Bellwood-Antis and Tyrone traveled to Altoona for the MAC regional cross country meet on Tuesday, with Altoona, Bishop Guilfoyle and Hollidaysburg. The race was run at the Logan Elementary High School course.
In the race, which was treated and scored as an invitational, the Bellwood-Antis boys finished in second place with a total of 100, while Tyrone was fifth with 164. Altoona ran away with ther top spot placing five runners in the top 10 finishing with 20 points, followed by Hollidaysburg with 61, Bellwood-Antis with 100, Bishop Guilfoyle with 124 and Tyrone with 164.
Blue Devil junior Aaron Bell broke up a string of Altoona runners with a fourth place overall in 18:43, just eight seconds away from the second place runner. Will Edwards was sixth in 18:48. Josh Irvine finished 22nd, Liam Flynn was 31st and Jamey Rimmey was 37th. Jon Somerton was 39th and Mike Thomas finished 43rd for the Blue Devils.
Jim Gehret was the first Tyrone runner to cross the finish line with a 25th place in 21:02.9, followed by Nathan Barber (26th), Chris Bradigan (32nd), Dane McCloskey (36th) and Eric Sweet (45th). Sam McCloskey was 51st and Nick Barndt finished 59th and John Wiser was 62nd for the Golden Eagles.
Altoona racers Wayne Hooper (17:43), Mike Ross (18:33) and Zack Apple (18:38) finished one-two-three for the Mountain Lions, who ran away with the team win.
Kallin McDannell was Bishop Guilfoyle’s top runner finishing seventh in 18:58.3, and Todd Matthews in eighth place with a time of 18:48, was the top racer for Hollidaysburg.Hollidaysburg’s Corey Miller was 10th in 19:19
“All the boys ran good races,” said Tyrone coach Tammy Snyder. “Jim and Nathan ran very strong races. John Wiser ran a very nice race for us. Everybody is ready at this point and running the way they should be. I am especially excited about what the boys could do in the conference meet next week.”
In the girls’ race Bishop Guilfoyle senior Sonja Hinish, shattered her own course record by 16 seconds to place first in 20:36, winning by nearly two full minutes. Altoona swept the meet with a first in the girls’ race with a score of 26, as well as the boys title. Nikki Imler finished second overall for the Lady Mountain Lions in 22:33.
Bellwood-Antis senior Allison Cherry was third overall in 22:56. Altoona and BG runners filled the fourth through ninth places before Lady Blue Devil Jenna Ralston rounded out the top 10 with a time of 24:27 in the 10th spot.
Sarah Bell was 11th for Bellwood-Antis in 28:00, Rachel Bilka was 22nd and Amanda Houtz finished 24th for the Lady Blue Devils, who finished second to Altoona in the girls race with 70.
Rebecca Mogle led the Tyrone Lady Eagles squad with a 17th place finish in 25:39, closely followed by teammate Erin Langenbacher in 18th in 25:59. Amber Davis was 27th and Adeena Harbst finished 28th.
“Rebecca (Mogle) and Erin (Langenbacher) did really well and Amber Davis ran a nice race,” said Snyder “All the kids did well. The Altoona course is a tough race and is a fast course as well. This meet didn’t count for points, but helped our program to get ready for next week, which will be a big one for us.”
Megan Duffet was the top placer for Hollidaysburg with a 12th place in 24:40 for the third place Lady Tigers.
Bellwood-Antis and Tyrone will travel to Indian Valley for the Mountain Athletic Conference meet Wed. Oct. 15, at 4:30 p.m.
