RIDGWAY — The Bradford boys cross country team scored a pair of wins on Tuesday, 19-39 over Elk County Catholic and 21-39 against Ridgway.
Senior Brayden Frair led the Owls with a time of 16:45 on the course that will also host districts.
“That time is faster than what Brayden ran last year at districts, where he took first in the Class 2A race, and also better than the Class 1A race,” said Bradford coach Tom Tessena. “This is a very good sign.”
Sophomores Evan Troisi and Kadyn Tessena turned in strong races. Troisi followed up his good performance this past weekend at the Bradford Invitational with a solid 18:05 third-place finish. Tessena came back strong from his illness on Saturday with a 18:39 fifth-place finish.
“All three of these guys bettered their district times from last year,” coach Tessena said.
Ian Ginther of Ridgway took second place honors with an 18:05 finish while Elk County’s Deacon Hendrickson placed fourthin 18:30. Aiden Magnuson of Ridgway took sixth in 18:40, Joe Caruso of Bradford finished strong to grab seventh place in 19:16. Aaron Lanzel of Elk County placed eighth (19:28). Marcus Terwilliger and Nikolai Frontino rounded out the top ten in ninth and 10th place in times of 19:42 and 19:45 for the Owls.
“Our next two guys ran off the course and were disqualified,” noted Tessena. “Then Cavan Drake came in 14th in 20:58, Miles Hawk placed 19th in 22:15, Owen Blauser was 20th in 22:26, Tony McDonald finished in 21st(22:33), Luciano Santiago took 24th in 23:23 and Eddie Youmans followed in 25th (23:23).
“We improved our record to 6-3 after a very tough start where we lost to St. Marys once and Brookville twice. Today I believe we were still tired from that maximum effort we put in at our own invitational. It really takes three days to recover from a 3-mile race and we only had two. I think we are getting healthy and getting stronger. We need to keep improving and that starts and ends with our attitudes and work ethic. Our next big test will be this weekend at Hershey with the PIAA Foundation Race.”
In middle school action Bradford seventh grader Charlie Vinelli continued his fine season with another first place showing in 11:00 on the 1.75-mile layout.
Tyler Mawn of Elk County placed second in 11:11. Langdon Krebb grabbed thirdv place for Bradford in 11:48. Jack Gardner took fourth (11:52) for Ridgway and Bradford’s Owen Tingley was fifth in 12:05. Also running for Bradford were Gavin Weart who placed eighth (13:06), Jacob Warfield was 10th (16:29), and Oliver Burritt finished 11th (16:31).
“These guys are working hard and making an effort to improve,” Tessena said.
Their next meet will be on Tuesday, Sept. 24th at the GGB course in Bradford.
