Bison Cross Country Teams Split at Mountain League Tri-Meet

Spring Mills — Both the boys and girls cross country teams from Clearfield Area High School went 1-1 when they traveled to Spring Mills to face off with Mountain League foes Penns Valley and Bellefonte on Tuesday.

Each lost to host Penns Valley, the girls 30-25 and the boys 38-28; while both beat Bellefonte, the girls 18-40 and the boys 17-41.

Pacing the Lady Bison once again was freshman Paige Mikesell, who was second overall with a time of 20:58. The usual Bison pacesetter, freshman Alex Coval, was injured during the race, so junior Josiah McClarren led the boys with a 19:33 to finish eighth overall.

Head coach John Jacob knew going in to the dual with Penns Valley that his squads were the underdog, “On paper, Penns Valley had a better team than us; but we still sent people out to win the race.  When we needed to move up a place we came up a little short. Each of the girls put forth good effort but in the end Penns Valley was just a little bit stronger.  Pagie Mikesell battled Alyssa Limbaugh all the way to the final quarter mile before the senior from Penns Valley was able to pull away.  It was a good race for Paige but in the end it came down to age and experience.  By the end of the season I think the outcome will be much different. Claire Mikesell continued to improve this season coming away again with her best time. Once again she came from back in the pack and was able to pass a number of runners and came up just short of contending for the race victory.   Kristi Fox and Nikol Chew also passed a number of key runners and improved on their times from last weekend’s Spiked Shoe Invitational.  It was also nice to see Sierra Luzier enter the picture and come up with a competitive time. The newcomer has been steadily dropping her times and it was good to see her in the top five.”

Girls Race Results:

1) Alyssa Limbaugh P 20:42
2) Paige Mikesell C 20:58
3) Claire Mikesell c 21:05
4) Mallory Yoder P 21:15
5) Anya Hoagluard B 21:35
6) Reecca Bielry P 21;42
7) McKenzie Wenrick P 22:10
8) Kristi Fox C 23:09
9) Nikol Chew C 23:42
10) Haley Brown P 23:55
11) Sierra Luzier C 24:16
12) Jade Kistler P 24:41
13) Erin Lemions B 25:23
14) Emily Aveni C 25:40
15) Kailey Bo ne B 26:05
16) Alexis Fiedler P 26:56
17) Brooke Shiery B 27:32
18) Summer Shiery B 27:38
19) Abby Duvall P 27:50

As for the boys Jacob added, “For the boys we had a much tougher time with our top runner (Alex Coval) going out early in the race due to injury.  Even though the team scores were not in our favor we still had some very good times. Josiah McClarren was the top boys finisher and was able to come within seconds of his personal best time. Malav Patel dropped down under 20 minutes for the first time this season.   The group of first year runners – Harry McMillen, Quinten Edwards, Thane Morgan and Zane Morgan – are steadily improving and can make us an even more competitive team as the season goes on if they can continue to train and make it over the midseason plateau. .  Hopefully we can make a late season push as we get closer to the Mountain League and District 9 Championships.  The boys have the potential to surprise a lot of teams later in the season; it is just going to take a little extra work.”

Boys Race Results:

1) Nick Fuller P 17:51
2) Adam Mothersbauh P 17:57
3) Mike ODonnel B 18:21
4) Chris Colwell P 18:31
5) Josiah Stickles B 18:54
6) Keith Griffith P 18:56
7) Matt Daniero B 19:03
8) Joshiah McClarren C 19:33
9) Ethan Diefenbach B 19:43
10) Ian Marshall B 19:44
11) Malav Patel C 19:52
12) Isaac Duvall P 19:55
13) Mitchell Pensak B 20:00
14) Harry McMillen 20:06
15) Grant Climie C 20:09
16) Logan Gilbert 20:14
17) Quinten Edwards C 20;24
18) Sam Grey P 20:35
19) Thayne Morgan C 20:38
20) Brandon Lacock C 20:39
21) Mike Hadden C 20:45
22) Brett Pope B 21:12
23) Cole Hovis B 21:18
24) Zane Morgan C 21:22
25) Matt Beichner C 22:15
26) Shane Graham C 23:01
27) Connor Richey B 23:28
28) Zach Coyone B 23:48
29) Michael Spencer C 24:49
30) Andrew Hammilton B 25:25

Both the boys (2-1) and the girls (2-1) will be back in action Tuesday September 23 when they host Bald Eagle Area.