RIDGWAY — The Bradford boys cross country team took part in the District 9 Class AA Championships on Saturday, with Ryan Cottillion and Tyler Kraft both qualifying for the state meet.
The Owls went into this meet a good chance at the team title but came up with a poor team effort.
“Ryan had his best race of the year placing sixth in 19:45 to qualify for states,” Bradford coach Tom Tessena said. “Ryan has been pushing harder in practice this month and set a goal to qualify for states. Ryan did it and he didn’t let course conditions or bad weather stop him.
Kraft also qualified by placing ninth in 20:14.
“We had expected Tyler to challenge for the individual title but he was slowed up by an injury. He went into the meet ranked second overall but that wasn’t to be. At least these two guys will get a chance to run next Saturday at Hershey for states.
“I must have done a very poor job preparing the team the past two weeks because we never got going today. We were out of it before the first mile with Punxsy having four runners in the top five and several more ahead of all our guys. Most of our guys had done well in the two previous meetings with Punxsy. We had also beat guys from DuBois and Clearfield who started out and stayed ahead of us.
“The weather was bad and the condition of the course was horrendous but that didn’t stop the other teams. We came back a little in the last mile to barely edge out Clearfield (68) and DuBois (75). We had 62 points to Puxsy’s 29. That is a pretty good beating.
“Sophomores Quentin Minard (14th, 20:39) and Ian Paterniti (15th, 20:46) moved up in the last mile but had too much left. Gabe Mitchell (18th, 20:51) and Hunter Fox (28th, 22:06) were way off what they normally run and never got near the guys they had beaten earlier this year. Sophomore Aiden Wright (19th, 20:55) also pick it up toward the end of the race.
“We knew it take all seven runners to run well and beat their man and it just didn’t get done today and that responsibility lies with the coach. Maybe that is a sign that I have been around too long.”
The individual winner was sophomore McKellen Jamarillo of DuBois in 19:16.
“This was the slowest winning time ever and that showed how tough the conditions of the course and weather were today.”
In the JV race Devin Benson placed second (22:03), David Allen was fourth (22:25), Stephen Morgan took seventh (23:00) while Ethan Hollamby was 11th (23:59).
Coach Tessena would like to thank all team members for their hard work this season and wish them well in the future.
