RIDGWAY – The Bradford Lady Owls cross country team took first
place with 31 points at the Ridgway Invitational on Saturday.
Placing second was Elk County Catholic (66 points) and in third
place with 75 points were the Brookville Lady Raiders.
Leading the Lady Owls was Sarah Lonzi placing first and setting
a course record with a time of 19:55.
“She looked good throughout the entire race – relaxed and
confident. She’s pushing herself to get her time under 20 minutes
in every meet,” BHS coach Bob Macfarlane stated. “She is very
focused on her goals for this season.”
Jessica Swonger of Brookville took second place (21:09), Blaire
Colley (Smethport) placed third (21:19) and Bradford’s Renee
Cavallaro (24:38) placed fourth.
“Renee has been one of our most consistent runners this season.
She is very dependable and works at being one of the best in the
district,” praised Macfarlane. “This was Renee’s career best
time.”
Bradford’s Erica Pascarella placed fifth (22:09).
“We are seeing Erica’s true strengths with every meet and her
increasing contributions to our team,” the coach said. “As a
freshman she is running like a veteran.”
Lady Owls co-captain Liz Keller took 12th (22:42).
“Liz has been very consistent in her running. Not only is she a
strong runner but she’s a team leader by encouraging and pushing
all the girls to be at their best for the team’s success,” stated
Macfarlane.
Taking the 13th position was Bradford’s other co-captain Sarah
Trumbull with a time of 22:49.ðð
“Sarah has been determined to be one of our top six runners.
This afternoon she proved that she is. She been working very hard
for the betterment of the team,” Macfarlane said.
“Sarah has had two outstanding meets in a row to earn her
Fuhrman Chiropractic Runner of the Week.ðð
Placing 15th and 16th were Sam Cota-Robles (23:06) and Ellie
Imhof (23:18).
“These girls (Robles and Imhof) ran a strong race,” the coach
declared. “They both know how important they are to our team. We
need our sixth and seventh runners to beat the other team’s fifth
runner to be a successful cross country team.”
Bradford’s Kara Holsinger placed 19th (23:47), Megan Foster 24th
(24:17) while Kevryn Boser placed 28th (24:51) and was also named
Fuhrman Chiropractic Runner of the Week.
“Kevryn has been determined to get under 25 minutes this season.
She has been working toward this goal,” Macfarlane pointed out.
“I’m very happy for her. She improved her time almost by two
minutes.”
Placing 33rd (26:54) was Kara Piganelli. Taking 34th was Shannon
Taylor, while 37th (27:17) was Olivia Goble.
“The key to our success today was the way our team (all runners)
pulled together and pushed each other throughout the race,”
Macfarlane emphasized. “It was great for our team to win this
invitational. Our girls wanted to do well and also to have another
chance at ECC. They beat us at our invitational, so to come back
and beat them was a good feeling.
“All our girls are working very hard. They gave their best
effort today. They all seem to have their better times at this
course. They like it and they enjoy running in the cold weather
conditions.ðð
“This is just a small step in our journey. I’m very proud of
their attitude. We had our top seven runners place in the top 16.
This shows their work ethic and how they all want to run hard. We
needed to run on this course for our district championship will be
held there.”
In middle school action, Kane took first place (28 points).
Fretz was second (33 points).
Leading the Lady Falcons were Megan Prosser taking sixth place
(11:41), Alexandra Szcupak finished ninth (12:23), 10th was Lisa
Lau (12:28), 16th was Taylor Burton (13:13), Mithita Ganjanan
finished 22nd (13:50), Hillay Digel finished 24th (14:42) and
Steffanie Stauffer was 26th (15:36).
The Lady Owls host Clearfield on Tuesday. Fretz will host
Otto-Eldred and Clearfield the same day.
