REEDSVILLE - It took three days in three different sports, but Mifflin County finally put it all together against a State College team.
On Thursday, Mifflin County fell to the Little Lions in girls field hockey, 2-1, in the District 6 Class AAA final.
Then on Friday, the Huskies' football team lost to State College, 20-13, as the Little Lions put a damper on Mifflin County's playoff hopes.
Article Photos
Sentinel photos by BUFFIE?BOYER
Mifflin County’s Jon Colwell cross in first during the District 6 Class AAA cross country meet Saturday in Reedsville.
But, on Saturday, Mifflin County broke the State College (winning) code as it won the District 6 Class AAA boys cross-country title.
How big was the win for Mifflin County? It marked the first time that a male team has won a district championship since there were three schools in the county: Chief Logan, Kishacoquillas and Lewistown.
Mifflin County scored just 36 points as it edged out Altoona, which had 39. The meet favorite, State College, fell to third place with 45 points.
Not only did Mifflin County win the team championship it also crowned the individual winner in Jon Colwell. The senior won with a time of 16:17.
Colwell and the rest of the Mifflin County boys will now advance to the state meet in Hershey next Saturday.
Since 1989, when Chief Logan and Kish merged to form Indian Valley, the only team that has won a cross country title came from the Warrior girls in 1998 and 1999. Indian Valley tied for the title in 1997.
On Saturday, the Husky boys came up with seven great performances with all the runners finishing the 3.1 mile course in 18 minutes or less.
"They got together this week and worked hard," Mifflin County coach Ruth Yoder said, "Most of our runners had their best performances of the year today and that is what they had to do.
"This is just awesome," Yoder explained. "But I knew we could do it. I had faith. I dreamed of this day since last year."
At the mile mark, there was a large pack of runners, but leading the way were Colwell, Addison Monroe and Patrick Parker.
Up front, things went as expected for Mifflin County as Colwell won by 12 seconds over Bill Cather of State College. Monroe wasn't far behind as he was third just 10 seconds behind Cather.
Next came a pack of Altoona runners and Little Lions. Altoona took fourth through sixth and State College responded with seventh and eighth places.
But then the Huskies showed up in a big way and won the meet. Parker, Darien Knudsen and Cullen Russler were within eight seconds of each other and wrapped up the championship.
Parker finished ninth with a 17:06. Knudsen was 11th with a 17:13 and Russler was just one second behind Knudsen in 12th with a 17:14.
The only runner to slip in between the Huskies was Altoona's Kyle Heasley, who was 10th.
In Mifflin County's other two runners, Chris Falkner was 18th with a 17:46 and Trent Yoder was 22nd as he ran an 18:00.
"Jon (Colwell) and Addison (Monroe) have been the leaders of this team not only on the course, but off of it too. They pulled this team together during the last half of the season. They are the men behind this win. They put the team ahead of themselves. Instead of worrying about beating each other, they went out and helped the other runners on this team and it paid off in a big way."
Colwell now can lineup with his father, Mark, who won the individual AAA crown back in 1995.
In the girls portion of the meet, Mifflin County finished fourth in a field of five teams and will not advance any runner to the state meet.
State College ran away with district title as it scored a perfect 15 points getting their first five runners across the finish line before another team could even score a point.
Winning the meet was Emma Cousins with a time of 19:40. State College had six of the first seven runners and only one of its girls, Hannah Grubb, who finished second is a senior.
Mifflin County's top runner as Megan Becker, who was 14th with a time of 21:42. Makayla Pearce was close behind at 16th with a mark of 21:49.
Next were Jessica Miller in 21st with a 22:09, while Anna Taptich was 26th at 22:54. Rounding out the Huskies' team was Amanda Hassinger, 27th, 23:12; Makenna Pollock, 29th, 22:35 and Kaitlyn Yearick, 31st, 24:51.
"Megan (Becker) really ran well today," Yoder said. "And Makayla (Pearce) had her best day of the season. We knew State College was going to run well and they did. We were well rested and had a very good day."
Central Cambria won the girls Class A team race and the winner also came from Central Cambria, Alyssa Brandis with a time of 18:57. The boys Class A team title went to Westmont Hilltop with 79 points. The top finisher was Byrce England from Williamsburg.
In the AA race, it was all Somerset. The boys won with 56 points, while the girls won with the same score of 56. Winning the AA race was Mitchell Smith of Bellefonte with a 16:19, while the girls winner was Haylee Rohrer of Somerset with a time of 19:54.
In the junior varsity race, the top Husky in the boys run was Joshua Aultz, who was 11th with an 18:24, while the top girl was Amber Reed, who was 27th with a mark of 24:27.
Notes: Becker and Pearce are the only seniors on the Mifflin County girls team... The winner of AA girls race last year, Angel Piccirillo of Homer Center, was listed in the Faces in the Crowd section of the Aug. 6 Sports Illustrated... In the District 3 meet, fellow Commonwealth member Cumberland Valley won both the AAA girls and boys meets. CV also won the indvidual races: Girls: Mady Clahane (18:49). Boys: Alec Kunzweller (16:35)... Four of the State College girl runners were featured in Seventeen magazine this fall... All three of the former Mifflin County cross country coaches, Ron Sprecher (Rothrock, Penn Highlands, Chief Logan and Indian Valley), Don Spangler (Lewistown) and Bill Solva (Kishacoquillas) were at the meet.
