The Bellwood-Antis boys and girls cross country teams opened their 2006 seasons on Tuesday at Bellwood.
An always tough Penns Valley team defeated Bellwood-Antis 19-36 in boys action and 18-45 in the girls race. The B-A boys decisioned Mount Union 18-45 and the Lady Blue Devils also knocked off the Mount Union girls 20-41.
Ben Hatch was the first Blue Devil across the finish line with a third place finish in 17:56. Jamey Rimmey was sixth in 18:30, Garett Wyland was ninth in 19:41 and Hunter rounded out the top 10 in 19:46.
Penns Valley placed four of the top five runners with Brown (17:24). Brooker (17:25) finishing first and second. Dennis Drake was Mount Union’s top runner with a seventh place finish in 19:17.
“Penns valley is one of the toughest teams we will run all year,” acknowledged Bellwood-Antis coach Julia Roseborough. “It was good for the kids to experience running against them. They are not in our division however, the team we needed to beat was Mount Union, which is in our division. We needed to defeat them to remain competitive. Ben Hatch did a good job. He needs to strengthen up his finish, but that will happen as the season progresses. Jamie Rimmey is our second runner, he ran his best time of the year, as did all of the boys and nearly all of our girls. Tyler Hunter, who ran junior varsity last year, Cooper Campbell, just a freshman and Garrett Wyland, a senior, are all starting to put it together.”
Other boys running for the Blue Devils include: Jeff Stuby, John Wolfe, Corey Miller, Ronnie Wilson, Talon Strickler, Brad Rydbom, Jimmy Mattern, Jordan Miller, Dylan Nelson and Adam Hanna.
On the girls side, B-A sophomore Kelley Killinger was the Lady Blue Devils top finisher with a fourth place finish in 21:48. Sarah Bell finished 10th for B-A in a time of 22:57.
Darr of Penns Valley won the girls race in 21:02 and Mount Union’s Woods was second in 21:21.
“Kelley ran her best time today, and that is a direct result of the hard work she has been putting in,” said Roseborough. “Sara Bell is starting to shape up and Emily Derr, a sophomore is beginning to fine out what it’s about. Emily O’Shea and Becca Colyer are the rest of our top five girls. They had a nice start, and now they need to keep working hard.”
Other Lady Blue Devil runners include: Brittany Webb, Allison Derr, Erin Morrissey, Leslie Mills, Jenna Nevling, Andrea Isola, Danielle Blatt and Sara Shaulis.
The Bellwood-Antis cross country teams will run at the Altoona Invitational on Saturday and then host Bald Eagle Area and Juniata Valley on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
