JV’s McCrum shines at Bellwood meet

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By Michael Boytim

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BELLWOOD — Juniata Valley senior Ella McCrum has been getting the most out of her senior year, both in track and field and last fall in cross country, after putting in a lot of work following a disappointing junior year.

She continued her special season by breaking two meet records at Monday’s Bellwood-Antis Invitational and earning the female outstanding runner award a year after she struggled to get to the finish line in a shorter race than two of the ones she dominated on Monday.

“I’m really happy, because last year at this meet, I could barely run the 800,” McCrum said. “I ran it in a super slow time. I’m super proud of myself that I ran the mile and the two mile and got the records. I’m really happy with the improvements that I have made.”

McCrum won the 1600 in 5:11.07 to break Chloe May of Bedford’s record of 5:14.61 set last year and then won the 3200 in 11:20.03, topping the record of Bishop Guilfoyle’s Sonja Hinish from 2003 of 11:28.22.

“I’m very excited about it,” McCrum said. “It’s hot today, and I’m not really used to running in the heat yet, but I made the most of it. Considering that, I think I did a pretty good job, and I’m definitely happy about the records.”

Monday’s weather jumped 30 degrees from morning temperatures to the peak over 70 degrees in the afternoon.

“It can be challenging, but it’s good to help me get used to what the conditions could be like,” McCrum said. “You never know what you’re going to get during track season. I would like it to be in the 50s or 60s, so this is probably a little warmer, but it was really sunny today.”

The records at the Bellwood-Antis Invitational aren’t the only ones McCrum has set this year. Two of the others hit a little closer to home.

Earlier this season, the senior broke the school records in both the 1600 and 3200. Those records were held by her mother, Krista.

“She’s definitely been waiting for me to get them,” McCrum said. “I know she was super excited when I finally did it this year.”

McCrum set her records on Monday despite neither race being close.

She topped Central’s Lanee Berkhimer, who was the runner-up in both races, by more than 15 seconds in the mile and 23 seconds in the two-mile run.

“It is definitely really challenging,” McCrum said. “That’s something that I have been really working on — being able to push myself even when there’s not someone right behind me. I definitely think I do run better when someone is pushing me, but I’m proud of myself. I was still able to get those records and push myself without anyone pushing me today.”

Before the season is over, McCrum has a few more goals she’d like to reach.

“I want to break five minutes in the mile and break 11 minutes in the two mile,” McCrum said. “I might also try to run the 800 a little bit too.”

Other award winners on Monday included Huntingdon’s Cole Lane (outstanding male jumper), Bellwood-Antis’ Jayce Quick (outstanding male thrower), Central Cambria’s Dom Kuntz (outstanding male runner), Cambria Heights’ Brielle McMillen (outstanding female jumper) and Huntingdon’s Kiayah Walters (outstanding female thrower).

Kuntz started the day by anchoring Central Cambria’s championship 3200-meter relay team before he won the 1600 in 4:36.22 just ahead of runner-up teammate Ethan Haycisak (4:41.24). He capped off his day by winning the 800 in 2:05.27 and leading Central Cambria to a second-place finish in the 1600 relay.

“I want to pull in as many points for the team as possible,” Kuntz said. “I want to make states in at least one individual event and the (3200 relay) and our (1600 relay) team has a chance. I want to get myself and as many teammates to states as possible.”

Kuntz also said the sudden warm weather was something that required some adjustments.

“It’s definitely tougher,” Kuntz said. “The sun makes 75 seem like 85. If you look at the weather beforehand and plan your hydration out, you can manage it.”

Kuntz is working his way back into shape after a slow start to the track season.

“I had bronchitis the first couple weeks of the track season,” Kuntz said. “But I was able to train through it and am feeling better now. I’m finally getting down that anchor leg and being there for my team.”

Quick won the shot put by throwing 46 feet, 6.5 inches, and he was second in the disc with a throw of 129 feet, 10 inches. McMillen won the triple jump in 34 feet, 10 inches.

Lane won the long jump and was second in the triple jump to help the Bearcats win a close battle for the boys team title, three points ahead of Northern Cambria and Central Cambria, and his teammate on the girls side, Walters, won the javelin and was fourth in the shot put.

Central Cambria’s 3200 girls relay team began the day with a victory and still has two members, Abigail and Alaina Sheehan, from a state championship squad from two years ago.

Paige Alexander and Alaina Long are the other two legs of this year’s team.

