Van Horn, Todd win 3 events each in kayak meet

Evelyn Van Horn and Kevin Todd were triple winners at the 2016 version of the Dog Days Slalom at Sunnyside Paddlepark in Bellefonte. There were six double-winners.

Van Horn, of Bellefonte, won the women’s kayak class in 131 seconds in a run free of penalties. It was the fastest time of the day for women. She also won the singles canoe class for women in 153 seconds. She then teamed with her brother, Ethan, to win the mixed doubles canoe class in 164 seconds.

In the womens’ kayak class, Michele Barbin took second place with a time of 235 seconds.

Todd, formerly of State College and now from Ithaca, N.Y., won the open canoe medium class in 190 seconds, with Chuck Wendler, of Philipsburg, taking second place in 245 seconds. Kevin Todd then won the open canoe doubles mixed class with his daughter, Mackenzie, in 222 seconds.

Finally, Kevin Todd teamed with his father, Paul Todd, of State College, to win the open canoe class in 286 seconds. In this class, Wendler teamed with Keech LeClair, of Ossining, N.Y., to take second place with a time of 314 seconds.

Mackenzie Todd achieved the gold in the open canoe for women class in 237 seconds.

The fastest time of the day was achieved by Ethan Van Horn in the men’s kayak class with a blistering time of 105.2 seconds. Alden Henrie, of Snow Shoe, took second place in 121 seconds.

Henrie won the singles canoe class with time of 123 seconds. Ethan Van Horn was second at 134 seconds with Zach Grant, of Milesburg, taking the bronze in 173 seconds.

Henrie then took the Standup Paddling Class with a time of 212 seconds.

The most competitive class of the day was the kayak cadet class. Jacob Saldana, of Milesburg, came out the winner, as he did at the Sunnyside Slalom the week before. His time of 132.5 seconds won the gold with Zach Grant, of Milesburg, taking the silver in 135.1 seconds. Caleb Henry, of Bellefonte, took the bronze in 139 seconds.

The kayak cadet class also had the Inman brothers from State College competing. Michael took fourth place in 178.8 seconds, just nosing out his brother Johnathan, who was timed in 180.6 seconds. Dennis took sixth in 217 seconds.

The kayak masters class was won by Jon Nelson, of State College, in 134 seconds. He had no trouble beating out longtime rival, Dave Kurtz, of State College, who was timed at 166 seconds.

The Rec kayak class was won by Jon Nelson in 146 seconds. Caleb Henry took second in 154 seconds, with Martin Melville, of Centre Hall, taking third in 189 seconds.

Leadoff in the women’s kayak class was winner Ava Harchak, 8, who won the cadet age group in 259 seconds.

The women’s masters level kayak class found Amy Nelson, of State College, taking gold in 144 seconds and Michelle Van Horn, of Bellefonte, winning the silver in 191 seconds.

Nelson came through the winner in the women’s recreation kayak class with a time of 155 seconds. Zach Grant and Jacob Saldana did well in the men’s doubles canoe class, winning in 181 seconds.

The course had 23 gates with 10 upstream gates, nearly the exact same as the previous Sunnyside Slalom designed by Caleb Henry. Only two gates were shifted to allow the wider path needed for the open canoes. There was one reverse gate and a team gate.

The cadet team of Saldana, Grant and Henry showed their stuff as the winning team in a total of 159 seconds. This team of three kayaks touched only one gate in the entire course of 23 gates. The team of Jon, Amy, and Brad Nelson took second place in 206 seconds. Third was taken by the team of Ethan Van Horn, Wayne Lentz and Alden Henrie with a time of 210 seconds. The fourth team of three women, Michelle Van Horn, Michele Barbin and Linda Basilicato, of Washington, was timed in 284 seconds. The team of Michael and Dennis Inman with Kurtz took fifth place in 301 seconds.

This story was originally published August 27, 2016 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Van Horn, Todd win 3 events each in kayak meet."