Who should be the Centre Daily Times Athlete of the Week for Feb. 21-26? 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. The poll will close at noon Friday.
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 CDT 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 us via email at cdtscores@centredaily.com.
Bald Eagle unified bocce
Bald Eagle became the 2022 unified bocce league champions of Centre, Clinton and Huntingdon counties on Feb. 22. They will now compete for a Pennsylvania Special Olympics state championship, which will take place on March 26 at the PIAA boys and girls basketball state championships.
Gannon Brungard, Bellefonte boys basketball
Brungard had a team-high 22 points in Bellefonte’s 63-45 victory over Hollidaysburg in the PIAA District 6 5A boys basketball semifinal. He will play next on Monday against Central Mountain in the championship game at Bald Eagle.
Jude Swisher, Bellefonte wrestling
Swisher (145) was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the PIAA District 6 3A championships with a 10-0 major decision over Central Mountain’s Griffin Walizer.
Nick Pavlechko, State College wrestling
Pavlechko dealt with injury last season and missed the postseason. This time around, the 215-pound wrestler had three first period takedowns on Mifflin County’s Anson Wagner and added three more takedowns over the final two periods in the PIAA District 6 3A wrestling championships. Pavlechko won gold with a 14-5 major decision for his first title.
Penns Valley boys basketball
Penns Valley boys basketball qualified for the PIAA 3A boys state playoffs with their 51-40 victory over rival Philipsburg-Osceola on Feb. 22. Zach Braucht scored a team-high 15 points, followed by Maclain Welshans and Aidan Culver, who both had 11 points. The Rams will play next on Mar. 9.
State College boys and girls indoor track
The Little Lions boys indoor track team finished first with a time of 7:58.69 in the 4x800-meter relay at the Pennsylvania Track & Field Coaches Association Indoor State Championship 2022. It is the ninth lowest time in the United States. Ryan Lindenberg finished eighth in the 400-meter. Sean Adams finished fifth in the boys 800-meter.
The girls won gold in the 4x800-meter relays and Shannon Mullin finished with a bronze medal in the long jump. Grace Morningstar finished 16th in the girls 800-meter.
