HS roundup: Here’s what happened from May 16-21 in Centre County high school sports
Editor’s note: Don’t see your team’s results? Be sure to send your results to kandrews@centredaily.com and cdtscores@centredaily.com for future inclusion.
Playoff season has arrived in full for each Centre County school.
The District 6 track and field championships took place with both of State College’s teams winning the title. Bellefonte girls lacrosse advanced to its district championship and a number of baseball teams were idle this week, awaiting the results of the district semifinals, while two Saint Joseph’s pitchers combined for a no-hitter.
Below are highlights from the week of May 16-21 in Centre County sports.
Baseball
Bald Eagle: The No. 5 seed Eagles traveled to No. 4 seed Richland on May 19 in the first round of the District 6 Class 3A playoffs, winning 5-2. Kahale Burns went 2-for-3 and Ty Serb went 2-for-4 to lead Bald Eagle in hits. Wyatt Coakley started for the Eagles, allowing two runs on four hits, walking one batter and striking out two. Serb was strong in relief, pitching two innings, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out two and allowing no runs.
Bellefonte: No. 1 seed Bellefonte is set to take on the winner of No. 2 seed Juniata and No. 3 seed Penn Cambria in the District 6 Class 5A championship (date is to be determined).
Penns Valley: The No. 7 seed Rams knocked off rival No. 2 seed Philipsburg-Osceola in the first round of the District 6 Class 3A playoffs on May 19 by a score of 9-6. Penns Valley began by scoring in the first inning when McClain Welshans singled on a 1-0 count to score one run. The Rams scored five runs in the fourth inning with singles by Hayden Houser, Welshans, Dakota Brodzina and Ty Houtz. Welshans went 3-for-4 on the day with three runs batted in. Penns Valley is set to take on Tyrone on May 24 in the semifinals.
Philipsburg-Osceola: The Mounties were able to hit well in their first round matchup against Penns Valley, but lost 9-6 on May 19. Ben Gustkey led the way with a 3-for-3 day from the plate with the team tallying 12 hits. Dave Meersand took the bump for P-O, pitching seven innings, allowing nine runs on 11 hits, striking out four and walking zero.
Saint Joe’s: The Wolfpack defeated Conemaugh Valley 14-0 on May 19 in the opening round of the District 6 Class 1A playoffs. Evan Roach led things off on the pitcher’s mound for Saint Joe’s, lasting four innings, allowing zero hits and zero runs while striking out seven. Jason Dreibelbis pitched one inning of relief, allowing no hits and striking out one.
State College: State College will take on Altoona in the District 6 Class 6A championship (date is to be determined).
Lacrosse
Bellefonte (boys): Bellefonte lost 15-0 to Lewisburg on May 18, ending its season with a 5-8 record.
Bellefonte (girls): The Lady Raiders advanced to the district championship with a 15-8 victory over Selinsgrove on May 17.
Softball
Bald Eagle: Sierra Albright led Bald Eagle Area to victory on May 18, pitching six innings, allowing one run on four hits, striking out 11 and walking zero. Katelyn Smitchko hit a home run in the fourth inning. The Eagles won 12-1 over Punxsutawney and are set to take on Central Cambria in the first round of the District 6 Class 3A playoffs on May 23.
Bellefonte: Bellefonte hosted Mountain League rival Hollidaysburg in the District 6 Class 5A semifinal on May 19, winning 2-1. Bellefonte will travel to Saint Francis University on May 25 to play No. 1 seed Central Mountain.
State College: State College won the Mid Penn championship with a 4-2 victory over East Pennsboro on May 19. The Lady Little Lions are set to take on No. 2 seed Mifflin County on May 25 in the District 6 Class 6A championship.
Tennis
State College: State College was defeated by Palmyra 3-2 on May 17 in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs. The Little Lions completed their season with a 14-3 record.
Track and Field
Bald Eagle (boys): Owen Irvin qualified for the state championships in two events in May 17’s District 6 Class 2A championship. He won the triple jump at 42’ 10.25” and finished second in the long jump. Max Yetsko finished sixth in the 300-meter hurdles and eighth in the triple jump, Matt Knepp had a seventh-place finish in the discus and the 4x400-meter relay team of Yetsko, Tanner Bower, Nate Fry and Kevin Taylor also placed in the event.
