The Juniata Boys Cross Country Team Claim Their Seventh Straight TVAA Championship. Girls Place 2nd. Stroup and Brubaker Claim Individual Champions.

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: October 10, 2023

The TVAA Cross Country Championship took place on Tuesday, October 10th at East Juniata High School. Juniata junior Wyatt Stroup won the individual title with a course record in 16:44. Junior Joey Bomberger took 2nd with a time of 17:05.9. Junior Wesley Ehrisman placed 4th in a time of 17:59.6. Freshman Coy Kerstetter placed 6th with a personal best time of 19:02.1. Junior Teagan Trout rounded out the scoring with his 14th place finish in a time of 19:52.5. Junior Charlie Telfer ran to a 24th place finish in a time of 21:23.2 and freshman Joel Hardin placed 26th with a personal best time of 22:01.6. Team scores: Juniata 26, Susquenita 42, St. Joseph Catholic 64, and Newport 94. Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “It was a beautiful day for a cross country race. All the boys stepped it up today to secure the TVAA cross country title. We were without two of our top runners today. They had soccer games. Coy ran the best I’ve seen him yet. He’s only a freshman with all the tools to go far in this sport. It will be fun to see how far he can take it in the up coming years. Joel ran a huge personal best also and is only a freshman so he will only continue to get better. It’s nice to know I can always count on Wyatt and Joey to do their part. They put in the work and it showed today.”

In the girls race, it was freshman Sylvia Brubaker taking the lead from the gun and never looking back. She ran a beautiful paced race on her own to take the win in 19:11.3 and set a course record in the process. This was also a personal best and new school record for her. Junior Jessie Bomberger ran her best race of the season placing 5th in a time of 22:17.3. Freshman Hannah Book ran a personal best time in 24:44.6 for 11th place. Freshman Izabella Sanders ran a personal best time of 26:22.6 for 16th place. Jordana Steffen rounded out the scoring with her 19th place finish in a time of 31:01.8. The girls placed 2nd as a team behind St. Joseph Catholic 22 to 35.

Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “The girls ran great tonight. Sylvia ran with so much confidence. She’s learned pacing so well considering she’s only been running a little over a year now. She walked away with a personal best, but a little disappointed she didn’t crack the 19:00 barrier for the first time. It will only make her better. It was great to see Jessie run the best race she’s run this season. She just missed running a personal best. Hannah rolled her ankle in the race, but didn’t give up to come away with a personal best time. Izabella dropped another 0:20 from her personal best time today. Jordana was on pace for a personal best, but fell off pace after two miles. I will talked to her to see what we can do to help her improve.”

Juniata had 10 runners take part in the 3200 middle school race. Leading the way for the boys was 8th grader Josiah Barner with a time of 13:44.57. 7th grader Sebastian Ehrisman took 2nd in a personal best time of 16:18.32. 7th grader Dante Sanders placed 3rd with a time of 22:04.02 and 8th grader Alejandro Guante finished in 4th place with a time of 23:38.28. Leading the way for the girls was 8th grader Carolyn Heidenreich with a time of 14:18.13. 8th grader Drue Hoffman took 2nd with a time of 16:21.91. 7th grader Ella Zimmerman placed 3rd with a time of 17:27.89. 8th grader Morgan Ehrisman was 4th in a time of 19:17.70. 7th grader GG Guante placed 5th with a personal best time of 20:30.72 and 7th grader Mackenzie Wray placed 6th in a personal best time of 22:42.76. Juniata was the only team competing in the 3200 middle school race. Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “I seen some good performances from our middle school kids today. Sebastian, GG, and Mackenzie all ran personal best times. Josiah and Carolyn are running real well considering they are not training for running right now because of soccer and basketball. For Dante, this was his first race and he did well.”