Clarion High Harriers Compete at Ridgway Invite Saturday

Chris Rossetti

Chris Rossetti

Published October 7, 2019 4:20 am
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Clarion Area Bobcats at Ridgway Invite 2019RIDGWAY, Pa. — The Clarion Area Bobcats traveled to Ridgway on Saturday to compete in the annual Ridgway Invitational, a precursory look into the District 9 Championships to be held on October 26.

A mixture of 17 Class 3A schools through 1A schools competed along with a string of private schools on the sunny yet chilly 40-degree morning.

Compared to previous years, most of the times were faster with several personal records being broken for the Bobcats.

This day was an abridged version of that Championship day and the Bobcats were ready to pounce. The Clarion boys came in seventh out of 17 teams ahead of perennial formidable competitors Smethport and Kane. However, finishing ahead of the Bobcat boys were Cranberry and Elk County Catholic, one of which they will need to beat in the District Championship in a couple of weeks in order to take a team to States.

Nathaniel Lerch didn’t beat his personal record of 16:38 achieved earlier this year but turned in a time of 17:06 for a fourth-place finish.

Sophomore Gavin Hoover set a personal record of 18:07 smashing his old PR of 18:33. Don Cunningham followed Hoover in 18:40 finishing in third place for the Bobcats. Nick Frederick came in fourth place for the Bobcats in 18:50 and Nate Datko closed out the scoring places in fifth place with a time of 19:22. Bobcats Keagan Phillips and Alex Cussins closed out Clarion’s runners in sixth and seventh place running 19:39 and 21:10 respectively.

The Bobcat girls finished 12th out of 14 teams.

Sophomore Bella Scott turned in a time of 23:09 coming in first for the Bobcats.

Grace Adams ran a 26:18 for second place on the squad and Aaliyah Dittman turned in a time of 27:01 for third place. Abi Frederick bolstered the Bobcat girls running a personal record of 29:08 for fourth place and Allie Stivanson ran a 29:46 to close out the top-scoring five. Grace Troese was the sixth runner for Clarion finishing in a personal record time of 35:09.

The Clarion Bobcats run next at the meet they host, the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference Championship to be held at the Clarion County Park on October 17.

(Article and photo submitted by Matt Lerch.)

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