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Centre County PIAA State Cross County rundown

By BRIAN CARSON

 

HERSHEY – State College senior Kileigh Kane captured the silver medal in Class 3A to lead six area athletes on the medal stand at the PIAA Cross County Championships at the Parkview course on Saturday.

 

Besides Kane, St. Joseph’s Academy senior Sera Mazza took fourth in the girls 1A race, Penns Valley’s Brendan Colwell and Colton Sands placed sixth and 18th, and Carter Kauffman of St. Joseph’s finished 23rd in the boys 1A race.

 

Kane crossed the finish line in 18:55, 13 seconds off the pace of winner Jenna Mulhern of West Chester Henderson. After a season filled with injuries, Kane showcased her mental toughness to finish second.

 

“Honestly, I thought I could do it. I was trying not to think about what the race. Even though I missed some of the season my confidence was high,” Kane said. “I knew I was capable of running out with these girls and competing against them. I wanted to go out and give it my best.”

 

Kane was in fifth after the first mile with a time of 5:36. At the two-mile mark, Kane established herself in second at a time of 11:58. Her final kick at the end put her 10-seconds in front of third-place finisher Allyson Clarke of West Chester East.

 

The hilly course, along with the mud, effected most of the runners today, but not Kane.

 

“The course is perfect for me. I really like to run hills,” she said. “My team, we work a lot on hills, especially with hill sprints and that kind of training is beneficial for a course like this. My game plan was to go out there, stay back a bit and go hard whenever I could. Our district race was really muddy last week and that helped because I knew how to run in the mud already.”

 

Mazza ran the course in a solid 20:55 to earn her top five finish in the final high school run of her career. Loyalsock’s Isabell Sagar dusted the field with a winning time of 19:12 – a full 39 seconds better than runner up Lauren Shaffer from Portage.

 

Sophomore Kelsey Hull of Penns Valley came in 24th with a time of 21:04 to earn a place on the medal stand.

 

On the boys’ side, the sophomore duo of Colwell and Sands earned medals for the Rams. Colwell clocked in at 17:02, while Sands crossed in 17:19. Kauffman ran the course in 17:27 to get a medal for the Wolves.

 

The State College girls finished third in the team standings in Class 3A with 132 points, while St. Joseph’s Academy took third in the girls’ 1A team race with 145 points. The Penns Valley boys came in third in 1A with 159 points.

 

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