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Huskies bring superb quartet to Hershey for season finale

LEWISTOWN — Five area runners passed the first test at districts and now make the trek to Hershey to tackle the rugged Parkview Course at the PIAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

Juniata’s Garrett Baublitz and Mifflin County’s Brayden Harris, Chase Sheaffer, Kylee Cubbison and Julia Montgomery hope to conquer the tough hills and bring home some hardware with a top 25 finish.

Action gets underway at 9:30 a.m.

Baublitz, second in the state last year, comes in as the top seed in the boys Class 2A race. He ran a personal-best 15:21.4 at the Paul Short Run this month, the top time in 2A this season.

“I feel good. I feel ready and confident. I’m excited about this one. My legs are ready and energized. The hay is in the barn so to speak,” Baublitz said. “Mindset is 100 percent of cross country. I don’t care what anyone tells you. Cross country is more mentally tough than track. It’s all mental for me. I bombed this course as a freshman because I was scared of the hills. You have to be mentally tough and have confidence in yourself.”

The four-time district champion doesn’t have a particular game plan for the race. His strategy is not to overthink things.

“I like to go in without a plan. I think that’s the best way for me,” Baublitz said. “Overthinking a race makes you more nervous and more stressful. I like to go out there, not wing it necessarily, but just go into it kind of blind and focus on running a good, hard race with a good time. Do that and the place will come.”

Two things Baublitz feels must happen are to get off to a fast start and conquer the hills on mile two.

“It’s very important to get a fast start there. The course narrows down about a kilometer into it. There’s a sharp turn, a pin turn and then you have to go across this bridge that’s straight and narrow,” Baublitz said. “If you don’t get out quick and you’re back at 100 and something place, there’s too much congestion on that bridge and you can get stuck or trip. I try to avoid that, go out fast and get to the front.”

“That middle section looks like a big M if you look at it from satellite view, but you just go up, down, up down and those two ups are monsters. They separate the men from the boys,” Baublitz continued. “Honestly, they are the toughest hills you may ever run.”

Harris came in fourth in Class 3A as a sophomore, but the junior went through a topsy-turvy 2019 season due to injuries and illness.

“This season has been one of the most difficult for me. There is a lot I had to overcome. If I could have a do-over I would ask for more time,” Harris said. “There’s a certain point when you have to push through things, no matter what. You let the chips fall where they may and that’s all you can ask for.”

Despite all the setbacks, Harris feels better and knows what to expect from the Parkview Course after qualifying the previous two seasons. His best time this year is 15:57.2 at the Gettysburg Invitational.

“I feel good, but I don’t feel like I did last year. I look at it as an ordinary course. The most intimidating thing is the people. You can look at the course as a positive or negative experience,” Harris said. “Mindset means a lot. I have this theory if your mind is aligned everything will fall in its place. Being mentally strong in those moments is a part of racing. I want to do as best as I can and not put pressure on myself. If I do that, I’ll be happy with the results.”

Sheaffer, the first four-time PIAA qualifier for the Huskies in cross country, has a similar plan as Baublitz — get out fast and show strong effort on the hills.

“Every race is different and the people in it will change how it turns out. You have to get out fast and move through it to get to the front,” Sheaffer said. “Once you get out you don’t want to settle down until most people around me do. Once you hit the mile mark, I’m going to try to keep the same effort up and down the three hills. After that, it’s flat until the finish. You have to give the third mile everything you have.”

Sheaffer feels the pressure is off at states. The real stress was districts and trying to qualify once again.

“At districts, I was a little nervous but right now I’m feeling good,” Sheaffer said. “I feel better this week than I did last week. I’m cutting back on mileage now from six miles a day to four. My body recovered this week and I should be ready for Saturday. I want to improve on what I did last year.”

Cubbison exploded on the cross-country scene at the Big Valley Invitational and never looked back. The Husky sophomore is re-writing the school record book, becoming the first girl from her school to run under 19 minutes and the first to place top 10 in districts with a second-place finish at a time of 18:5, a PR, last week.

“I don’t know what to expect, so I don’t have a strategy. I’ve heard you have to get out fast to get a good position, so I’m going to try and do that and see how the race goes,” Cubbison said. “My goal is to run strong and do the best I can.”

Cubbison ran track this past season, liked it, and decided to forgo soccer, which she played as a freshman, for 5Ks. The choice appears to be a good one.

“I was excited to be going to states. I’m still trying to figure out when to kick or not. As I keep racing I’m learning better when to kick,” Cubbison said. “I’ve heard there are a lot of hills. I don’t like hills, but I’m excited to go see the course tomorrow.”

For Montgomery, all the hard work paid off with her first appearance at states coming in her senior season. The Husky team leader attributes all the success this year to one word — confidence.

“This year, I had more confidence than any other year. That little confidence saying I’m good enough to be here, I’m good enough to qualify for states. That made all the difference,” Montgomery said. “We’re going down to run the course tomorrow. Since it’s my first year here, I don’t really have a strategy. I’m going to go out fast, but I want to make sure I don’t go out too fast and die at the end.”

No matter what happens at Hershey, Montgomery is happy. She accomplished her goal for the season of making districts, so everything else is gravy.

“I’ve been dreaming of states since my freshman year,” she said. “I don’t have a specific goal; I want to end my senior season strong. My main goal was to make it to states and I did that.”

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