State College indoor track & field finishes well at state championships
It was a day to remember for State College indoor track & field teams.
State College boys finished second, while the girls placed fourth at Sunday’s PTFCA Indoor State Championships at Penn State’s Horace Ashenfelter Indoor Track.
The boys’ team had 41 points, trailing Downingtown West’s 76 points. It was the highest finish for a State College boys’ track & field team at a state tournament in program history.
The girls’ team totaled 23 team points. Cheltenham took first place (58), North Penn (31) was second, and Pennridge (26) finished third.
State College boys’ coach Steve Shisler said he knew it would be a battle between his squad and Downingtown West for top honors.
As far as he knew, the boys’ team had never brought home a trophy from a state tournament. That was the goal.
“That had been on our radar all season,” Shisler said. “We met our expectation with a second-place finish. It was a big day for us.”
In team events, the State College boys’ team finished third in the distance medley, fifth in the 4x200 relay and 11th in the 4x400 relay.
Individually, Kellin Valentine was third in the long jump and triple jump, Erik Ebel was 12th in the shot put, and Tristan Daman was 15th in the 200-meter dash. Additionally, Griffin Thompson and Lucas Gray were third and fifth in the pole vault, respectively.
The biggest event, though, was State College’s win in the 4x800 relay, as the team of Anthony Degleris, Nick Feffer, Owen Wing and Alex Milligan posted a time of 7:48.29.
“They’ve rearranged the indoor state schedule. That relay used to run at the end of the meet, but they moved it to the beginning,” Shisler noted. “For them to win that right away, it set the tone.”
On the girls’ side, coach Jennifer Evans was more than proud of her team’s top-five finish.
Veronika Karpenko was impressive, finishing first and second overall in the triple jump and long jump, respectively. Taylor Givens also competing in the long jump placed ninth.
Natasha Fedkina was 20th and 22nd in the mile run and 800-meter run, respectively. Haley Crawford recorded a 12th place finish in the 200-meter dash, Rachel Wylie was eighth in the 60-meter hurdles and Jordan Bair ended 16th in the shot put.
In team events, State College was fifth in both the 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
Evans complimented her team and was pleased with how they performed.
“If you look through the results, Veronika Karpenko had an outstanding day, our relays did a fantastic job,” Evans said. “Almost everyone medaled today. That’s just amazing.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 9:59 PM with the headline "State College indoor track & field finishes well at state championships."