Defending Mountain League champion Bellwood-Antis opened the 2003 cross country season with a pair of wins as both the B-A boys and girls squads defeated Tyrone and Bald Eagle Area on Thursday afternoon at Tyrone.
Will Edwards (19:22), Aaron Bell (21:06) and Brandon Beech (21:49) finished two-three-four overall to lead the way for the Blue Devils (2-0), who defeated Tyrone 20-38 and Bald Eagle Area 15-50.
Jason Nedimyer (seventh in 22:36, Mike Thomas (ninth in 23:25) and Josh Ervine (10th in 23:58) also finished in the top 10 for B-A.
Preston Bittinger from Bald Eagle Area, took top honors for the boys with a time of 18:54.
“Both of our teams ran really well on a tough course,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Julie Roseborough. “Top to bottom, the boys did a good job. Will Edwards ran a nice race. The Bittinger boy is a good runner and Will stayed with him pretty much.”
Tyrone (1-1) was led by Nathan Barber, who finished fifth in 22:09 and Jim Gehret, who was sixth in 22:28. The Golden Eagle men defeated Bald Eagle Area, who had just three male runners, by a 15-50 score.
Dane McClosky finished the race in 23:12 in eighth place, Eric Sweet was 11th in 24:08 and Chris Bradigan was 14th in 24:36.
“I was very pleased with our boys,” said Tyrone coach Tammy Snyder. “Nathan Barber was our top runner, This is his first season and first race, so he really did an awesome job. Jim Gehret and Dane McCloskey both had great races. I think this could be Dane’s best season ever. He ran very well in preseason and today proved just what he could do.
“This was a tough meet. We had a hard course to run and the recent weather did not make it any easier. All the kids had to deal with a very wet, muddy course.”
Allison Cherry ran away from the field to take top honors among the girls to key a Bellwood-Antis double win. Cherry finished in 24:10, Jenna Ralston was second in 25:55 and Sarah Bell was third in 26:17 as the Lady Blue Devils swept the top three places.
B-A defeated Tyrone 15-50 and Bald Eagle Area 19-36 to open the season.
Cathy Mock finished ninth for B-A in 29:47 and Amanda Houtz rounded out the top 10 with a 30:18 timing.
“Our first three girls were very solid today,” said Roseborough. “Allison had a really good race, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of everybody. Jenna Ralston had a breakthrough performance and Sarah Bell is just a freshman. The Tyrone course is tough with a lot of hills and was very muddy with all the rain we have had. Considering the course and conditions, I thought we did very well.”
Rebecca Mogle was the Lady Eagles’ top finisher with a timing of 26:53 for fifth place, closely followed by teammates Emily Ingle (sixth in 27:44) and Erin Langenbacher (seventh in 28:28).
Tyrone lost to Bald Eagle Area 15-50, but was able to put just four girls on the course (the top five runners scores are added to give meet total).
“We could not score as a team, because we only had four girls,” said Snyder. “Rebecca, Emily and Erin all gave strong performances. We will be adding Amber Davis and Heather Mertiff as new members of the squad, so we will finally have the numbers we need.”
The Tyrone cross country team will be in action Saturday at the California University of Pennsylvania Invitational, at 9 a.m. then travels to West Branch on Tuesday for a dual meet at 4 p.m..
Bellwood-Antis is at Mount Union against Juniata Valley and Mount Union on Tuesday with a 4 p.m. start time.