“This is the start of when all the fun meets are starting,” Abigail Sheehan said. “I’m really excited to see what we can do. We’re really excited about our relay team this year. Everyone has been working just as hard. I try to lead the team and be the best example. We push each other, and I think that’s important.”

Abigail Sheehan later won the 800-meter run in 2:28.37.

“We practice in literally any weather conditions, so I think we’re prepared for any weather, no matter what the meet is,” Abigail Sheehan said. “I like high 60s. That’s ideal weather for me.”

Other solo male winners included Ethan Haycisak of Central Cambria, who won the 3200 in 9:57.24, Drew Irons of Tyrone, who won the 200 in 23.33 and Cayden Pellegrine of Bellwood-Antis, who won the javelin with a throw of 156-4.

On the girls side, Central Cambria freshman Courtney Gleason won the 400 in 1:01.41, Tyrone’s Lola Woomer won the high jump, clearing 5-0, Tyrone’s Sarah Chichester of Tyrone won the 200 in 26.64, and Alayna Mingle of Central won the girls shot put with a throw of 32-11.5.

Bellwood-Antis freshman Ella Cherry led a group of three Lady Blue Devil winners by winning two events, the 100 dash in 12.85 seconds and the long jump 16 feet, 9 inches. She was third in triple jump and third in 200.

“It’s been pretty fun, and I see my progress in everything,” Cherry said. “I like the 100 and triple jump. It’s good to win two today. I feel pretty accomplished. I want to keep making progress and stay consistent.”

Other winners for B-A included Emma Taneyhill, who won the discus with a throw of 119 feet, 2 inches to break her own school record, and Olivia Rishel, who won the pole vault by clearing 10-0.

The victories helped contribute to Bellwood’s 104-93 win over runner-up Tyrone. The Lady Blue Devils won their own invitational for the first time since 2002. The event goes back to 1940 on the boys side and 1967 on the girls.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better day today. Overall this has been an incredible season for our girls,” Bellwood-Antis girls track and field coach Jennifer Soisson said. “We have depth and talent across events. Two of our underclassmen, Ella Cherry and Emma Taneyhill, broke school records earlier this month and then broke their own record again last week and today. The records they broke earlier this month were from the late 90s/early 2000s, so it was timely for the team to win the B-A Invitational for the first time since 2002. There are many talented teams in our area, so we never know what to expect. We ask them to give their best effort each day and today their collective best efforts brought home the win.”

BOYS

TEAM RESULTS (AND KEY)

1, Huntingdon (H) 77; T-2 Northern Cambria (NC) 74; T-2, Central Cambria (CC) 74; 4, Bellwood-Antis (BA) 71.5; 5, Tyrone (T) 70; 6, United (U) 62.5; 7, Bald Eagle Area (BEA); 8, Cambria Heights (CH) 33; 9, Central (C) 30; 10, Saint Joseph’s (SJ) 6; 11, Philipsburg-Osceola (PO) 4; 12, Southern Huntingdon (SH) 3; T-13, Moshannon Valley (MV) 2; T-13, Juniata Valley (JV) 2.

INDIVIDUAL

100 dash: 1, Noone, BEA, 11.39; 2, Slusher, H, 11.4; 3, Musei, C, 11.49; 4, Oleksa, U, 11.52; 5, Nelen, CH, 11.57; 6, Fry, NC, 11.63. 200 dash: 1, Irons, T, 23.33; 2, Dodson, H, 23.55; 3, Nelen, CH, 23.76; 4, Fry, NC, 23.78; 5, Slusher, H, 23.91; 6, Lucas, T, 24.21. 400 dash: 1, Oleksa, U, 51.93; 2, Schreier, BA, 52.19; 3, Hughes, H, 52.82; 4, Irons, T, 53.08; 5, Baird, C, 53.38; 6, D. Novak, T, 53.48. 800 run: 1, Kuntz, CC, 2:05.27; 2, Heuston, C, 2:06.02; 3, T. Novak, T, 2:10.51; 4, Detwiler, T, 2:10.8; 5, Archangelo, CC, 2:10.89; 6, Cassatt, H, 2:12.23. 1600 run: 1, Kuntz, CC, 4:36.22; 2, Haycisak, CC, 4:41.24; 3, Kline, CH, 4:46.77; 4, Henning, U, 4:49.02; 5, Sutt, T, 4:54.32; 6, Honn, H, 4:54.75. 3200 run: 1, Haycisak, CC, 9:57.24; 2, Henning, U, 10:12.33; 3, Deplato, SJ, 10:16.66; 4, Takacs, CC, 10:16.76; 5, Nestlerode, MV, 10:35.88; 6, Sutt, T, 10:48.35. 110 hurdles: 1, Dumm, NC, 15.23; 2, Eckenrode, CH, 15.55; 3, K. Suhoney, T, 16.21; 4, Dreibelbis, CH, 16.28; 5, Taylor, BEA, 16.7; 6, Nelson, BA, 16.85. 300 hurdles: 1, Taylor, BEA, 40.24; 2, Dumm, NC, 41.19; 3, Eckenrode, CH, 41.24; 4, Martin, U, 42.92; 5, Shawley, BA, 43.27; 6, Nelson, BA, 43.88.

