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Huskies send three to state meet

Juniata’s Barton takes sixth place

By William Whisler 11 min read

ALTOONA -- The District 6 Class 3A track and field championships were one again one of the toughest, grueling meets for local athletes, and with only the District 6 champion and those who met the state qualifying standards assured a spot, everyone was hungry to vie for their spot in the PIAA championship meet on Memorial Day weekend.

Taylor Ciccolini and Brayden Harris shined as Ciccolini made her mark once again in the javelin -- this time advancing as the District 6 champion instead of the qualifying standard -- while Harris recovered from a fourth-place finish in the mile to win the two-mile and punch his ticket to Shippensburg University.

Mifflin County's Kylee Cubbison was the third local athlete to punch a ticket to the title meet, earning a monster personal best in the 3,200 after deciding to focus solely on the event with heat playing a large factor. Cubbison finished in second in the event but beat the qualifying standard by more than 10 seconds with a time of 10:59.35.

Ciccolini's first district gold was achieved with a series of consistent throws in the 130-foot mark, before her top throw of 134-10 bested the field by more than 30 feet. The qualifying standard of 122 feet was something that she had consistently hit this season, but she was pleased with her progression of throws throughout the evening.

"The District 6 title part of it was cool," Ciccolini said. "I was expecting to make states with the 122-mark. I've hit that every meet this year, so I was more happy with the series that I put together. It was pretty consistently around 130. The last meet I went to at the Mid-Penn Championships, I threw about the same, but I was working really hard. This meet, we were just trying to put together a good pre-meet to states. I think that I accomplished what I wanted to there."

The preparation process has been about tapering on the way to the bigger meets throughout the season and Ciccolini looked calm, poised, and ready to roll heading into districts and will undoubtably go to Shippensburg as one of the top seeds in the event.

"All season we have been building to states and nationals," Ciccolini said. "It's nice that things are coming together the way that they are. I've set myself up and I've done the work up to this point. Now is the time to get some hard throws and see what I can put together distance wise."

While gold isn't the set goal, Ciccolini is focused on continued improvement and putting together a good series as she works to prepare herself for her future at University of Missouri.

"The title isn't as much the goal and I'll have the national meet about a month after," Ciccolini said. "Whatever the rankings come out to be, I just want to put together some more good throws."

For Cubbison, advancing to the PIAA championships was the goal from the beginning of the season. Cubbison flew in the two mile, crossing the finish line with a time of 10:59.35, beating the qualifying standard of 11:10.

"It was super exciting. I was hoping to win, but I am super happy with what happened," Cubbison said. "I wanted to make it to states so bad. I had no idea that we were going to run that fast, it was a big PR for me. I'm very happy and excited."

Cubbison's decision to focus solely on the 3,200 paid off in a big way as she was able to pull through with her second-place finish to earn her first trip to the PIAA Championships.

"It was a really hard decision to make today," she said. "I felt like I really had a chance to improve in the 3,200 and I was really excited about it. I was able to do very well to make it to states. That was my goal this whole year to make it there. I just want to keep this good momentum going into states and hopefully do really well there, drop some more time and hopefully place well."

For Harris, advancing to the state championships in his senior year after injuries and setbacks have plagued the Temple recruit was a welcomed accomplishment.

Harris won the District 6 championship in the two-mile, crossing the line with a time of 9:42.65 to become the lone boys state qualifier for Mifflin County.

"It caught me off guard," Harris said. "This senior year for me was filled with a bunch of ups and downs. It wasn't the senior year that I had planned for. After the mile I was just trying to get over it and let it all out there for the two mile. I knew I couldn't dwell on (the mile) to mess up my emotions going into the two mile. It was what it was, and I had to push it aside."

It was a tough District 6 debut for Josiah Sechler who came into the meet as the top seed in the javelin, but a monster personal-best for Altoona's Ethan Stroup of 171-03 left Sechler in second with a throw of 163-09. Sechler came in seeded at 174-11, while Stroup had only thrown 150-02.

"Going into it I was feeling pretty confident," Sechler said. "I just was kind of overwhelmed a little bit and didn't throw my best. I was just expecting to win since I was so far ahead of the field. The kid from Altoona just put a really good throw out there."

Despite Sechler's disappointment from a second-place finish, it was a stellar sophomore campaign for one of the state's top arms in the javelin, and Huskies' boys coach Scot Sechler said that it's the kind of thing that will motivate Josiah moving forward.

"He's absolutely motivated. He was crushed. It wasn't a great series for him," Scot said. "As the dad, I try to separate myself from that and let Coach (Sonny) Ciccolini work with him but my heart hurts for him. He came in as the No. 1 seed and just didn't have a great series. He was seeded sixth or seventh in the state. He's the kind of kid that will be motivated by that and I told him I was proud of him."