Bald Eagle (girls): Abby Hoover will head to the PIAA Championships in two events after winning the District 6 Class 2A javelin event on May 17 with a toss of 113’ and finishing third in the discus throw. Angelina Grieb placed seventh in the high jump, Heather Leskovansky took fifth in the pole vault, Katie Snyder placed eighth in the discus throw, Emily Ream finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles, and Olivia Taylor was sixth in the 200-meter dash and seventh in the 400-meter.
The 4x400-meter relay team finished eighth.
Bellefonte (boys): Senior Eric Bennett took bronze in the 800-meter race with a time of 1:59.95 on May 19 in the District 6 Class 3A championship. The boys 4x100-meter team of Nolan Weaver, Sherman Lowry, Collin Sharp and Jacob Hummel took third place (45.53). The 4x400-meter team of Aaron Carlini, Grady Garrison, Dillon Sette and Bennett finished third (3:40.77).
Senior Jacob Hummel had a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter dash (11.90). Sophomore Grady Garrison placed eighth in the 400-meter dash (54.98). Junior Chase Ebeling finished in fourth place with a time of 4:41.59. Caleb Vinnedge took fourth in the 3,200-meter race (10:18.74).
Sophomore Sherman Lowry was an eighth-place finisher in the 110-meter hurdle (16.92). Senior Ryan Miller had a jump of 11-03.00 in the pole vault to finish seventh. Fellow senior William Spratt earned a fifth-place finish with a toss of 134-02.00 and senior William Brininger (152-11.00) took fourth in the boys javelin throw.
Bellefonte (girls): Ella Underwood was the Lady Raiders’ strongest finisher with a bronze in the javelin throw (92-04.00) in the District 6 Class 3A championship.
Senior Kerri Shutika had a fifth-place finish in the girls 200-meter dash (27.95). Freshman Annie Cernuska took eighth in the 800-meter race (2:38.01). Sophomore Emma Liadis took seventh-place in the 3,200-meter run (12:48.26). Shutika reached the podium again when she finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdle (17.03).
Bellefonte took seventh in the 4x400-meter relay (4:43.53) and fourth in the 4x800-meter relay (11:17.90).
Penns Valley (boys): Zach Braucht qualified for states in both high jump (5-11) and long jump (21-1) on May 17 in the District 6 Class 2A championship.
Penns Valley (girls): Cammie Upcraft won a district championship in the high jump with a jump of 5-4 in the District 6 Class 2A championship on May 17. Abby Stitzer qualified in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:24.
Philipsburg-Osceola (boys): Chad Muckey took second place in both the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter races and Matt Reese finished eighth in pole vault in May 17’s District 6 Class 2A championship.
Philipsburg-Osceola (girls): Kalista Butler went 8’0 in the pole vault on May 17 at the District 6 Class 2A championship.
Saint Joe’s (boys): Saint Joe’s boys track and field team had three finishes in the top-8 at the District 6 Class 2A championship on May 17. Sophomore Colin Simander was the Wolves’ leading scorer, with a third-place finish in the 1,600-meter race with a time of 4:37.15 and a third-place finish in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:02.23. Simander’s finish for both events earned him a spot at next week’s 2A Track & Field State Championship Meet in Shippensburg.
Senior Asa Reynolds finished sixth in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:08.32 to reach the podium. Junior Akio Ohomoto-Frederick also reached the podium with an eighth-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44:31. Junior Josh Hyman also represented the St. Joe’s boys in the 3,200-meter and finished 25th with a time of 11:53.49. The boys team finished 14th.
Saint Joe’s (girls): Saint Joe’s freshman Karimar Henriquez finished 13th in the 200-meter dash on May 17 at the District 6 Class 2A championship. Junior Kita Chappell finished 18th in the 1,600-meter race with a time of 6:14.19. Freshman Brynn Wright finished 14th in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:45.04. Amber Fisher and Evelyn Reynolds represented the Wolves in the 3,200-meter with Fisher placing 10th with a time of 12:47.50 and Reynolds finishing 12th with a time of 13:20.09.
