College
Colton Sands (Penns Valley
HS) and the Tar Heels
traveled to New Jersey for the
Princeton Invitational. His
sixth place (23:01.4) finish
helped UNC finish fourth in the
team race. The Tar Heels are
currently ranked 13th in the
country as they head into
Championship Season that kicks
off with the ACC Championship on
Friday, Nov. 1 in Cary, NC.
At the Ohio Wesleyan
University Invitational on
October 4, Charles
Endres (State College HS)
finished 35th (26:57) which
enabled Oberlin to earn fifth in
the team race against several
top teams from Ohio. After a
solid two weeks of training the
Yeomen traveled to NY for the
SUNY Geneseo Mike Woods
Invitational. Charles turned in
another sub 27-minute 8k as he
crossed the line in 26:55
which earned him 175th in the
500+ runner field. Oberlin
finished 14th on the day. Next
up for Oberlin is the North
Coast Athletic Conference
Championship on Sunday, Nov. 3
in Greencastle, IN.
Sophie Dillon (State
College HS) is continuing
her strong freshman season for
Lock Haven. At the Houghton
Invitational on October 12 she
finished 45th (26:24) to help
Lock Haven finish on the podium
in second place. Next up for
Lock Haven is the PSAC
Championships which will be
hosted by Kutztown on Saturday,
Oct. 26.
Karysn Kane (State
College HS) and the
Mountaineers finished second in
the 23-team field at the Joe
Piane Notre Dame Invitational in
the Gold Race on October 4.
Karsyn crossed the line in 18:25
which earned her 65th place.
Then on Oct. 18, Karsyn clocked
her 6k personal best as she
stopped the clock at 22:16 to
finish 4th and help Appalachian
State achieve a perfect score
for the win! Next up for the
Mountaineers is the Sun Belt
Championships on Friday, Nov. 1
in Foley, AL.
At the Paul Short Invite on
Oct. 5 , Grace Morningstar
(State College HS) and the
Misericordia Cougars finished
24th in the College Women's
White Race against a very
talented group that
included many top ranked D3
teams. Grace stopped the scoring
when she crossed the line in
24:24 which earned her 242nd in
the 400+ runner field. Then on
October 19, the Cougars traveled
to Waterford, CT for the
Connecticut College Invite. They
finished 17th out of 37-teams
and Grace earned 174th place
(24:11) on the day. Next up for
Misericordia is the MAC
Championships at Messiah
University on Saturday, Nov. 2
where they will look to repeat
as champions.
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Marlee Kwasnica (State
College HS) turned in two
of her best performances this
season recently. At the San
Francisco State Invitational,
she stopped the clock at 23:59
which earned her 49th place on
October 11. She returned to
action on October 19 to help The
Dons finish 3rd at the Bronco
Invitational in the 19-team
field. She crossed the line in
23:37 which was good for
149th place. Next up for San
Francisco is the West Coast
Conference Championships on
Saturday, Nov. 2.
Sam Viglione (State
College HS) and the
Knights stood atop the podium at
the Kara Hall Memorial
Invitational on Oct. 5. Sam
crossed the line in 27:43 (48th)
to help SUNY dominate the day.
They returned to action
on Oct. 19 for their home
meet, the Mike Woods
Invitational, and once again,
SUNY Geneseo claimed the top
spot. Sam ran 26:42 which earned
him 153rd place in the 500+
runner field..
Caden Bell (Mifflin County
HS) and the Dutchmen
traveled to the Paul Short
Invite on Oct. 5. In the open
race, Caden was the team's
fourth runner as he finished in
27:56 which placed him 342nd and
helped Lebanon Valley finish
33rd as a team. Next up for
Caden is the Last Chance Run
Fast Invitational which is
hosted by Lebanon Valley
College.
Natalie Koncoski (State
College HS) led the way
for the Pitt Panthers at the
Paul Short Invite in Women's 6k
open race. She started the
scoring as she crossed the line
in 22:22 which earned her 37th
place. She helped the Panthers
finish 10th. Next up for Pitt is
the ACC Championships on Nov. 1
in Cary, NC.
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Nick Sloff (State College
HS) and Tyler Rader
(Huntingdon HS) helped the
Nittany Lions finish 13th at the
Paul Short Invite in the Men's
Gold 8k race on Oct. 5. Nick
finished 59th (24:27) and Tyler
crossed the line in 117th
(24:51) for Penn State. For his
efforts, Nick was named Big Ten
Freshman of the Week for the
second time this season. The
Nittany Lions returned to action
on Oct. 18 at the Princeton
Invite. Nick led the way for
Penn State as he started the
scoring when he crossed the line
in 23:22, which brought
him across the finish line in
21st place. Tyler added a 111th
place finish (24:30) which
helped Penn State finish 8th in
a field that featured several
nationally ranked teams. Nick
continued his strong stretch by
being named the Penn State
Student-Athlete of the Week and
earning his third Big Ten
Freshman of the Week honor. Next
up for Penn State is the Big Ten
Conference Championship at the
University of
Illinois.