Other top performances for Mifflin County came from Dillon Wert, who finished third in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump, while Caden Kauffman finished fourth in the triple jump and high jump.

"I was looking for first, but I was happy with third," Wert said. "My first jump was good, and I jumped half an inch off my PR, but that ended up being my farthest jump. One guy pulled away when he jumped 21-11 so that made it pretty hard. That's a little out of my reach right now. I trained hard all year for it, so to finish on the podium is pretty rewarding."

Mifflin County's Reagan Ettinger beat his personal best in the high jump to finish third, clearing 5 feet, 11 inches.

"Going into it I felt fairly confident that I was going to do pretty well," Ettinger said. "I didn't know how the people around me would do and everyone was pretty hyped going into it. Before I knew it, we were down to the last four or five people and I realized I could medal. It came down to the last jump to get that third place and I was really happy to get my PR and finish there."

Overall, Scot Sechler was pleased with the effort from the boys team, as the Huskies finished third in the meet with 83 team points. State College finished first with 216.5 points while Altoona was the runner-up with 182.5 points.

"A lot of PRs today. Our jumping crew did a great job as well as Brayden Harris at the end in the 3,200 being the District 6 champion to make it to state meet," Sechler said. "That's always exciting to see kids do well at this time of year."

For the girls, Mifflin County coach Scott Gantz was pleased with the effort as multiple athletes found themselves on the podium in different events, with Lily Yoder finishing sixth in the triple jump and eighth in the long jump. Shaelyn Bagrosky finished fifth in the high jump and Tai Ematat finished eighth in the event. Bryn Kanagy also finished on the podium in the triple jump for the Huskies.

Addie Parson was a standout in both the mile and two mile, finishing fourth in the two-mile with a time of 12:04.60 and fifth in the mile with a time of 5:43.04.

"It was what we expected. District 6 is tough with State College and Altoona being the usual Top 2 schools," Gantz said. "The girls we brought, we decided to come up and leave it all on the track and have fun and I think they did that today. A lot of the girls, this was their first big meet competition. I'm proud of how they approached it and came out and competed."

For the Juniata boys contingent, Indians coach Kim Hart was pleased with the way her team finished with Charlie Barton leading the way, finishing sixth in the 110 hurdles with a personal best.

"I was very nervous going into it," Barton said. "It was the first time I was in the finals, and I was very happy with how I finished. I tried to do my best, go as hard as I can and leave it all out on the track. It's stressful going in and then going out and beating a PR is just amazing."

Other top performances from Juniata included James Hazard placing eighth in the mile (4:45.71) and Makih Hunt and Stuart Dare finishing eighth and ninth, respectively in the high jump with jumps. Hunt cleared 5-07 and Dare cleared 5-05. Tyson Aurand finished eighth in the pole vault as well for the Indians, with a top vault of 11 feet, 3 inches.

Juniata also received strong performances out of its relay teams, with its boys 4×400 finishing fifth with a time of 3:47.79. The 4×400 beat its season-best time by more than five seconds, while the Mifflin County boys relay finished seventh with a time of 3:47.79. Mifflin County’s boys 4×100 finished fourth with at time of 46.27 seconds, followed by Juniata’s 4×100 that finished fifth with a season best time of 47.12 seconds.

"They all rose to the occasion," Hart said. "You can show up here and be happy to get here and be awed by what is around you, but instead they rose to it and competed, and they put themselves in position to show that they belong here, and they did that."

