Sentinel photo by JEFFREY SHOMO
Mifflin County’s Dillon Wert sets a new indoor record in the long jump with a jump of 21 feet, 0.5 inches on Saturday at the Kevin Dare Invitational at Penn State’s Ashenfelter Complex.

UNIVERSITY PARK — Dillon Wert set a new school record in the long jump and Lily Yoder posted three Top 25 finishes, including an 11th-place finish in the girls long jump to lead the Huskies contingent at the Kevin Dare Invitational on Saturday at Penn State’s Horrace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.

Wert rewrote the record book with a leap of 21 feet, 0.5 inches, good enough for third in the high jump, while posting fourth and fifth place finishes respectively in the triple jump (41 feet, 8 inches) and high jump (5 feet, 7 inches).

Yoder finished 11th in the girls long jump with a leap of 25 feet, 4.5 inches, while she was 14th in the triple jump with a jump of 31 feet, 7 inches. She was 21st in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.69 seconds.

“Dillon set a new school record in the indoor long jump and Lily has been steady for us the past two years,” Mifflin County coach Scott Gantz said. “It was good just to get some competition under their belts. It was only the second meet for some of the young kids against a little bit of top-notch competition, so it was a good day.”

East Juniata’s Logan Strawser put forth a strong performance in the 3,000-meter run, finishing ninth in a field of 43 runners. Juniata’s Wyatt Stroup rounded Juniata cross country coach Jeff Miller’s squad at the invitational, finishing 43rd in the mile with a time of 5:15.32.

“Wyatt went down in the first lap of the mile but got right back up and didn’t panic and moved up the pack like a veteran runner,” Miller said. “This was only his second indoor track race of his life. Logan ran well, but he was a little bit off on the day. You have days like that. All you can do is brush them off and continue to work hard. These days make the great days that much better.”

Mifflin County’s squad of 19 athletes competing at the meet received multiple Top 25 finishes, including a 17th place finish from Tai Ematat in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 5 inches. She also finished 20th in the triple jump with a jump of 29 feet, 1.75 inches.

Benjamin Hartzler finished 22nd in the 800-meter run, with a time of 2:09.01, while Dominic Reed was 25th in 400-meter dash, recording a time of 56.36 seconds. Chris Royer and Conrad Coffey were 27th and 31st in the 3,000-meter run, with times of 9:56.61 and 10:13.82, respectively.

“Everyone was able to get the big meet experience,” Gantz said. “There’s not an atmosphere in any other meet that we go to that is like the Penn State meets. They got their eyes open and they competed well.

“I thought the whole crew did well. We took 19 kids to the meet. It’s the second meet for these kids and they got to compete against top-notch caliber kids,” Gantz said. “They did well and it’s kind of a wait-and-see what we get from here on out, but I think that the kids did well.”

Overall, Gantz was pleased to see where his team is sitting through the first half of the indoor season.

“We kind of consider the indoor track and field season a prep season for the outdoor season,” Gantz said. “We set goals for the indoor season, but as far as how the kids are doing and things like that, I think that we are right where we need to be.”