The Juniata Boys Cross Country Team Ran Strong to take Wins Over Newport, St. Joseph, and Susquenita. Juniata’s Brubaker Makes Her Debut Winning the Girls Race.

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: August 31, 2023

Photos are courtesy of Jackie Heidenreich
Courtesy of Shari Miller

The Juniata Cross Country Teams competed at Little Buffalo State Park on Wednesday, August 30th. The Indian boys placed 5 of their runners in the top 10 to secure wins over all schools competing. Junior Wyatt Stroup led the Indians with his 2nd place overall in a time of 19:16.03. Junior Joey Bomberger came in right behind in 3rd place with a time of 19:16.46. Junior Wesley Ehrisman came in 4th with a time of 19:18.17. Sophomores Levi Zeiders and Ricky Guante ran 20:54.05 and 20:54.75 respectively to round out the scoring with 6th and 7th place finishes. Other boy finishers for the Indians were Teagan Trout in 18th with a time of 22:46.49, Coy Kerstetter in 19th with a time of 22:49.10, Charlie Telfer in 27th with a time of 25:33.16 and Joel Hardin in 29th with a time of 26:02.19. St. Joseph’s Colin Simander won the boys race with a time of 19:15.68. 35 boys took part in the challenging 5k race. Juniata 15 – Newport 46, Juniata 20 – St. Joseph’s 42, and Juniata 15 – Susquenita – 40. Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “The boys ran very good in their first meet of the season. For Coy, Teagan, and Joel, this was their very first cross country race ever. We race at the BVI Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, so we didn’t go all out today.”

In the girls race, freshman standout runner Sylvia Brubaker took charge from the gun and never looked back taking the win in a time of 21:52.66. Junior Jessie Bomberger came in next for the Indians in 6th place with a time of 24:56.93. Freshman Hannah Book placed 14th with a time of 29:38.84. Senior Aspen Eby placed 17th in a time of 29:50.69. Freshman Izabella Sanders rounded out the scoring with a 19th place finish in a time of 33:26.54. Freshman Jordana Steffen placed 22nd in a time of 36.31:94. The girls team took a win over Newport with a score of 24 – 31. They lost against St. Joseph’s 34 – 21. Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “I thought the girls team ran well today. For most, this was their first cross country race. For Sylvia, this was a long awaited race since she’s been running over a year now training for her first high school cross country race.”

Nine Juniata junior high cross country runners took part in the meet running 1.89 miles. No other team had any runners competing. The boys were led by first year runner Josiah Barner in a time of 14:07.34. The girls were led by Carolyn Heidenreich with a time of 15:14.20. Other junior high athletes competing were:

Drue Hoffman – 16:51.86

Ella Zimmerman – 19:08.00

Sebastian Graff – 19:33.39

Genesis Guante – 22:05.00

Morgan Ehrisman – 22:07.56

Alejandro Guante – 24:49.06

Mackenzie Wray – 25:16.58

Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “It was great to see so many 7th and 8th graders run on this beautiful day. Most were taking part in their very first cross country race.”

Juniata will compete on Saturday, September 2 at the prestigious Big Valley Invitational in Reedsville.