Juniata’s Strawser places 3rd at the PIAA State Cross Country Championships; Indians finish 10th.

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: November 5, 2022

Courtesy of Shari Miller

HERSHEY – The Juniata boys cross country team competed in their first PIAA State Championships as a team in school history. The State Championships were held on Saturday, November 5th in Hershey, PA. The team placed 10th out of 21 teams in the AA class with 255 points. Grove City won the team competition with 67 point Senior Logan Strawser placed 3rd overall with a time of 16:18.5. Logan was seated in 3rd position for most of the race and dropped to 4th with 100 meters to go. He was able to come back and edge out Lampeter Strasburg’s Colin Whitaker to secure his 3rd place spot before the finish. Sophomore Wyatt Stroup placed 77th with a time of 18:17.4 Sophomore Joey Bomberger placed 110th with a tie of 18:42.4. Sophomore Wesley Ehrisman placed 127th with a time of 18:53.3. Freshman Levi Zeiders placed 193rd with a time of 19:50.1 Freshman Ricky Guante placed 207th with a time of 20:17.5 and sophomore Charlie Telfer placed 243rd with a time of 23:18.4. Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “As a team we were a little off today. It was everyone’s first state championship race other than Logan’s. The hot temperatures effected performances, but our biggest problem was not getting out fast enough in the first 400 meters before the course narrows down to a car width. Everyone except Logan was boxed in early in the race and cost them a lot of places. This Hershey course is so tough with the steep uphills and downhills plus how narrow it gets early in the race. All of my runners today except Logan will be back next year so they can learn from their first state meet. I thought Logan ran another tough race. He wanted to win and is a little disappointed. He said his legs just felt heavy today. I know he gave it his all on the day and I’m proud of his performance. As a team, we had an exceptional season and can’t let one bad race get us down. We just need to learn from it and work harder for next year. I’m proud of all these boys. They worked so hard this season to make it to the state meet.”