State College (boys): Senior Ryan Lindenberg led the boys with a win in the 200-meter dash in a time of 22.30 and the boys 300-meter hurdles (39.68) at the District 6 Class 3A championship on May 19. The Little Lions dominated the 800-meter race with seniors Sean Adams (1:55.99), Tony Tzolov (1:59.34) and Matthew Staniar (2:00.33) placing first, second and fourth, respectively.
The Little Lions continued to excel in the 1,600-meter race with junior Nick Sloff taking home the gold medal in a time of 4:22.06 and senior Trent Dinant earning silver with a 4:25.35 finish. Sophomore Owen Vaira finished fifth (4:43.38). State College also had a first- and second-place finish in the 3,200-meter race with senior Charles Endres (9:41.10) and sophomore Samuel Endres (10:15.81), and Sam Viglione finished in sixth with a time of 10:24.14.
State College had three athletes in the 110-meter hurdles reach the podium with senior John Sicree (15.75) taking gold, sophomore Holden Roth grabbing bronze (16.30) and sophomore David Brown finishing seventh (16.75). More victories came in the 300-meter hurdle with Lindenberg finishing first, Sicree taking third (41.84) and Roth (42.09) taking fourth.
The boys 4x400-meter team won the race with a time of 3:26.12 and the 4x800-meter race with a time of 7:49.35.
Freshman Jesse Myers finished third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.69 and trailing closely behind him was junior teammate Nolan Markowski, who placed fourth (11.80). Markowski also placed fifth in the 200-meter dash (23.80). Freshman Max Bodner (5-11.00) took fourth in the high jump, junior Landon Liedy (20-05.50) placed eighth in the triple jump and junior Duncan Loviscky had a triple jump of 43-03.00.
State College (girls): State College girls long jumper Shannon Mullin not only was strong enough in the triple jump to break her personal record, but she broke the District 6 record that Rachel Gehret set in 2006 with a 39-03.00 jump. Mullin leaped through the air with a jump of 39-11.50 to set the record on May 19 at the District 6 Class 3A championship.
Junior Victoria Walker finished the 400-meter dash time of 1:00.04, junior Grace Morningstar darting in 2:20.34 in the 800-meter race, the 4x800-meter relay team taking a time of 9:41.01 and freshman Sarah Tate with a time of 16.27 in the 100-meter hurdles, each were crowned champions.
Sanai Abdullah sprinted to a time of 12.93 for a silver medal in the girls 100-meter dash and Moe’a Howell reached the podium with an eighth-place finish (13.71). The freshman Abdullah earned a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash (26.95) and junior Kylie Field placed sixth (27.99). Sophomore Chloe Poindexter finished slightly behind Walker in the 400-meter dash finals (1:00.28) to win a silver medal. Junior Alex Antoniono placed sixth with a time of 1:03.31 to reach the podium in the 400-meter dash.
Natalie Koncoski finished third in the 800-meter run (2:27.05) for bronze with her teammate, sophomore Abigail Bigger, finishing fifth with a time of 2:31.54. Junior Marlee Kwasnica’s time of 5:22.22 earned her a silver medal in the 1,600-meter race with Bigger (5:39.24) finishing sixth and freshman Devyani Wadhia taking seventh 5:40.30. Kwasnica earned her second silver medal with a time of 11:57.66 in the 3,200-meter race. Senior Maya Ikenberry took fifth (12:28.58).
Sophomore Reese Kramer (18:50) finished eighth in the 100-meter hurdle. Tate earned a silver medal in the 300-meter hurdle (47.93) with Kramer finishing fifth (53.05) and junior Lauren Watkins taking eighth (54.72). State College finished fifth in the 4x100-meter relay (53.01) and second in the 4x400-meter relay (4:03.28). Junior Annamae Leitzinger took seventh in the high jump (4-07.00). Seniors Mia Iceland (9-06.00) and Alex Steward (8-06.00) finished second and third in the pole vault. Junior Irene Garcia had a toss of 97-06.00 for a bronze in the discus.
This story was originally published May 22, 2022 at 4:20 PM.
