebbeca Mogle is running fantastic. She had a great race as did Angel, Emily, Erin and Adeena.”
Due to injury and illness, Bellwood-Antis had just two girls run.
Allison Cherry finished second with a time of 21:15, just behind top placer Lauren Gates of Bishop Guilfoyle who finished in 21:10. The Lady Blue Devils only other entry was freshman Amanda Houtz who finished in 43rd overall, 28th in Class AA with a time of 25:38.
“We only had two runners today,” said coach Roseborough. “Allison finished second and was closing fast at the end. She ran a very strong, very smart race. Amanda Houtz is just a freshman, she bettered her previous best time by two and a half minutes! She has continued to work hard at practice and the culmination of her hard work has paid off.
We will try to get in a good week’s work and go down to the districts and see what happens. We would like to try and get Allison through to states. The boys will race against a lot of good teams. We will just have to see what they can do.”
