Penns Valley, Saint Joe’s have strong showings at the District 6 Class 2A track & field meet
The sun reigned down on the track at Mansion Park on Tuesday during the District 6 Class 2A Track and Field Championships as athletes competed for district titles and the chance to represent their teams at the PIAA championships next week in Shippensburg.
Centre County teams Penns Valley and Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy both had strong showings, with Penns Valley’s girls’ team placing second overall with 65.5 points and its boys’ team fifth with 58 points, capturing three gold medals and advancing eight between them, while Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s girls’ team finished eighth with 40 points and its boys’ team ninth with 25 points, combining for four gold medals and sending three individuals and two relay teams to states. Bald Eagle Area’s Owen Irvin and Sarah Holler also punched their tickets to states.
One of the stars of Tuesday’s event was Saint Joseph’s Clare Marsh. Marsh finished with a time of 15.19 in the 100-meter hurdles. Her success was the culmination of a flurry of grueling workouts during the team’s long layoff at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was excited. Losing last year was tough, I worked really hard and I just kept it up all spring last year,” Marsh said. “(It was) a lot of running on the open field by my house and I just kept it up and I’ve been lifting and doing all of the things that I could in the offseason to be ready for today. It’s what I’ve been thinking about ever since this time last year.”
While she never got the chance to best her preliminary time of 15.10, the feat became all the more impressive considering that there was a false start during the first attempt of the finals. She went on to win an additional gold medal with a time of 45.77 in the 300-meter hurdles.
Marsh’s teammate Kathleen Simander finished in first place in the girls 800-meter race with a time of 2:16.91, breaking the 2:20.60 mark that she previously set. That was a goal she’s wanted to accomplish since her freshman year.
“I’ve gotten second at every event at districts since my freshman year and I was just really hungry for the win,” Simander said. “Clare — she gets it done and she’s been a very motivating person to me. She’s held me accountable throughout the season, which has pushed me to be where I am right now.”
Saint Joseph’s coach Jayson Jackson saw his team take home gold four times on the girls’ side, winning the girls 4x400 relay in addition to the aforementioned three medals. On the boys’ side, Colin Simander finished seventh with a personal-best of 4:40.88 in the boys 1,600-meter race. The boys also finished with a school record of 8:14.04 in the 4x800 relay, placing second behind Central Cambria (8:01.45).
The opportunity to compete against Central Cambria and push a team that’s known as one of the best in Pennsylvania made Jackson proud.
“They really did a great job of finishing each leg and running tough,” Jackson said. “One of the things that I charge them and Clare with is making sure they set the tone for the day. Clare was the first race on the track and the boys’ 4x800 was the first final. So, making sure they set the tone for the rest of the team that we really want to go out and do our best each time.”
Penns Valley put together a strong day on the ledger with Colton Sands taking home the gold medal in the boys 800-meter (1:59.66) and the 1600-meter races. Following up just behind Sands was teammate Brendan Colwell in both events with times of 2:00.16 and 4:21.83, respectively. Penns Valley also won the girls’ 3,200-meter run, as Anna Stitzer finished with a time of 11:16.96, breaking her personal record of 11:35.00.
“It felt good. The goal for us was to win gold in both events, get to states and run times fast enough to get me in the fast heat come next Friday,” Sands said. “I think that I accomplished that. I’m definitely really glad that Brendan and I were able to go one and two in both events. That kind of puts the cherry on top of our day.”
The bond that the two seniors share is much like a brotherhood, having gone through injuries that sidelined them for the duration of the indoor track season. Sands dealt with patellar tendinopathy in both of his knees, while Colwell dealt with a calcaneus stress fracture.
Their injuries weighed heavily on their psyche, with Sands being out for four months and Colwell being unable to run for six months. Colwell sat out for the second half of his cross country season and went on to continue rehabbing his injury throughout the indoor season. Training in the pool and unable to run made each athlete confide in one another.
“I really think that the hardest thing and the best thing about coming back is that it is Mental Health Awareness Month and that’s a huge thing with injuries in running,” Colwell said. “You just can’t see the end and you think that for an injury that long that we both hand, it’s hard to see the end of that. So, to come out and be happy again and be healthy again and see the results that we put in during the hard work of the 4-6 month injuries — it feels really good to get back out here.”
District 6 Class 2A Track & Field Championships
(Tuesday at Altoona)
Centre County athletes who qualified for the PIAA Class 2A Championships in Shippensburg on May 28 by placing in the top three in their events or finished in the top eight and met the state qualifying standard were: girls’ 100m hurdles: 1st: Clare Marsh, Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy, 15.19; girls’ 1,600m: 2nd: Anna Stitzer, Penns Valley, 5:09.24; 3rd: Kelsey Hull, Penns Valley, 5:13.74; boys’ 1,600: 1st: Colton Sands, Penns Valley, 4:21.81; 2nd: Brendan Colwell, 4:21.83; girls’ 300 hurdles: 1st: Marsh, Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy, 45.75; girls’ 800m: 1st: Kathleen Simander, Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy, 2:16.91; boys’ 800m: 1st: Sands, Penns Valley, 1:59.66; 2nd: Colwell, Penns Valley, 2:00.16; 3rd: Jonah Clark, Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy, 2:00.41; girls’ 3,200m: 1st: Stitzer, Penns Valley, 11:16.96; boys’ 3,200m: 2nd: Thad Smith, Penns Valley, 10:03.09; girls’ 4x400m relay: 1st: Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy (Kita Chappell, Marsh, Simander, Tara Hershbine), 4:09.61; boys’ 4x800m relay: Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy (Clark, Josh Hershbine, Asa Reynolds, Brendan Scanlon), 3:32.70; girls’ high jump: 2nd: Leah Beben, Penns Valley, 5-02; 3rd: Cameron Upcraft, Penns Valley, 5-00; boys’ triple jump: 3rd: Owen Irvin, Bald Eagle Area, 42-11.25; girls’ triple jump: 2nd: Beben, Penns Valley, 34-02.50; boys’ javelin: 3rd: Colin Niewinski, Penns Valley, 161-11; girls’ shot put: 4th: Sarah Holler, Bald Eagle Area, 36-06.50 (above state standard).
This story was originally published May 18, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
