Clearfield — The Clearfield Area High School boys and girls cross country teams opened the dual meet part of their season on Tuesday when they hosted Philipsburg-Osceola and Bellefonte. The boys split, beating P-O 15-45 and losing to Bellefonte 38-21. The girls team opened up 2-0 by beating P-O 16-45 and Bellefonte 25-34.
Alec Freeman, running his first cross country race, was the overall first place finisher on the boys side with a time of 18:45. The top finisher overall for the girls was Claire Mikesell, who finished in the runner-up spot in 22:13.
The heat and humidity was a factor in the race, and Head Coach John Jacob factored that in when he told the team before the start, “to run your pace for the first mile and then try and pass as many runners as possible over the remaining two miles.”
Coach Jacob noted the strong performance of several of the boys, “Alec has trained very hard over the summer and has had a very rough schedule trying to balance his running and soccer schedule. Josiah (McClarren) and Logan (Gilbert) came very close to breaking into the lead pack of Bellefonte runners, but fell a few seconds short. The next pack of boys also made strides from our first meet. Matt McKenzie, Jacob Ryan and Mala Patel improved from the first race of the season by moving closer to some of the top runners in today’s race.”
As for the girls, Coach Jacob added, “On the girls side, Claire Mikesell was the top finisher for the day placing second to Bellefonte’s Anya Hoaglund. Claire came close to the victory today, closing the gap several times over the course of the race but was out sprinted at the end. For the rest of the team the plan was the same as the boy’s. Be conservative over the first mile and capitalize on the other teams mistakes. Kristi Fox, Emily Aveni, Hunter Gatahan, and Macy Forrest executed that plan to perfection. The girls may not have had their best times but they were able to come away with two victories. Coach (Todd) Winters and I were pleased to see how well the girls were able to move into scoring positions over the last half of the race.”
The teams will be back in action when they head to Penn State on Friday for the annual Spiked Shoe Invitational. Their next dual will be when they head to Central on Monday for a tri-meet with the hosts and Central Mountain.
Girls Top 10 Finishers:
1. Anya Hoaglund B 22:02
2. Claire Mikesell C 22:13
3. Alexis Franks B 23:09
4. Kristi Fox C 24:49
5. Hunter Gathagan C 25:51
6. Emily Aveni C 26:06
7. Meagan Button B 2633
8. Taylor Guelich P 26:54
9. Macy Forrest C 26:58
10 Kylie Whitehead P 27:47
Other Clearfield Finishers: 11. Emily Hoover 27:54, 13. Nicki Chew 28:19, 18. Shana McBride 41:00
Boys Top 10 Finishers:
1. Alec Freeman C 18:45
2. Matt Dahiero B 19:08
3. Michael Odonnell B 20:13
4. Brett Finley B 20:30
5. Ethan Dlefenbach B 20:36
6. Josiah McClarren C 20:40
7. Joshua Cethar B 20:47
8. Daniel Tanney B 21:02
9. Logan Gilbert 21:35
10. Jacob Ryan C 22: 08
Other Clearfield Finishers: 11. Malav Patel 22:21, 12. Matt McKenzie 22:24, 17. Matthew Beichner 23:30, 19. Matthew Bell 24:19, 20. David McKenzie 24:36, 21. Kyle Thompson 26:20, 22. Tyler Pike 27:10
Scoreboard:
| BOYS | GIRLS | ||||
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record | Score | Record |
| 08/31 | @ Big Valley Invitational (Mifflin Co.) | 12th | 0 – 0 | 6th | 0 – 0 |
| 09/10 | TRI MEET @ HOME | ||||
| vs. BELLEFONTE | 38 – 21 | 0 – 1 | 25 – 34 | 1 – 0 | |
| vs. PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 15 – 45 | 1 -1 | 16 – 45 | 2 – 0 | |
| 09/13 | @ Spiked Shoe Invitational (PSU) | ||||
| 09/16 | Tri-Meet @ Central | ||||
| vs. Central | |||||
| vs. Central Mountain | |||||
| 09/19 | @ Hollidaysburg | ||||
| 09/24 | TRI MEET @ HOME | ||||
| vs. TYRONE | |||||
| vs. BALD EAGLE AREA | |||||
| 10/01 | PENNS VALLEY | ||||
| 10/05 | @ Ridgway Invitational | ||||
| 10/16 | Mountain League Championships (@ PV) | ||||