The Mountain Athletic Conference Cross Country Meet was run on Wednesday afternoon at the Indian Valley Middle School course at Reedsville.
With 14 boys teams and 13 girls teams overall, State College won both team races, with Altoona second and Penns Valley third in both boys and girls races.
Tyrone, along with Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola comprise the Division 3 schools, while Bellwood-Antis, Bishop Guilfoyle, West Branch, Juniata Valley, and Mount Union are Division 4 schools.
Ben Hatch, a Bellwood-Antis junior, had the highest local finish, running the course in 18:30, 24th overall, second in Division 4 to West Branch’s Ethan Lidgett, who finished in 18:24. Jamie Rimmey was fifth in the division in 19:12, Cooper Campbell was seventh in 19:36, Tyler Hunter was 11th in 20:16, and John Wolfe was 15th in 20:19.
West Branch broke the Blue Devil boys stranglehold on the Division 4 title, after Bellwood-Antis had taken the championship the last two years.
Just behind Wolfe, Garett Wyland finished 16th in 20:20 and Jeff Stuby was 17th in 20:41 for Bellwood-Antis.
Tyrone finished second in the Division 3 race, behind Penns Valley, with Dustin Elder’s sixth place division finish the top Eagle runner, with a time of 18:58. Nathan Kruise was seventh in 19:09, Bradley McNeal 10th in 20:10, Randy Wilson 13th in 21:44 and Philip Kreckle 14th in 22:55. Daniel Kilgus was 16th in 24:13 and Caleb Dillon 17th in 24:59 for the Golden Eagles.
Josh Gainer of State College won the overall boys race in 16:57 and Penns Valley’s Matthew Brooker was second in 17:04.
In the girls race, Juniata Valley was the division 4 winner, with the Bellwood-Antis girls just behind in second place in the division.
Lady Blue Devil senior, Sarah Bell, with a 21st place overall was fourth in Division 4 for the best local finish. Emily Derr finished ninth in 24:12, Emily O’Shea was 11th in 24:54, Allison Derr was 12th in 24:59 and Kelly Killinger was 15th in 25:39.
Erin Morrissey was 17th for Bellwood-Antis in 25:53, and Brittany Webb was 23rd in 27:39.
The Tyrone girls had four runners participate, with Christina Dougherty finishing the course in 25:26, in 10th place in Division 3. Lizzy Shields and Salena Bradigan tied for 14th in 29:26, and Brittany Hosband was 18th.
Sarah Kitko of Philipsburg-Osceola was the first Division 3 runner over the finish line with an overall fifth place finish in 21:00 and Katrina Woods of Mount Union was the top Division 4 runner for the girls finishing eighth overall in 21:29.
“Both teams did well against tough competition,” said Tammy Wills, Tyrone cross country coach, “although once again we didn’t have enough girls run to score. That has been on and off all year. We are very thin on the girls roster and ilness, injuries and other factors have made it nearly impossible to get enough girls to score in the races. Christina Dougherty, Lizzy Shields, Salena Bradigan and Brittany Hosband, I can’t say enough about. They have stayed up and run their best, regardless of the circumstances.
“On the boys side, I think Dustin Elder and Nathan Kruise, our top two boys, have the ability to advance hopefully to the state level. They are ready to go into next week’s district meet.”