400 relay: 1, Huntingdon (Norris, Dodson, Lane, Slusher), 44.4; 2, Northern Cambria, 45.1; 3, Bald Eagle Area, 45.55; 4, Bellwood-Antis, 45.9; 5, Juniata Valley, 47.44; 6, Southern Huntingdon, 47.54. 1600 relay: 1, Bellwood-Antis (Nelson, Shawley, Stoltzfus, Schreier), 3:33.6; 2, Central Cambria, 3:33.93; 3, Tyrone, 3:34.28; 4, Huntingdon, 3:34.77; 5, Huntingdon, 3:36.4; 6, Northern Cambria, 3:40.47. 3200 relay: 1, Central Cambria (Archangelo, Bradley, Haycisak, Kuntz), 8:24.95; 2, Tyrone, 8:25.83; 3, Central, 8:33.05; 4, Bellwood-Antis, 8:54.72; 5, United, 8:56.91; 6, Bald Eagle Area, 9:19.81. High jump: 1, Gates, BEA, 5-10; 2, Norris, H, 5-8; 3, Estep, CC, 5-6; 4, Fox, NC, 5-6; 5, Rumberger, T, 5-6; T-6, Litzinger, BA, 5-4; T-6, Payne, U, 5-4. Long jump: 1, Lane, H, 20-7; 2, Farrell, NC, 20-6.5; 3, Fox, NC, 18-9.25; 4, Litzinger, BA, 18-7.75; 5, Bradley, CC, 18-3.5; 6, Dodson, H, 18-1.75. Triple jump: 1, Farrell, NC, 42-8.75; 2, Lane, H, 42-1; 3, M. Emigh, T, 40-7; 4, Estep, CC, 39-9; 5, Stiffler, U, 39-5.25; 6, Litzinger, BA, 38-10. Shot put: 1, Quick, BA, 46-6.5; 2, Jelley, U, 45-6.5; 3, Pellegrine, BA, 45-6.5; 4, Erdman, H, 43-5.5; 5, Lake, SH, 42-5.5; 6, Hockenberry, T, 39-11. Discus: 1, Wirick, U, 132-2; 2, Quick, BA, 129-10; 3, Hockenberry, T, 124-6; 4, McClure, PO, 119-4; 5, Ott, BA, 117-9; 6, Rivello, H, 115-4. Javelin: 1, Pellegrine, BA, 156-4; 2, Shutty, NC, 149-8; 3, A. Emigh, T, 143-8; 4, Costello, NC, 142-9; 5, Thompson, BEA, 142-0; 6, Skebeck, CH, 137-5. Pole vault: 1, Fischer, U, 12-0; 2, Uberti, BEA, 11-6; 3, Escuadro, H, 11-0; 4, Hart, C, 11-0; 5, Drumm, NC, 10-0; 6, Gibson, H, 9-6.

GIRLS

TEAM RESULTS (AND KEY)

1, Bellwood-Antis (BA) 104; 2, Tyrone (T) 93; 3, Central (C) 72; 4, Cambria Heights (CH) 55; 5, Central Cambria (CC) 48; 6, Huntingdon (H) 39; 7, Mount Union (MU) 24; 8, Bald Eagle Area (BEA) 21; T-9, Juniata Valley (JV) 20; T-9, United 20; 11, Tussey Mountain (TM) 19; 12, Southern Huntingdon (SH) 17; 13, Northern Cambria (NC) 11; 14, Saint Joseph’s (SJ) 9; 15, West Branch (WB) 6.

