Bellefonte tops BEA in cross country action

By rscaife
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Updated: September 19, 2018

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE – For one of the rare times this season, the Bellefonte and Bald Eagle cross country runners were able to run without running in sloppy weather or extreme heat.

“Mother Nature” provided the perfect weather conditions and the times showed it in this friendly rivalry.

“I thought they did really well. I know that ya tough to race after school and I know that it’s tough to race in pretty hot weather but it was nice that it wasn’t humid,” Bellefonte coach Carla Cipro said. “I was happy with the way that they crossed the line and how they finished though. It was a good day.”

Bellefonte took the top spot in the race. Austin Melius took top honors, finishing under the 20-minute mark with a time of 19:50.

His teammates rounded out the top five.

Finishing with a second place time of 21:10 was Eric Bennett. Rounding out the rest of the top five were Jon Decker (22:25), Harrison Herr (22:30) and Zeb Smoyer (22:43).

Running with just a small group, the Bald Eagles took the sixth through eighth place.

Camden Comly led the Eagles with a 23:20.

Teammate Luke Wilson was a little behind Comly, crossing the line at 23:24.

Rounding things out in the top 10 was Caleb Spackman with a finishing time of 23:58.

“It was a nice day out. We finally got to get outside. I’ve been cautious through the preseason with the high temperatures or the amount of rain we got. Especially on our home course. We have some spots that’s a little soupy,” Bald Eagle Area coach Jeff Jodon. “The kids, they came and worked hard on this course. It’s a very nice course. We have something to build off of and we want to improve throughout the season.”

On the girls’ side, the Red Raiders were led on the course by Amaya Rothrock. Her finishing time was 24:11. Teammate Mia Elmore finished second overall with a time of 25:37.

Bellefonte’s Amber Shirey finished with a 25:52 time, good enough to take home the third spot.

Teammates Sadu Belsky and Kathy Morgrave rounded out the top five girls spots with times of 26:18 and 26:42, respectively.

Finishing in sixth place on the girls’ side was Alyssa Packer who tallied a time of 26:50.

Teammate Kaitlyn Taylor was close behind, finishing with a seventh place finish of 27:20.

Clarissa Hoak scores eighth place for the Home team, 29:16.

Bellefonte travels to Hershey Saturday to compete in the PIAA foundation meet.

Bald Eagle is back in action next Tuesday as the go up against Philipsburg-Osceola and Tyrone at Tyrone