Published: May 11, 2008 11:54 pm            

Cory Isenberg | Favorites off and running

With the conference championships behind them, the track and field athletes head into districts this week.

The District 6 Class AA championship meet is set for Tuesday at Altoona’s Mansion Park while the District 5 Class AA meet is on Wednesday at Northern Bedford High School. The majority of the area schools are involved in one or the other of those meets.

The District 6 Class AAA championship meet will be held Thursday at Mansion Park.

There are probably some odds-on favorites heading into the district meets.

Team-wise in District 6-AA, the girls from Northern Cambria, the defending champs, will be battling the ladies from Richland and Central Cambria.

The boys from Central Cambria will also be dueling Richland for a team title along with Bald Eagle Area.

The Altoona boys and State College girls appear to be the top contenders in Class AAA.

In District 5, the boys from defending champ Chestnut Ridge will be combating Bedford and Windber for the team crown while the ladies from host Northern Bedford, Chestnut Ridge and Windber, the defending champs, are running, jumping and throwing for the crown.

Individually, Central Cambria senior Carly Seymour is the defending district champion in the 1600 and the 3200 while sister Kelsey Seymour, a sophomore, set a new standard in the 800 at districts last year and will be looking to repeat.

Northern Cambria sophomore Janae Dunchack, the defending champ in high and long jump, will be dueling Richland junior Calsie Boyd in both events while United senior Kate Kendrick will try to hold off the Colts’ Marybeth Rocco and Elizabeth Thomas in the discus.

Senior Eric Skedel of United is looking for the repeat in the javelin while Bishop McCort junior Jim Spisak is vying for the titles in the distance events (1600 and 3200).

The Red Devils have several strong contenders for district titles in Mike Gowen in the hurdles and Logan Caldwell in the shot put.

In District 5, Chestnut Ridge senior Samantha Valiton is a strong competitor in the sprints (100 and 200), Windber’s Sarah Snyder and Northern Bedford’s Taylor Crawford are two of the top contenders in the hurdles while Bedford’s Brandy Harris is looking to repeat in the long jump.

Chestnut Ridge’s Jordan Soliday is the defending champ in the 300 hurdles while Windber’s Mike Webb is looking to repeat in the high jump.

While there may be favorites in an event, on any given day, another athlete can exceed his or her previous performances and surprise the crowd.

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If any school is looking for information on how to efficiently run a track and field meet, Penn Cambria’s Ernie Fetzer can give plenty of valuable advice.

Fetzer aided the Johnstown High personnel by orchestrating the action at the recent Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference girls and boys meets.

Both meets, which featured 12-team fields, were completed in around three hours.



Cory Isenberg is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.

        

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