Juniata boys cross country team captures TVL crown

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: October 10, 2018

The Juniata Boys Cross Country team defended the TRI Valley League title for the second year in a row at Susquenita High School. The 3.1 mile course is the hardest cross country course a high school runner will encounter. The course is layed out on the side of the mountain behind Susquenita High School. Garrett Baublitz led the Indians with a 1st place overall with a time of 18:29. He was followed by teammate Clay Yeager in 7th place with a time of 21:43. By the time Clay crossed the line Juniata was tied with Susquenita with each team having 8 points. Shortly afterwards a pack of four Juniata runner came out of the woods close together with 100 meters to the finish. In that pack was James Hazard 8th – 22:09, Isaak Fausey 9th – 22:17, Albert Heister 10th – 22:18and Yadiel Nieves-Aguirre 11th – 22:28. These four runners sealed another Tri Valley League Championship beating Susquenita 35 to 50. 48 Boys competed in the championship. Other Juniata Boys were:

14th – Brody Powell – 23:02

16th – Micah Fausey – 23:15

18th – Zeb Ames – 23:31

37th – Noah Sheaffer – 27:55

42nd – Kyle Louder – 30:50

45th – Kaleb Louder – 32:31

Coach Jeff Miller was really pleased with how the boys ran today.

” I knew Garrett would have no problem up front, but Susquenita would challenge us after that. Clay Yeager ran a very gutsy race today. He is a coaches dream. He works so hard all year round and will do anything you ask of him,” said Miller. “Almost all of the boys who ran this race last year improved their time this year considering it was in the low 80s and very humid during the race.”

On the girls side Juniata did not have a team to compete for the team title, but freshmen Emily Houtz won the overall individual title winning with a time of 25:48. Coach Jeff Miller was very pleased with Emily’s performance since she has been off with an injury for the last 10 days. Her experience running for Coach Sprecher with the Juniata Valley Striders got her the win today. Sydney Houtz and Katrina Weber also competed for the Indians finishing in 7th – 28:49 and 18th – 41:37 respectively. There were 20 girls that competed in the championship. Other schools that competed were Upper Dauphin, West Perry, Greenwood, and Newport. Juniata competes against St. Joseph’s Academy on Thursday at Oak Hall Regional Park near Boalsburg.