Who is this week’s Centre Daily Times high school Athlete of the Week? Vote here
Editor’s note: The Centre Daily Times will publish a weekly poll on Monday mornings for readers to choose the Athlete of the Week for the previous week of competition. Please go to CentreDaily.com and click on this story to cast your vote.
Here are this week’s nominees for the Centre Daily Times high school athlete of the week presented in alphabetical order. They were selected by the Centre Daily Times sports staff via stats compiled by the CDT or sent to cdtscores@centredaily.com. Vote for your favorite.
If you’d like to nominate a player’s performance for future weeks, or believe a deserving nominee is missing from this week’s poll, please contact the CDT via email at cdtscores@centredaily.com.
Garrett Burns, Bald Eagle Area
Bald Eagle Area had its second blowout and shutout victory in two consecutive weeks with a 48-0 victory over Bellefonte on Friday night. Burns had another strong game with a two-touchdown performance against the Raiders. He had 21 carries 178 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Burns now has 125 carries for 885 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns, along with seven catches for 73 receiving yards. Defensively, he has 45 tackles (seven for loss) and an interception.
Kalista Butler, Philipsburg-Osceola
Philipsburg-Osceola volleyball dominated Bellefonte on Tuesday with scores of 25-11, 25-10 and 25-18 for a clean sweep. Part of the team’s dominance came from the play of Kalista Butler, who had 36 assists on the night to improve the team to 10-0 in Mountain League and 11-0 overall. The Mountaineers went on to win with scores of 25-20, 25-22 and 25-18 on Thursday against Penns Valley. Butler had 35 assists to guide the team to 12-0 (11-0 in league play).
Jackson Romig, Penns Valley
Penns Valley steamrolled Everett by a score of 55-0 on Friday. Romig had five touchdowns in the performance, his best game of the season. Miles Brooks, Logan Crater and Ty Watson all caught one of Romig’s touchdown passes with John Meyer being the recipient of two. Penns Valley football is now 4-4 on the year and will take on Philipsburg-Osceola (2-6) next week.
State College girls cross country
State College defeated Saint Joseph’s Academy on Monday with 15 points to 48 points. The Little Lions defeated Penns Valley with a score of 20 points to 43 points. State College also defeated Grier School 17 points to 46 points. Marlee Kwasnica finished second overall with a time of 18:57, behind Penns Valley’s Anna Stitzer, who finished with a time of 18:50. Junior Grace Morningstar placed third overall with a time of 19:57, Amy Devan placed fourth with a time of 20:27, junior Alex Antoniono placed sixth overall with a time of 20:59, sophomore Abigail Bigger placed seventh overall with a time of 21:06, senior Maya Ikenberry placed ninth overall with a time of 21:11, and junior Ava Langelaan placed 10th overall with a time of 21:36.
Following up with the Mid Penn Championships, the State College girls won with 55 points on Saturday. Kwasnica had a fifth place overall finish, running a time of 19:01 in the rain. Sophomore Chloe Poindexter (20:17), junior Amy Devan (20:18) and junior Natalie Koncoski placed (20:21) finished 14th, 15th and 16th. junior Alex Antoniono, placing 23rd overall with a time of 20:38. Sophomore Abigail Bigger and junior Grace Morningstar finished 29th and 31st with running times of 20:57 and 21:06 respectively. Junior Ava Langelaan was eighth in the team’s top-8, finishing 45th overall with a time of 21:46.
State College girls tennis
The State College’s girls tennis team put together a strong week with a victory of the District 6A Championship. As the first seed, State College defeated Shikellamy 5-0. In singles, Quiana Guo defeated Melanie Minnier 6-0, 6-0, Kelly Steel followed up with a victory against Kiersten Strohecker 6-1, 6-2 and Madeline Miller won over Olivia Weaver 6-1, 6-1. In doubles, State College’s team of Emily Zhang and Allison Norloff defeated Allie Minnier and Lily Weist 6-1, 6-0, Marissa Xu and Juju Dye then won over Megan Strohecker 6-0, 6-1 for State College to improve to 15-3 as a team on the season.
The Little Lions defeated Hollidaysburg 3-0 to win the District 6A Championship on Wednesday. Guo led Gretta Rhodes 7-5, 4-2, but they did not finish, Steel defeated Ella Jodon 6-1, 6-3, Miller won against Reagan McKee 6-1, 6-2 for the singles victory. Zhang and Norloff got the job done for State College against Megan Farris and Rachel Gallegar 6-2, 6-2 to win doubles, with Xu and Dye (State College) taking on Talia Delerme and Nina Meadows 5-7, 3-1, ending with a DNF.
Cammie Upcraft and Kailen Winklebach, Penns Valley
Senior middle blocker Cammie Upcraft earned her 500th career kill for Penns Valley volleyball Tuesday night against Huntingdon. Her 10 kills in the match allowed her to become only the second Lady Ram to ever cross the 500 kill milestone. She added eight more blocks, a stat where she is both the all-time leader in career and leads the way with blocks in a single season Penns Valley. Kailen Winkelbach had three kills as well in the loss versus Huntingdon. Winklebach earned her 500th career dig for Penns Valley Thursday night. Her nine digs in the match against Philipsburg-Osceola, puts her at fourth place in school history.
