Eagles soar to top

BEA boys survive heat to capture team crown

By Guy Cipriano

ALTOONA — The big, strong thrower felt wobbly from the pressure. The nimble jumper needed to find the leg strength to make it through one more event.

Others on their team felt the same fatigue.

Their ability to withstand the demands of a compact meet helped their school claim another track title.

Behind Tim Watson’s first-place throw in the discus and Travis Garner’s winning triple jump, Bald Eagle Area captured the District 6 Class AA boys’ title Tuesday at Mansion Park.

The pressure and fatigue Watson and Garner experienced typified the Eagles’ day.

“I definitely felt it,” said Watson, who won the discus with a throw of 148-1 after missing one of three automatic PIAA spots in the shot put by two inches. “I felt weak in my legs. If I didn’t make it to states, it would have been a big, big disappointment.”

Garner won the triple jump with a leap of 42-43/ 4 after competing in the high jump, long jump and 400 relay.

“That’s just icing on the cake,” Garner said. “I’m tired most of the time when I get to that event because it is the last event.”

Garner and Watson weren’t the only athletes to earn spots in next weekend’s PIAA Class AA Championships at Shippensburg University. Penns Valley junior Matt Brooker broke a school record to finish second in the 3,200 and he combined with teammates Seth Lynch, Evan Gover and Nathan Brown to begin the meet with a victory in the 3,200 relay. And Philipsburg-Osceola had its best district meet ever as Dusty Golding and Brad Rocco qualified for the state championships in the 110 high hurdles and pole vault, respectively.

BEA might need multiple vans to bring its contingent to Shippensburg. Tyler Hoffman finished third in the discus and the 3,200 relay team of Ethan Corle, Alex Klinger, Chris Keen and Clinton Corman finished third. The Eagles ended the meet with another state-qualifying performance as the 1,600 relay team of Keen, Corle, Corman and Brock Bathurst placed third.

The Eagles stood out before anybody ran a lap.

The majority of the team gathered at a hunting camp Monday. They left the camp with bleach-blonde air.

“All of our guys are really close, and, ‘We were like, let’s do something crazy,’” said Watson, who also won a district heavyweight wrestling title.

The camaraderie became apparent once Tuesday’s results were processed.

Twelve different athletes helped the Eagles earn points in 14 of the 18 events. While some programs allow athletes to specialize in one or two events, BEA filled the track with competitors such as Bathurst who ran the 100, 200 and 400 and 400 relay, and the field with athletes such as Lyle Watson who threw the shot put, discus and javelin.

“We tell them that this a team sport,” said BEA coach Jeff Jodon, whose program also won district titles in 1999 and 2002. “The kids know they are going to have to do two, three, four events. A lot of kids we had were four event-type kids and this is what they had to do. They knew what had to be done and they did it.”

Still, the meet included some dicey moments for BEA, none bigger than the opening track event. BEA dropped the baton twice during the 3,200 relay. The Eagles, who entered the meet as the top seed, entered the final lap one. baton-length ahead of Penns Valley.

The Rams had the perfect person to grab the baton from Nathan Brown in Brooker who has established a furious kick. Brooker took a 10-meter lead during the first 200 meters of the final leg, allowing Penns Valley to run a season-best 8:15.58 and comfortably edge Central Cambria and BEA.

The victory was Penns Valley’s first in the event since 2004 when Brooker’s older brother, Judson, and Brown’s older brother, Matthew were on the team.

“We knew we would be able to come out and compete,” Brown said. “I’m not sure if we expected this.”

The prepared unexpected continued in the 3,200 when Matt Brooker once again used his kick to break his own school record. Brooker finished the event second behind Bishop McCort’s Jim Spisak and ran a 9:35.50, marking the second time in two weeks he has lowered a school record once held Judson. Spisak, who also won the 1,600, ran an impressive 9:29.96.

“When I saw that Spisak was maybe close enough for me to beat, I had a good chance to get a really big PR,” said Matt, who qualified for the PIAA meet in the same event last year. “I knew it could be a really good race if I went hard on the last lap.”

For the first time, all three Centre County Class AA programs are sending multiple athletes to Shippensburg.

Golding qualified for the state meet by running the 110 hurdles in 15.69 to finish behind Central Cambria’s Michael Gowen. Golding, who also throws the discus and shot put, never ran the hurdles before this season and seemed overwhelmed by his accomplishment.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I got to the finish line and I didn’t know what place I got. I don’t even have words to describe.”

P-O’s meet took another pleasant turn when Rocco cleared 13 feet to give the school multiple male state qualifiers for the first time. Rocco surpassed his previous season-best by six inches.

“That one really came out of left field,” P-O coach Doug Perry said. “I knew he was going to do well, but making it to states … I really didn’t count on that. It was a real big surprise.”

BEA finished the meet with 78.5 points. Central Cambria finished 16 points behind the Eagles, who also won the Mountain League title and finished second at the prestigious West Central Coaches Meet. Penns Valley finished 10th with 31 points and P-O ended the meet in 13th place.

One meet record fell as Bellwood-Antis senior Ben Hatch ran the 800 in 1:56.83. BEA’s Neal McPheron held the previous record of 1:56.96.