Who should be the Centre Daily Times Athlete of the Week for Oct. 25-30? 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. Please go to CentreDaily.com and click on this story to cast your vote.
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 Centre Daily Times 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 the CDT via email at cdtscores@centredaily.com.
Anna Stitzer + Penns Valley cross country
Following her victory in the Mountain League championships last week, Penns Valley’s Anna Stitzer had her eyes set on another win in the District VI Championships in Reedsville. Stitzer blew past the competition, finishing first with a time of 19:07.0 to advance to the state championships in Hershey. Stitzer beat out Portage Area’s Lauren Shaffer, who was going for her third consecutive district title. Teammates Alexis Durn finished fourth (20:51.1) and Abigail Stitzer seventh (21:12.9) to join her at next week’s state meet. A surprise story of the season has been Penns Valley’s boys team. The Rams began the season without enough runners to register team scores, but secured a second-place finish at the district meet to punch their ticket to PIAAs. The Rams were led by McClain Reamer and Simon Smith, who finished sixth in 18:20.3 and eighth in 18:39.9, respectively.
Bellefonte Boys Cross Country
Chase Ebeling, Alex Crist, and Alex Mansfield all qualified for states in their District 6 meet. Ebeling finished with a time of 7:23.6 for fifth place.Crist finished sixth at 7:24.4 and Mansfield had an eighth-place finish (7:26.8). Bellefonte finished second with 48 points to trail Central Cambria, which had 27 points.
Charles Endres + State College Boys Cross Country
The Little Lions had a big day on a mud-soaked course, sweeping the top three positions. Charles Endres finished first individually in the District 6 Championship, with a time of 16:47:00. Trent Dinant followed up with a time of 16:59:10. Trailing Dinant was Tony Tzolov, who had a time of 17:02:40. Griffin Selber also had a top-10 finish with a time of 17:30:90, placing 10th. State College finished first in the team race with a score of 29 points, followed by Altoona with 71 and Williamsport with 85.
Kailen Winklebach, Penns Valley
Winklebach had her 100th career ace in Penns Valley volleyball’s matchup with Bellefonte on Tuesday, where she also tallied 8 kills and 10 digs. The No. 11 Rams went on to defeat No. 6 Marion Center in the first round of the District 6 Class 2A playoffs. In that match, Winklebach had 10 kills and 13 digs.
Marlee Kwasnica + State College girls cross country
Kwasnica has continued to stand out in her junior year in cross country. She trekked through the mud to take home her second District 6 individual cross country title, finishing with a time of 19:11. She was followed by teammates Amy Devan (second in 19:38) and Grace Morningstar (third in 19:44.4), as State College swept the top three finishes and placed six in the top 10. The Little Lions dominated the team race, finishing with 18 points, well ahead of second-place Altoona’s 64 and Williamspot’s 87.
Saint Joseph Catholic Academy’s girls cross country
Saint Joseph’s girls cross country team, along with Colin Simander and Josh Hyman from the boys side, is headed to states. The WolfPack’s girls team finished second at the District 6 Class 1A meet with 74 points. Marion Center was first with 46. Leading the WolfPack was Amber Fisher, who finished fifth in 20:51.2. Kita Chappell was 13th in 22:24.4; Evelyn Reynolds was 15th in 22:45.7; Brandi Carmack was 16th in 22:47.6; Abby Ridenour was 25th in 23:31; and Brynn Wright was 43rd in 25:38.6.
State College Boys Golf
The Little Lions won its first boys golf state championship in school history, taking home the PIAA Class 3A Team Championship trophy at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York on Monday. The team as a whole shot +8 (292 total) to defeat the pool of Fox Chapel (+8, 292), LaSalle College (+15, 299), Central Bucks West (+16, 300), Dallastown (+19, 303) and Dallas (+45, 329). State College entered a team playoff with Fox Chapel for the win. Senior John Olsen led the Little Lions, shooting a 70 to finish one under par. Maxwell Wager shot a 72 (+1), Luke Janac 74 (+3) and Joey Sabol 76 (+5). Thomas Hay finished outside of the team’s scoring by shooting 84 (+13).
