NEWVILLE — For the past 14 months Mifflin County’s top runner, Cater Smith, has been almost perfect. The key word here is ‘almost’.

The only race Smith has lost since the fall of 2024 during his high school career was the Mid-Penn Conference last October. And that was by less than a second (.06).

So the big news on Saturday, at this year’s Mid-Penn Conference run, was that Smith won the race. Smith ran 15:30.807. The runner-up was State College’s Theo Opperman with a 15:35.951.

“I wanted this one,” said Smith. “This was a get back. I was more prepared this year for the course. Last year was my first time on it. It has a lot of rolling hills. The course’s footing is a bit uneven, but I was prepared this time.”

So far this cross country season, Smith has run against 1,210 runners and has come in first in all seven races. Since last September, Smith has run against 3,233 runners on his high school schedule and has beaten 3,232 of them.

The Mifflin County team had another excellent run as it finished second to State College. Mifflin County had 80 points, while State College had 36.

Mifflin County had three other runners in the top 20. Wyatt Kauffman was 11th with a time of 16:12.372. Next was Reese Cubbison and Hoyt Rodenbaugh, who battled it out for 15th and 16th place. Cubbison ran a 16:23.737 and Rodenbaugh was close behind with a 16:23.737.

The top 35 men received medals. Mifflin County’s fifth man was Hart Oden, who just missed getting a medal at 37th place (17:04.847).

Mifflin County’s other two runners were Koy Aurand, 50th place, 17:30.156 and Aidan Scavitti, 53rd, 17:33.197.

“It was a tough day again from the standpoint of finishing second again to State College,” said Alex Monroe, the Mifflin County boys coach. “But, it was a great day considering we were second at the Mid-Penn. We trained hard for this race, but now we will back off for districts.”

“Carter (Smith) had a big day,” Monroe said. “He was itching to get down here and run this race.”

The Mifflin County girls were 18th out of 23 teams. Mifflin County scored 471 points. The top finisher was Amilia Coffey, who was 57th with a time of 21:35.246. She was followed by Ava Kratzer, 60th, 21:36.575; Abigail Anderson, 106th, 23:09.805. Maya Morgan, 145th, 25:20.125; Caroline Palopoli, 146th, 25:20.414; Eden Smith, 155th.26:20.290 and Madison Baumgardner, 165th, 27:239.202.

“I think we did well today,” said Neil Breneman, the Mifflin County girls coach. “Amilia (Coffey) and Ava (Kratzer) have been one-two for us all year. Abigail (Anderson) had a real nice finish today. She had a really good kick at the end.”

State College won the girls meet with a score of 70 and the winning girl was Ava Bondy from Carlisle, with a time of 18:40. Hershey was second with 121 points.

NOTES – The man who beat Carter Smith last year was State College’s Isaac Opperman, who is now one of Penn State’s top runners as a freshman… District 6 dominated the top 20 as it had nine of the top 20 runners and 10 of the top 25. State College had runners second, third, sixth, seventh, 18th and 22nd… State College;s top five runners are all underclassmen.

Statistics:

Boys team scoring:

State College, 36; Mifflin County, 80; Carlisle, 95; Lower Dauphin, 155; Hershey, 165; Chambersburg, 193; Palmyra, 246; Mechanicsburg, 269; Big Spring, 297; Milton Hershey, 310; Gettysburg, 319; Shippensburg, 319; Northern York, 365; Trinity, 370; Greencastle-Antrim,380; Susquenita, 468; Cumberland Valley, 480; Red Land, 483; Waynesboro, 486; Boiling Springs, 502; James Buchanan, 553; East Pennsboro, 608; Cedar Cliff, 659; Central Dauphin, 612; Camp Hill, 703; Bishop McDevitt, 712; West Perry, 779.

Boys Top 20:

Carter Smith, MifflinCounty, 15:30.807; Theo Opperman, State College, 15:35.951; Luke Bradbury, State College, 15:47.125; Kolbin Heberlig, Carlisle, 125:48.511; Seht Reichbach Carlisle, 15:51.561; Kyle Fritzsche, State College, 16:02.076; Dexter Walker, State College, 16;02.312; Joseph Murphy, Hershey, 16:03.312; Cornelius Cummings, Palmyra, 16:11.5745;

Julian Clark, Chambersburg, 16:11.092; Wyatt Kauffman, MifflinCounty, 16:12.574; Daniel Dunkleberger, Lower Dauphin, 16:18.625; Ryaln Asper, Shippensburg, 16:19.246′ Max Hulays, Hershey, 16:20.341; Reese Cubbison, Mifflin County, 16:23.507; Hoyt Rodenbaugh, Mifflin County, 16:23.737; Nathan McKelvie, Lower Dauphin, 16:24.497; Thomas Ruffing, State College, 16:25.221; Nico Oshunrinade, Gettysburg, 16:326.139; Tyson, Delaney, Red Land, 16:33.125.

Girls team scoring:

State College, 70; Hershey, 121; Chambersburg, 133; Mechanicsburg, 174; Cumberland Valley, 175; Red Land, 188; Carlisle, 212; NorthernYork, 229; Lower Dauphin, 239; Boiling Springs, 305; Palmyra, 308; Camp Hill, 321; Cedar Cliff, 371; Central Dauphin, 380; East Pennsboro, 381; Waynesboro, 389; Gettysburg, 456; Mifflin County, 471; Milton Hershey,. 480; Bishop McDevitt, 522; James Buchanan, 526; Shippensburg, 530; Trinity, 554.

Girls Top 20:

Ava Bondy, Carlisle, 18:40; Evelyn Younkin, State College, 18:55; Kim Sophia, Hershey, 19:00; Natalie Quinn, Chambersburg, 19:02; Evy Winder, Hershey, 19:05; Lora Minnich, East Pennsboro, 19:07; Chioe Joslyn, Boiling Springs, 19:230; Samantha Campbell, Gettysburg, 19:25; Lindsey McCarkel, Mechanicsburg, 19:26; Ava Butler, Cumberland Valley, 19:37; Brook Boone, Chambersburg, 19:39; Katie Strub, Boiling Springs, 19:47; Lilly Hayes, Northern York, 19:50; Autumn Swisher, State College, 19:54; Ella Neida Lower Dauphin, 19:55; Carolyn Frank, State College, 19:57; Julia Bugger, State College, 19:58; Lillian Spohr, Chambersburg, 19:58; Emily Sweitzer, Mechanicsburg 20:00; Kennedy Laurer, Cumberland Valley, 20:11.