North Schuylkill boys, girls capture titles at Shamokin

COAL TOWNSHIP - North Schuylkill's Brendan Shearn and Bloomsburg's Meghan Ashford looked to be in prime midseason shape Saturday at Shamokin Area's Purple and White Invitational.

No one must have told them that Saturday's race was only the first of the season.

Both Shearn and Ashford easily won their respective races, taking advantage of a change to the usual course to run faster times than normal at the unofficial kickoff for the season.

North Schuylkill's girls, led by Caitlyn Deeter, who finished third, took seven of the top 10 places to win the girls' championship with a total of 15 points to beat Shamokin, while Spartans' boys barely edged the Indians 36-38.

"They ran nice. I would have liked them to be a little tighter together," North Schuylkill coach George Kreisher said of his girl's staggered finishes. "We have a little bit of work yet, but it's early in the season. We're not panicking yet."

Several of the Spartans' runners were caught and passed in the second half of the race by Hughesville's Hannah Merrifield, who finished second. The remaining top five finishers were North Schuylkill's Diane Lindenmuth in fourth and Shelby Weikel in fifth.

Ashford was unchallenged through the final leg of the race, but second place was a fight to the finish through the last 400 meters.

"I knew Meghan was a very good runner," Kreisher said. "That's what our girls need. Who really surprised me was the

Hughesville girl who came out of nowhere the second half of the race and passed a bunch of our girls out. She's the one who shocked me, and she had a great kick. Our girls need the competition."

The highest Indians' finisher was Anna Summers at 13. Southern Columbia, which also ran and took third, was led by Katie Dunkelberger at 12.

Shamokin's boys team was led by David Dorsett and Scott Bradley, who finished third and fourth as the Indians took four out of the top 10 places, while North Schuylkill took only three out of the top 10 but bunched runners together in the teens to claim first. Southern Columbia's boys, paced by second-place Andrew Steely, came in fourth in the team standings, behind Mifflinburg.

"I'm very happy with the way they ran," Shamokin coach Rob Cowder said. "They've been working hard all preseason. We changed up the workouts a little bit and they responded very well. They're probably a minute to a minute and a half faster already than they were last year."

One of the most notable differences compared to past years, was the absence of any Mount Carmel runners, which wasn't lost on Shearn.

"It's not exactly what I was expecting," Shearn said. "I expected Mount Carmel to be here, but I was happy with the race. You can never be disappointed with a win, but I would have liked to race them."

The change in course was necessitated by a washout of part of the course, while the turnout was hurt by the Labor Day weekend and teams not feeling prepared to compete this early in the season. To remedy that, next year's event will be a week later in the season.

"For safety reasons I changed just the one little part," Cowder said. "It appears to be faster, and everyone is running really well.

"Part of it (the low turnout) is because some people pulled out, and there's a lot going on at the beginning of the year with school. It just seems like something to do to make the meet better."

The change in course didn't hurt Ashford, who admitted she was a bit directionally challenged, but with only one other teammate with her wasn't intimidated by the large North Schuylkill squad.

"It was my first race of the season, and I was just so pumped," she said.

"I focused on what was right in front of me instead of focusing on the race as a whole."

RESULTS Girls Varsity

1. Ashford, Meghan, Bloomsburg; 2. Merrifield, Hannah, Hughesville; 3. Deeter, Caitlyn, North Schuylkill; 4. Lindenmuth, Diane, North Schuylkill; 5. Weikel, Shelby, North Schuylkill; 6. Cantwell, Alison, North Schuylkill; 7. Warner, Abby, North Schuylkill; 8. Ennis, Brooke, North Schuylkill; 9. McSurdy, Kaitlin, North Schuylkill; 10 Hunyara, Laura, Minersville Area; 11 Shively, Rachel, Mifflinburg; 12. Dunkelberger, Katie, Southern Columbia; 13. Summers, Anna, Shamokin Area; 14. Bentz, Breanne, Minersville Area; 15. Langmeyer, Courtney, Bloomsburg; 16 McDevitt, Molly, Shamokin Area; 17. Newton, Abriel, Southern Columbia; 18 Uehling, Ashley, Mifflinburg; 19. Fink, Jess, Southern Columbia; 20. Haupt, Molly, Shamokin Area; 21. Richardson, Lea, Shamokin Area; 22. Digan, Blair, Mifflinburg; 23. Martin, Hannah, Shamokin Area; 24. Conrad, Devin, Shamokin Area; 25. Beishline, Natalie, Southern Columbia; 26. O'Brien, MacKenzie, Minersville Area; 27. Carl, Molly, Southern Columbia; 28. Morowski, Chelsea, Shamokin Area; 29. Lazarski, Katie, Southern Columbia. Team standings: 1. North Schuylkill 15; 2. Shamokin Area 61 3. Southern Columbia 66.

Boys Varsity

1. Shearn, Brendan, North Schuylkill, 16:55.74; 2. Steely, Andrew, Southern Columbia, 17:55.31; 3. Mashack, Devin, North Schuylkill, 18:25.81; 4. Dorsett, David, Shamokin Area, 18:32.25; 5. Bradley, Scott, Shamokin Area, 18:33.94; 6. Hall, Richard, Minersville Area, 18:35.20; 7. Sheesley, David, Mifflinburg, 18:35.48; 8. Brokenshire, Derek, Shamokin Area, 18:58.93; 9. Zak, Shawn, North Schuylkill, 19:12.40; 10. Scheuren, Josh, Shamokin Area, 19:39.02; 11. Miller, Alan, Mifflinburg, 19:57.38; 12. Dashiell, Brandon, Bloomsburg, 20:01.95; 13. Miller, Adam, Mifflinburg, 20:14.61; 14. Wallace, Jake, North Schuylkill, 20:22.42; 15. Brouse, Evan, North Schuylkill, 20:23.49; 16. Rachu, Noah, Shamokin Area, 20:32.52; 17. Hummel, Auston, North Schuylkill, 20:34.01; 18. Sassani, Alex, Southern Columbia, 20:34.93; 19. Myhre, Karl, Southern Columbia, 20:40.42; 20. Ridner, James, Southern Columbia, 20:40.65; 21. Weisbeck, Alex, North Schuylkill, 21:07.40; 22. Stenger, Logan, Mifflinburg, 21:15.25; 23. Lowe, Alex, Bloomsburg, 21:15.85; 24. Lindermuth, Ethan, Shamokin Area, 21:33.96; 25. Startzel, Alex, Shamokin Area, 21:35.96; 26. Alberts, John, Southern Columbia, 21:38.52; 27. Sassani, Andrew, Southern Columbia, 22:12.66; 28. Shimsky, CJ, Minersville Area, 23:02.16; 29. Voneida, RJ, Hughesville, 24:38.12; 30. Bergan, Christopher, Minersville Area, 24:38.40; 31. Hockenbrockt, Chris, Mifflinburg, 26:04.95; 32. Mead, Cody, Bloomsburg, 26:18.06; 33. Sheppard, Brett, Southern Columbia, 26:41.76; 34. Sorber, Dylan, Bloomsburg, 29:27.46.