State College has strong showing in Kevin Dare Invitational

Braving a challenging day outside, the State College track and field team had a hot day inside Saturday.

The Little Lion boys had top-three finishes in 13 of 15 events, while the girls had top-three finishes in eight events at the annual Kevin Dare Invitational at Penn State’s Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.

State College was joined by 17 other schools at the event.

Lady Little Lion coach Jennifer Evans said she was proud of her team’s day, especially considering the lack of time in between events. With a number of teams canceling due to inclement weather — Evans said the normal field is 37 teams — events were shorter than ever before, leaving less recovery time before the next one was underway.

“Our girls still performed at a high caliber,” Evans said. “I’m super excited about their day.”

Individually, State College’s afternoon was highlighted by stellar performances from Alex Milligan, Lucas Gray and Kellin Valentine for the boys’ team, and Kinsey Thompson, Veronika Karpenko and Natasha Fedkina for the girls’ squad.

Milligan placed first in the mile run with a time of 4 minutes, 24.09 seconds. He was followed closely behind by teammate Nick Feffer, who crossed with a 4:25.29 mark, good for second place.

Milligan and Feffer, joined by Joey Feffer and Anthony Degleris, also propelled the Little Lions to a first-place finish in the 4x800-meter relay (8:05.45). In addition, Degleris and Joey Feffer, along with Aziz Salamy and David Wong, placed second in the 4x400 relay (3:34.89).

Gray performed well in his only event, taking first in the pole vault by clearing 14 feet, 6 inches.

Valentine was everywhere, topping all the competition in the long jump (22-9) and triple jump (44-3). He also teamed up with Noah Osterling, Tristan Daman and Phillip Ealy in a winning effort in the 4x200 relay (1:32.90).

In addition, Ealy was second in the 60-meter dash (7.22), Daman was third in the 200-meter dash (22.91), and Osterling finished second in the 400 meter dash (51.52).

Rounding out the events, State College’s Owen Wing had a third-place showing in the 3,000-meter run (9:37.23), Shaquan Graham was second in the high jump (5-8), and Erik Ebel’s 51-6 toss was good for second in the shot put.

For the girls’ squad, Karpenko, last year’s triple jump outdoor state champion, showed that talent yet again, finishing first in the event (38-10 3/4). She also finished third in the long jump.

Fedkina impressed on the track, posting a time of 5:13.68 in the mile run, good for second overall. She also teamed up with Julia Neely, Catherine Curtin and Jordi Rohrbach to record a second-place time of 9:45.24 in the 4x800 relay.

Rohrbach, Rachel Wylie, Zoe Wicks and Taylor Givens placed third in the 4x400 relay, and Wylie, Wicks, Givens and Haley Crawford polished off the team events with a second-place showing in the 4x200 relay.

Crawford also impressed individually, finishing second in the 200 (25.44).

Also, Thompson triumphed in the pole vault, clearing the competition at 10-6.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 11:17 PM with the headline "State College has strong showing in Kevin Dare Invitational."