HS roundup: Centre County athletes have strong showing on conference All-Star teams
The Mountain League and Mid Penn Commonwealth conferences announced All-Star selections this past week for fall sports teams. And after a season that included an individual boys’ cross-country title and a runner-up for Penns Valley, state championship runs for Philipsburg-Osceola boys’ golf, Bald Eagle Area girls’ soccer and volleyball and State College girls’ volleyball, and several conference and district championships and broken records, it’s no surprise Centre County athletes had a strong showing on this year’s All-Star lists.
Here are the Mountain League All-Stars for boys’ and girls’ golf, boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ cross-country and girls’ volleyball, and the Mid Penn All-Stars for boys’ and girls’ golf, boys’ and girls’ soccer, girls’ volleyball and field hockey. The football All-Stars will be included in an upcoming article.
Boys’ and girls’ golf
With Philipsburg-Osceola’s season-long domination of the Mountain League, it’s no surprise that Mounties make up four of the six conference All-Star selections for boys’ golf. The Mounties won the Mountain League championship this season, and went on to win the District 6 Class 2A title and tie for fifth at the PIAA championships.
Brandon Singer was voted league MVP, while Ky Bender, Chad Frank and Keegan Soltis also made the team.
P-O also made out well on the girls’ side. The Mountain League and District 6 champs placed Lindsey Bordas, Kylie Adams and Katie Lingle on the All-Star team.
State College placed Kyle Snyder, John Olsen and Cole Friberg on the boys’ Mid Penn Keystone Division All-Star team, and Sophie Mochan, Riley Kracaw and Katie Cepullio on the girls’ team. Both State College teams were District 6 Class 3A champs this season, with Olsen and Kracaw winning the individual district crowns.
Boys’ and girls’ cross-country
As dominant as P-O was in golf this season, Penns Valley was just as much so in cross-country. The Rams claimed the Mountain League’s boy’s MVP in Colton Sands and girls’ MVP in Kelsey Hull. Sands and Hull both won the Mountain League championships, while Sands went on to win states in Class 1A.
The Rams also placed PIAA runnerup Brendan Colwell, Daniel Kelly and Alexis Durn on All-Star teams. They were joined by Bellefonte’s Austin Melius, Chase Ebeling, Amaya Rothrock and Mia Elmore, and P-O’s Manna Potter.
The Penns Valley boys’ and girls’ teams both won Mountain League titles this season, while the boys’ went on to win the District 6 Class 1A crown and placed fifth at states.
Boys’ and girls’ soccer
On the heels of its most successful season in school history, which included the program’s first Mountain League title, Bald Eagle Area placed four girls on the Mountain League All-Star team — goalkeeper Rachel Veneziano, defender Autumn Tobias, midfielder Zoey McHenry and forward Falen McHenry.
Bellefonte forward Mallorie Smith, the all-time leading goal scorer in program history who surpassed 100 career goals this season, was named league MVP.
Penns Valley forward Hannah Montminy, an All-State selection, and defender Hannah Denger also made the first team.
BEA defender Sarah Holler, Bellefonte midfielders Mia Johnson and Madison Steiner and Penns Valley forward Kate Martell made the second team.
BEA defender Peter Van Cise and goalkeeper Conner Robinson and Penns Valley midfielder Connor Martz made the first-team boys’ All-Star team. Bellefonte defender Zach Copertino and forward Daniel Persiko, BEA defender Dylan Hess and forward Dillon Barnyak, Penns Valley defender Kyle Niewinski and midfielders Caleb Narber and Michael Johnson made the second team.
State College’s Grady Ballard made the first-team boy’s All-Star team for the Mid Penn Commonwealth Division, while Mark Rogers and Garrett Callenberger were second-team selections. Alison Houtz was a first-team selection for the girls’, and June Glenney was second team.
Girls’ volleyball
After making it to the state quarterfinals, both Bald Eagle Area and State College volleyball placed several girls on their respective conferences’ All-Star teams.
BEA senior Madison Rockey was named Mountain League MVP for the second time in the past four years. Teammate Grace Hugar won the honor the other two years. The Eagles won their fifth consecutive Mountain League title this season.
Rockey and Hugar were joined by teammates Lacee Barnhart, Lexi Skripek and Taylor Kilmer as first-team selections. Penns Valley’s all-time leader in digs Jadyn Butler was also named a Mountain League All-Star.
BEA’s Katelyn Smitchco and P-O’s Kalista Butler and Kyleigh Kennedy were named second-team Mountain League All-Stars.
Vanessa McGhee and Kacy Sekunda were first-team Mid Penn selections for State College, Kate Lachendro made the second team. Both State College and BEA were District 6 champs.
Field hockey
The District 6 champion State College field hockey team had two Mid Penn Commonwealth Division All-Star selections.
Maddie Tambroni was named a first-team midfielder, and JoJo Lee a second-team midfielder.