INDIVIDUAL

100 dash: 1, Cherry, BA, 12.85; 2, Chichester, T, 13.15; 3, Dibert, C, 13.28; 4, Wingert, SH, 13.3; 5, Williams, TM, 13.32; 6, Sunderland, SH, 13.52. 200 dash: 1, Chichester, T, 26.64; 2, Ramsey, T, 26.84; 3, Cherry, BA, 26.9; 4, Williams, TM, 28.11; 5, Dibert, C, 28.19; 6, Pala, NC, 28.31. 400 dash: 1, Gleason, CC, 1:01.41; 2, Hassler, BA, 1:01.76; 3, Depetro, NC, 1:02.18; 4, Wingert, SH, 1:02.2; 5, Taylor, BEA, 1:03.28; 6, Wrye, T, 1:04.11. 800 run: 1, Ab. Sheehan, CC, 2:28.37; 2, Hoover, CH, 2:29.33; 3, Wright, SJ, 2:31.74; 4, Kraft, BA, 2:32.47; 5, Pennington, BA, 2:32.55; 6, Thompson, BEA, 2:33.41. 1600 run: *1, McCrum, JV, 5:11.07; 2, Berkhimer, C, 5:26.44; 3, Alexander, CC, 5:28.05; 4, Hoover, CH, 5:42.17; 5, Long, CC, 5:47.17; 6, Pennington, BA, 5:49.74. 3200 run: *1, McCrum, JV, 11:20.03; 2, Berkhimer, C, 11:43.23; 3, Henning, U, 12:28.25; 4, Brandis, CC, 12:43.94; 5, Wright, SJ, 12:53.69; 6, Ridenour, SJ, 12:56.1. 100 hurdles: 1, Young, H, 15.56; 2, Skopic, MU, 16.01; 3, McClellan, CH, 16.07; 4, Bryan, BEA, 16.42; 5, Stoltzfus, BA, 17.3; 6, Williams, TM, 17.76. 300 hurdles: 1, Skopic, MU, 48.06; 2, Lehman, T, 49.0; 3, Stoltzfus, BA, 49.09; 4, Dunn, C, 49.41; 5, Fiscus, H, 51.79; 6, Venesky, CH, 51.94.

400 relay: 1, Tyrone (Lehman, Ramsey, Green, Chichester), 51.49; 2, Central, 52.03; 3, Bellwood-Antis, 52.78; 4, Cambria Heights, 53.51; 5, Southern Huntingdon, 53.71; 6, Northern Cambria, 53.88. 1600 relay: 1, Tyrone (Chichester, Houck, Wrye, Lehman), 4:14.97; 2, Central, 4:18.43; 3, Bellwood-Antis, 4:21.54; 4, Central Cambria, 4:23.18; 5, Bald Eagle Area, 4:23.22; 6, Northern Cambria, 4:24.17. 3200 relay: 1, Central Cambria (Alexander, Long, Ab. Sheehan, Al. Sheehan), 9:59.56; 2, Bellwood-Antis, 10:17:47; 3, United, 10:33.09; 4, Central, 11:08.44; 5, Bald Eagle Area, 11:11.76; 6, Northern Cambria, 11:36.44. High jump: 1, Woomer, T, 5-0; 2, Boyles, C, 4-10; 3, Skopic, MU, 4-10; 4, Gerwert, BA, 4-8; 5, Hassler, BA, 4-6; 6, McGlynn, T, 4-6. Long jump: 1, Cherry, BA, 16-9; 2, McMillen, CH, 16-5; 3, McClellan, CH, 16-1; 4, Bryan, BEA, 15-11; 5, Woomer, T, 15-6; 6, Mock, C, 15-6. Triple jump: 1, McMillen, CH, 34-10; 2, Ramsey, T, 34-10; 3, Cherry, BA, 34-2; 4, Imes, C, 33-5; 5, McClellan, CH, 33-4; 6, Young, H, 31-10. Shot put: 1, Mingle, C, 32-11.5; 2, Dicken, T, 32-3; 3, Crestani, BEA, 30-6.5; 4, Walters, H, 30-3.5; 5, Anderson, CC, 30-0; 6, Heckman, BA, 30-0. Discus: 1, Taneyhill, BA, 119-2; 2, Kyper, H, 108-8; 3, Holloway, SH, 106-0; 4, Yutzy, TM, 98-6; 5, Miller, U, 98-0; 6, Dicken, T, 94-3. Javelin: 1, Walters, H, 106-0; 2, Nelson, T, 105-6; 3, Hebel, WB, 97-5; 4, Cann, CH, 96-8; 5, Karlheim, CH, 96-7; 6, Messina, NC, 94-9. Pole vault: 1, Rishel, BA, 10-0; 2, Sumner, TM, 9-0; 3, Ressler, U, 9-0; 4, Mazurowski, H, 8-0; 5, Worthing, BA, 8-0; 6, Smith, C, 8-0.

*—Meet record