Top 8 place, Champion and Qualifying standard advance to PIAA Championships

BOYS

100 dash: 14. Dylan Long 12.13 (MC)16. Jaric Trout 12.22 (JUN), 18. Jayden Jackson 12.27 (MC) 20. Brant Walters 12.43 (JUN), 22. Reagan Ettinger 12.60 (MC). 110 hurdles: 6. Charlie Barton 17.32 (JUN), 8. Tanner Ferguson 18.03 (MC), 16. Cole Chilson 21.28 (MC). 200 dash: 13. Dylan Long 24.80 (MC), 14. Ty Shellenberger 25.04 (JUN) 15. Braden Schaeffer 25.25 (MC), 16. Brant Walters 25.50 (JUN), 17. Cole Chilson 25.59 (MC). 300 hurdles: 10. Tanner Ferguson 45.55 (MC), 12. Charlie Barton 47.68 (JUN). 400 dash: 10. Ty Shellenberger 54.90 (JUN), 14. Braden Schaeffer 57.69 (MC), 15. Dominic Reed 58.32 (MC), 16. CJ Gill 1:00.20 (MC). 800: 6. Benjamin Hartzler 2:05.15 (MC), 11. Dylan Kurtz 2:13.67 (MC), 14. Maxwell Laudermilch 2:20.12 (MC), 16. Yadiel Nieves 2:26.30 (JUN). 1600: 4. Brayden Harris 4:32.67 (MC), 8. James Hazard 4:45.71 (JUN), 14. Cody Fultz 5:07.39 (MC), 16. Conrad Coffey 5:15.22 (MC).6. Alexander Price 119-07 (MC), 7. Travis Renninger 119-01 (MC), 15. Kaden Reid 99-08 (MC). High jump: 3. Reagan Ettinger 5-11 (MC), 4. Caden Kauffman 5-11 (MC), 7. Jayden Jackson 5-09 (MC), 8. Makih Hunt 5-07.00 (JUN), 9. Stuart Dare 5-05 (JUN). 3200: 1. Brayden Harris 9:42.65 (MC), 6. Christopher Royer 10:27.77 (MC). 15. Cameron Steinbach 11:26.68 (MC). Javelin: 2. Josiah Sechler 163-09 (MC), 9. Gabe Yoder 122-04 (MC), 11. Travis Renninger 119-04 (MC), 18. Josh Rivas 98-09 (JUN). Long jump: 3. Dillon Wert 21-00 (MC), 4. Caden Kauffman 20-06.5 (MC), 6. Jayden Jackson 19-07 (MC), 14. Brant Walters 18-00.5 (JUN), 16. Stuart Dare 17-06.5 (JUN), 20. Waylon Ehrenzeller 16-05.75 (JUN). Shot put: 16. Alexander Price 34-08.25 (MC), 17. Elijah Osborne 33-07.25 (MC), 18. Zack Hart 33-00 (JUN), 19. Travis Renninger 31-11 (MC). Triple jump: 4. Caden Kauffman 33-02.00 (MC), 5. Dillon Wert 41-03.5 (MC), 14. Stuart Dare 37-02.5 (JUN), 19. Waylon Ehrenzeller 33-08.5 (JUN). 4×100: 4. Mifflin County 46.27. 4×400: 7. Mifflin County 3:47.79. 4×800: 4. Mifflin County 8:42.36. Discus: 14. Zack Hart 100-02 (JUN), 20. Josh Rivas 91-06 (JUN), 22. Cameron Good 84-02 (JUN). Pole vault: 8. Tyson Aurand 11-03.00 (JUN).

GIRLS

100 dash: 17. Sophia Plank 14.81 (MC), 19. Sarah Kanagy 16.31 (MC), 20. Macaela Christie 16.36 (MC). 100 hurdles: 8. Morgan Breon 19.67 (MC). 200 dash: 17. Sophia Plank 29.76 (MC), 19. Sarah Kanagy 34.76 (MC), 20. Macaela Christie 35.16 (MC). 300 hurdles: 15. Morgan Breon 1:01.53 (MC), 17. Mina Phillips 1:09.01 (MC). 800: 11. Ava Harris 2:53.98 (MC), 14. Rachel Saldubahere 3:15.66 (MC), 15. Dallas Ivie 3:31.77 (MC). 1600: 5. Addie Parson 5:43.04 (MC), 14. Justice Sheaffer 6:58.80 (MC). 3200: 2. Kylee Cubbison 10:59.35 (MC), 4. Addie Parson 12:04.60 (MC). 18. Rebecca Montgomery 58-01 (MC). 3200: 2. Kylee Cubbison 10:59.35 SQS (MC), 4. Addie Parson 12:04.60 (MC). Discus: 18. Rebecca Montgomery 58-01 (MC). High jump: 5. Shaelyn Bagrosky 4-03 (MC), 8. Tai Ematat 4-01 (MC). Javelin: 1. Taylor Ciccolini 134-10 (MC), 10. Justice Sheaffer 75-03 (MC), 16. Rebecca Montgomery 57-05 (MC). Long Jump: 8. Lily Yoder 15-05 (MC), 14. Bryn Kanagy 14-03 (MC), 16. Tai Ematat 13-10.5 (MC). Pole vault: 10. Tai Ematat 7-00 (MC). Shot put: 18. Rebecca Montgomery 20-03.25 (MC). Triple jump: 6. Lily Yoder 33-02 (MC), 8. Bryn Kanagy 33-00.5 (MC), 14. Tai Ematat 29-00 (MC). 4×100: 7. Mifflin County 56.12. 4×800: 7. Mifflin County 12:35.46.

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