The Penn State Club XC team
has put together several strong
performances over the last three
weeks. On Oct. 5, Karim
Eldawody (State College HS)
finished 38th at the JMU Dashing
Dukes Invite to help the men's
team secure victory. At the
DeSales Invite on Oct. 12, Brandi
Carmack (Saint Joseph's
Catholic Academy) crossed
the line in 30:12 to finish 91st
and help the women's team earn
fifth place. Then at the NIRCA
Mid-Atlantic Regional, the men's
team finished third. Sam
Endres (State College HS) led
the charge for the team as he
finished 19th (26:21). He was
followed by Neil Maguire
(State College HS) in
112th (29:03) and Karim
Eldawoody (236th,
32:58).
High School
Ella McCrum (Juniata
Valley HS) won (22:10)
the ICC Championship to help
Juniata Valley finish third in
the team standings. For her
recent efforts, she was named
The Daily News Female Athlete of
the Month.
Bella Ascherl (Forest
Hills) is primed for
championship season after
several strong performances in
early October. She opened the
month on Oct. 5 with a win
(18:50) at the Bald Eagle Invite
Class A race to help the Rangers
finish third. She followed up
that performance with a fourth
place finish (18:36) at the
Laurel Highlands Athletic
Conference (LHAC) Championship
which started the scoring for
Forest Hills' sixth place
finish. Next up for Bella is the
District 6 A Championship on
Oct. 26.
Lilly Smith (Penns Valley)
used a 30th place finish (21:06)
to lead the Rams at the LHAC
Championship. Penns Valley would
go on to finish 10th on the day.
The District 6 AA Championship
is next on the calendar for
Lilly and the Rams.
Jonathan Gasper
(Bellefonte HS) finished
13th (17:38) at the Ridgway
Invite, which is the host course
of the District 9 Championship
where Coach Susie starred in HS
and led her Bradford teammates
to States in 1999. Bellefonte
would finish 6th on the day.
Jonathan returned to action on
Oct. 16 at the LHAC
Championships and crossed the
line in 17:02 which placed him
eighth in the 150+ person field
of runners. Bellefonte turned in
a seventh place finish at the
conference meet. Jonathan and
his teammates return to action
on Saturday, Oct. 26 for the
District 6 AA
Championship.
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State College Boys and
Girls ventured to Big
Spring HS, the site of the Mid
Penn Championship and Tim Cook
Memorial Invitational. Their
dominance on Oct. 15 was similar
to General Sherman's March to
the Sea. The Varsity Girls
started the day by scoring 50
points for their 10th Mid Penn
title in a row! Devon Jackson
(2nd, 18:39), Eveyln Younkin
(5th, 19:54), Julia Bigger (7th,
19:55) and Devyani Wadhia (11th,
20:09) finished in the top 12 to
kickstart the scoring for the
Little Lions. Carolyn Frank
added a top-25 finish (25th,
20:47) to stop the scoring at 50
points. Lacey Sheaffer (36th,
21:03) and Molly Dell (39th,
21:17) displaced every fifth
runner in the field to put an
exclamation point on their
performance.
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The Varsity Boys were the
next on the starting line. They
placed five runners in the top
11 to score a paltry 31 points
on the day to secure victory.
Isaac Opperman delivered a
dramatic victory (15:34) with a
ferocious sprint finish to win
by a whisker. His brother, Theo,
added another sub-16 clocking
with his 5th place finish in
15:54. Owen Coughlin (6th,
16:15), Luke Bradbury (8th,
16:29), and Griffin Selber
(11th, 16:29) closed out the
scoring for the Little Lions.
Kyle Fritzsche (26th, 17:04)
beat every team's 4th runner and
Owen Viglione (56th, 17:37)
completed the top 7.
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The JV Girls kept the
momentum rolling as they took 9
of the top 10 places and
achieved a perfect score of 15
points! Alexa Petersen broke the
tape in 21:39 that set the State
College machine in motion. Emma
Raish (2nd, 22:15.88) and
Kaitlyn Baylis (3rd, 22:15.96)
battled down the stretch for the
third close finish of the day.
Libby Peachey (4th, 22:37),
Makayla Raptosh (5th, 22:42),
and Kristen Schellberg (6th,
22:43) finished before another
team could put a runner across
the line. Caitlin Knowles (8th,
22:52), Sophie Baylis (9th,
23:07), and Lauren Craft (10th,
23:25) completed the almost full
maroon and gray top ten.
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The JV Boys closed out the
day by placing five in the top
ten including the winner, Thomas
Ruffing (17:41). Avery Selber
(3rd, 18:08), Benjamin Alexander
(4th, 18:10), Vinnie
LaFrazza-Schwartz (7th, 18:27),
and Eamon Drohan (10th, 18:36)
partnered with Thomas to score
25 points on the day! Adrian
Doran (18th, 19:02) and Teon
Kidd (23rd, 19:06) used top-25
finishes to complete the top 7.
The State College Boys and
Girls kickoff the District 6
Championship with the Class AAA
race on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Be well,
Jayson
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