The State College boys’ track and field team earned seven medal finishes and won its second consecutive Class 3A state team championship on Saturday in Shippensburg.
Racking up 36 team points, the Little Lions outpaced second place Butler (30 points) and third place Cumberland Valley (25). With last year’s state meet canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, State College successfully defended its 2019 team title. It’s the Little Lions third 3A title since 2016.
The State College girls’ team tied for eighth with 16 points as Central Bucks West ran away with the team title (53 points).
The Little Lion boys were led by a trio of silver medal finishes.
Senior Conrad Moore took second in the high jump (6-04.00). The Little Lions 4X100 relay of Ryan Lindenberg, Carson Franks, Nolan Markowski and Eni Ogunranti and the 4X800 relay of Bennett Norton, Sean Adams, Mathew Staniar and Brady Bigger both claimed silver with times of 42.57 and 7:55.69, respectively.
Bigger won three other medals in his final PIAA championships. The senior took bronze in the 1600 meters with a time of 4:18.23 and sixth in the 800 meters at 1:55.92, and joined Staniar, Adams and Markowski for an eighth place finish in the 4X400 (3:25.37).
Junior Ian Dorefice medaled with a seventh place finish in the pole vault (14-06.00).
Other Little Lion performances in the finals included Adams’ 10th place finish in the 800 meters, Mitchell Maher’s 15th-place finish in the discus and Lindenberg’s 15th place finish in the 300 meter hurdles.
On the girls’ side, State College had four medalists.
Junior Shannon Mullin took silver in the triple jump with a mark of 38-01.25.
The 4X800 relay of Marlee Kwasnica, Grace Morningstar, Jordan Reed and Karsyn Kane claimed fifth place (9:53.63).
Morningstar, a sophomore, finished seventh in the 800 meters (2:16.68) and Reed, a senior, took seventh in the 3200 meters (10:55.34).
Other finals performances included: Mullin, 9th, long jump; Kwasnica 11th, 1600 meters; Mia Iceland, 12th, pole vault; and Tori Lesher, 21st, discus.
At the 2A Championships on Friday, Centre County teams claimed medals.
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy senior Clare Marsh won silver with a school-record time of 14.86 in the 100 meter hurdles. Fellow Wolfpack senior Kathleen Simander took bronze in the 800 meters with a time of 2:16.88
The St. Joe’s boys’ 4X800 relay took second with Asa Reynolds, Brendan Scanlon, Josh Hershbine and Jonah Clark finishing in a school-record time of 8:07.05.
Penns Valley seniors Colton Sands and Brendan Colwell both had podium finishes in the 1600 meters. Sands won bronze with a time of 4:17.28, while Colwell was fifth at 4:20.11.
In the girls’ high jump finals, Penns Valley’s Leah Beben finished eighth with a mark of 5-02.00.
