St. Marys — The Clearfield Area High School boys and girls track teams traveled to St. Marys on Tuesday and claimed nearly identical scores in winning their final road meet of the season. The boys won 84 – 66, while the girls won 83.5 – 66.5.
The teams continue to match wins at 8-1.
This was a marked improvement over year’s past, and that was noted by Bison Head Coach John Jacob, “Last year at this point our boys were trying to break .500 and the girls had just achieved their first winning season in almost 10 years. With a strong group of upperclassmen and the impact of the freshman we have become a complete team.”
The difference for these Bison teams, as opposed to previous teams, is the depth that has been built up by a strong program.
Coach Jacob detailed this in his post-meet comments, “The meet was won by our strong second and third place finishers. Girls like Katie Powers, Jill Heichel, Shannon Reinke, Macy Forrest, Lauren Conrad, Courtney Patterson, Emily Aveni, and Raquel Griest take a lot of pride in making sure the other team does not get those vital points. In most of our meets this season these girls have competed and won against the top girls from other schools. It really shows the depth that this team has built over the years.”
Top performances were turned in by some familiar names, “The girls had some strong performances in all three relays that will go a long way to helping them compete in the Western Coaches Meet this weekend. I think our 4×800 relay team – Mikesell, Glenny, Smith and Conrad have a very good chance to compete with some of the larger schools that go to that meet. St Marys had three members of their state medal winning team return and they have won several invitationals this season. We knew coming into this that meet we would be close; but the girls went above and beyond by beating a team of their caliber. Our 4×100 (Shomo, Reinke, Heichel, Forrest) and 4×400 (Heichel, Mikesell, Powers, Glenny) also had their fastest times of the season and I think their best races are yet to come.”
Coach Jacob continued, “Our individual performances were also outstanding today. Our girls sprinters and hurdlers swept almost every event. Jessica Shomo made her debut in the 200m by coming within tenths of a second of breaking her fourth school record. While the hurdle tandem of Smith and Glenny continued their undefeated season by taking first and second in the 300 hurdles.”
The boys team was once agin led by Dylan Graham who picked up three victories – 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, and pole vault.
As mentioned, depth is also the key to victory on the boys team as well. Coach Jacob once again stated that, “The story was the same on the boys side, as our team showed their depth but in a different way. As a coaching staff we were able to move boys into individual events while still pushing the other team’s relays. By doing this we are able to wear down our opponent and make it harder for them to get the points they needed in the individual events. In most cases we are also able to pick up relay victories along with individual wins.”
The boys team has shown improvement in some areas that were not so strong in the past. “In the field events Wyatt Flannigan, Ryan Lingle and Devon Sinclair are now competiting with some very strong team in the throws. In years past were almost getting shutout of the throws – now we are making up ground and sometimes winning the point battle. Our distance department has also enjoyed plenty of success. To come up to St. Marys and compete with their distance team shows how far this young group of runners has come. Alec Freeman, Jack Soult and Jon Sponsler have been leading the way and you can see the success working its way into our younger runners.”
The Bison will head to the West Central Coaches Meet in Altoona this weekend and will close out their dual meet season on May 9 when they host Hollidaysburg.
Girls Results
Clearfield 83.5 St Marys 66.5
4×800 relay Clearfield (Glenny, Smith, Conrad, Mikesell) 10:00
100m Jessica Shomo C 13.0
100 Hurdles Tie Rachel Glenny/Courtney Smith C 17.9
1600m Bridges SM 5:54
400m Claire Mikesell C 1:06
4×100 relay Clearfield (Forrest, Heichel, Reinke, Shomo) 52.8
300 Hurdles Courtney Smith C 49.9
800m Bridges SM 2:31
200m Jessica Shomo C 26.9
3200m Gennocro SM 10:57
4×400 relay St Marys 4:17
Pole Vault Bauer SM 6ft 6in
Long Jump Baracrman SM 14ft 2in
Triple Jump Macy Forrest 27ft
High Jump Wonderling SM 4ft 6in
Discus Weisner SM 81ft 5in
Javelin Sara Lash C 100ft 10in
Shot Put Becca Lindstrom C 29ft 8in
Boys Results
Clearfield 84 St Marys 66
4×800 Relay SM 8:45
110 Hurdles Dylan Graham C 16.0
100m Tie Rico Longoria/ Tyler Stratton C 11.6
1600m Alec Freeman C 4:59
400m Gennocro SM 55.0
4×100 Relay Clearfield (Ford, Longoria, Lansberry,Wingate) 47.7
300 Hurdles Dylan Graham C 41.1
800m Foster SM 2:06
200m Rico Longoria C 24.1
3200m Alec Freeman C C 10:55
4×400 relay SM 3:42
Pole Vault Dylan Graham C 10ft
Long Jump Tyler Stratton C 16ft 9in
High Jump Miller SM 5ft 11in
Triple Jump Jake Wingate 34ft 11in
Discus Wyatt Flannigan C 116ft 8in
Javelin Schreiber SM 136ft 2in
Shot Put Keller SM 42ft 1/2in
Bison Track & Field Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record | Score | Record |
| 3/26 | TRI-MEET (HOME) | ||||
| vs. BELLEFONTE | ppd. | 0 – 0 | ppd. | 0 – 0 | |
| vs. PHILIPSBURG | ppd. | 0 – 0 | ppd. | 0 – 0 | |
| 4/02 | TRI-MEET (HOME) | ||||
| vs. BELLEFONTE | 72 – 77 | 0 – 1 | 105 – 35 | 1 – 0 | |
| vs. PHILIPSBURG | 85 – 65 | 1 – 1 | 107 – 34 | 2 – 0 | |
| 4/04 | @ Central Mountain | 76 – 74 | 2 – 1 | 68 – 78 | 2 – 1 |
| 4/09 | Tri-Meet (@ Bald Eagle) | ||||
| vs. Bald Eagle Area | 81 – 69 | 3 – 1 | 96 – 53 | 3 – 1 | |
| vs. Tyrone | 99 – 51 | 4 – 1 | 85 – 56 | 4 -1 | |
| 4/16 | TRI-MEET (HOME) | ||||
| vs. HUNTINGDON | 112 – 38 | 5 – 1 | 107 – 42 | 5 – 1 | |
| vs. PENNS VALLEY | 84 – 66 | 6 – 1 | 76 – 70 | 6 – 1 | |
| 4/23 | CENTRAL | 145.5 – 4.5 | 7 – 1 | 114 – 27 | 7 – 1 |
| 4/30 | @ St. Marys | 84 – 66 | 8 – 1 | 83.5 – 66.5 | 8 – 1 |
| 5/03 | West Central Coaches Meet | ||||
| 5/09 | HOLLIDAYSBURG |