State College runs to team titles at Big Valley cross country meet
Penns Valley’s Rebecca Bierly led the field in the girls’ race, while State College dominated for the team titles of both races in the season-opening Big Valley Invitational on Saturday morning.
The Lady Little Lions had four runners in the top 10 and racked up 42 points, with Forest Hills second with 65 and Penns Valley fourth at 142 in the 13-team field. The State College boys had three runners in the top seven and scored 47 points, well ahead of Mifflin County’s 111 and Penns Valley’s 118 for third in the 16-team field.
Bierly covered the 5-kilometer course at Indian Valley Elementary School in 19 minutes, 19 seconds. Karly Smith was the next Lady Ram in 19th place, followed by Alexis Witherite (38th), Catherine Bierlein (40th) and Abigail Duvall (44th).
“The girls did an amazing job today,” Penns Valley coach Lynda Federinko said. “With the move to the (PIAA Class) AA division we had several questions about how things would play out. The top five runners exceeded our early season expectations including a first-place finish from Rebecca Bierly.”
State College’s Gabbi Bock and Catherine Curtin followed Bierly across the finish line in 19:45 and 19:53, respectively.
“We are just trying to find where everyone is,” State College coach Rebecca Donaghue said. “Bock is leading the way. She moved here from Virginia. She set the pace really well, and Curtin was right there with her. With two in the 19’s (-minute mark) that’s really exciting.”
Cailin Saylor took ninth in 20:58 and Julia Neely was 10th in 21 minutes. Megan Petrine was 18th to complete the scoring runners.
Nick Feffer paced the Little Lions with his 15:55 clocking for second place, edged at the finish line by Isaac Davis of Jersey Shore by just one second. Owen Isham was the second State College finisher in fourth in 16:25, while Owen Wing was seventh in 16:51. Tom Branstetter was 15th and Ben St. Pierre took 19th to round out the Little Lion scoring quintet.
“It was a great race,” State College coach Dave Felice said. “For early in the season, I was pretty pleased with the progress. Three in the top seven, we ran really competitively.”
Chris Colwell paced the Ram runners with his time of 16:41 to finish fifth. He was followed by Mark Bierly (20th), Sam Gray (21st), Stephen Gover (34th) and Charles Romig (38th).
“I was thrilled with the team’s performance,” Rams coach Terry Glunt said. “They competed well against some strong competition. Chris Colwell earned a spot on our all-time leader board with his 16:41 finish. It was a fabulous way to open the season.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2016 at 11:01 PM with the headline "State College runs to team titles at Big Valley cross country meet."