BROOKVILLE — The Clearfield Area HIgh School Track and Field teams competed at the District 9 AAA Championship on Wednesday at Brookville High School.
Both teams placed fourth in the team standings. DuBois won the girls title, while Bradfordwore the boys crown.
Bison Head Coach John Jacob pointed out the highlights from the meet:
“We were able to qualify eight individuals in seven different events of the PIAA State Track and Field Championships next weekend (in Shippensburg).
“Leading the way was the 4×800 meter relay team of Claire Mikesell, Rachel Glenny, Raquel Grice, and Paige Mikesell.The team was the number one seed going into the event and was able to run away with the race in the second half. Rachel used her experience to get us a lead on the opening leg of the relay. She then handed off to Raquel, who battled back and forth with St. Marys and DuBois before handing off to Paige. Paige was then able to open up a sizable gap on the competition. From there it was clear sailing for Claire, as the girls punched their ticket to the PIAA state meet for the second year in a row.
“Next on the track for the girls was Rachel Glenny in the 300 meter hurdles. Rachel had not beaten her competition from DuBois and Bradford in two previous meets. Rachel has been slowly getting better times over the course of the season and having to run multiple events in the dual meets didn’t give her the upper hand in the previous meetings. With a little extra rest and the success in two recent Invitationals, Rachel had the confidence and skills to win the race. It was nice to see her hard work this season pay off with a district title.
“Paige and Claire Mikesell ran an exciting 800 meter race against Jessica Smith of DuBois. The girls had different strategies going into the race. Paige was going to use her endurance to try and run away from the competition. While Claire would use her speed to see if she could out kick her completion at the end of the race. Paige was able to lead the entire race until the last 100 meters. She did execute her plan to perfection but Claire and Jessica were a little too strong at the end of the race and were able to pass Paige going into the last straightaway. Claire used her momentum and speed to out kick her competition for her first individual district title.
“In the field, Sarah Lash was able to regain her javelin championship from two years ago. The weather did not lend itself to the big throws she has been accustomed to over the past two meets, but she did out throw her competition by over 10 feet. Sarah gained a lot of confidence over the second half of the season, winning the Mountain League Championship, Western Coaches Meet and now her second District Championship.
“Last on the girls side was Denise Stephens in the discus. Her better event all year was the shot put, an event she placed second in earlier in the day. She came back from that defeat with a win in the discus. I know her first two throws didn’t get her to the finals but on the third throw in the trials she was able to put up a throw over 90 feet. She showed some mental toughness getting down to the last throw to come away with the victory.
“On the boys side, Mason Royer was able to come away with a narrow victory in the boy’s 110 meter hurdles. Mason got a little slow start over the first five hurdles but over the second half of the race made a charge to the front and won in a photo finish. The race was so close that we didn’t know the winner for about 15 minutes after the race was finished. It wasn’t until Mason was up on the awards stand that we knew he had won.
“David McKenzie also won a championship for the boys in the high jump. Dave has had some incredible jumps the past three meets topping the six foot barrier on more than one occasion. Dave was the only jumper to clear 5′ 11″ and then went right for the school record of 6′ 4”. It was a good call by Dave to move directly to that height and on one of his attempts narrowly missed clearing the bar.
Complete girls results can be found here.
Complete boys results can be found here.