PORTAGE — Alex Crist was the boys runner-up with a personal-record time to headline the day for Centre County runners at the Laurel Highlands Conference cross country championships on Saturday, Oct. 21.
The meet was run at Maple Crest Golf Course.
Crist’s Bellefonte boys finished third behind Central Cambria and Hollidaysburg out of 16 teams with 91 points. The Lady Raiders were fourth with 142.
“A lot of our team had personal bests and strong performances,” Bellefonte coach Chad Wiler said.
Centre County’s only top-10 finisher for either boys or girls, Crist passed two runners in the last half-mile to finish with a time of 16 minutes, 47.3 seconds.
The winner of the race was Huntingdon’s outstanding Tyler Rader. He posted a time of 16:15.9.
A pair of Penns Valley runners — Taven Price and Dilon Reilly — were the next highest finishers in the boys’ race, taking 14 and 15, respectively. Price ran 18:00.2, Reilly, 18:01.8.
Colton Wagner of Bald Eagle Area was next, taking 18th in 18:17.2. Two other Red Raiders rounded out the county’s top-25 place-winners, with Kaiden Williams clocking 18:22.4 for 22nd place and Caleb Vinnedge timing 18:25.1 for 23rd.
Penns Valley’s McClain Reamer and Vince Smith and Bellefonte’s Elijah Davis finished just outside the top 25. Reamer was 26, Davis 27 and Smith 28.
Bellefonte’s Maverick Muchmore took 30th place.
The Penns Valley boys were sixth as a team with 122 points, just a point out of fifth. Philipsburg-Osceola scored 332 points to place 14th. BEA lacked the five runners necessary to score as a team.
Rounding out Bellefonte’s lineup card, Keith Eicholtz placed 34th, Jacob Showers was 64th, Isaiah Johnson was 68th and Ethan Wilson was 116th.
For Penns Valley, Matthew Wheeland was the 55th runner to cross the finish line, followed by Garrett Banyay (70th), Ethan Roland (110th) and Preston Weaver (152nd).
P-O’s top finisher was 46th-place Nick Maweecha. Tyke Phillips was 63rd, Sam Massung 73rd, Peyton Warner 83rd, Isaiah Vershaw 127th, Sean Meyers 133rd, Colton Hanson 137th and Carson Carlheim 141st.
Alec Wagner of Bald Eagle was 75th, with the Eagles’ Blake Wagner and Maxwell O’Leary 98th and 138th, respectively.
Bellefonte’s Anna Jolley turned in the best girls finish, running 21:16.8 and placing 15th, while Penns Valley’s Ayva Fetterolf produced a time of 21:21.4 for 18th place.
Bellefonte’s Emma Raish and Penns Valley’s Lillyanna Smith also cracked the top 25. Raish was 20th at 21:24.7. Smith ran 21:46.4 for 25th.
Bellefonte finished behind Central Cambria, Hollidaysburg and Bedford, which produced the individual champion in freshman Chloe May. Penns Valley had 273 points and was ninth. P-O and BEA were 15th an 16th, respectively, with 396 and 446 points, respectively.
For the Lady Raiders, Alyssa Hopkins was 34th, Emma Burger 39th, Victoria Schellenberg 42nd, Ashleigh Aukerman 43rd, Anna Tyson 45th, Alex Fravel 98th and Josie Underwood 99th.
Penns Valley got 61st place from Elizabeth Dean, while Marinn Peters took 85th, Chloe Showers 119th and Annaliese Racette 122nd.
Evelyn Raker led Philipsburg-Osceola with a 78th-place showing. She was followed by Emma Wison (82nd), Madison Nybeck (87), Kate Matweecha (88), Evelyn Shaw (101), Marlee Butterworth (108), Sienna Ebert (111), Madison Fahr (113), Zalena Johnson (117) and Lily Warlow (120).
Rebekah Guenot topped BEA’s list in the final standings by placing 54th. Teammates Sena Andrews, Alivia Spotts, Keirly McGonigal and Hannah Gray were 112th, 121st, 125th and 126th, respectively.
