HERSHEY – Senior Logan Caruso placed 13th to pace Bradford High to an eighth-place finish out of 30 complete teams at the PIAA Foundation Race on Saturday in Hershey.
Caruso finished the course – the same course to be used at the state track meet – in 17:31. Forty-five teams were present at the meet. BHS ran without two of its top four runners from last week’s home invitational.
“This is a very challenging course and the temperature was about 86 degrees when we ran, so that made it even tougher,” BHS head coach Tom Tessena said. “Logan ran a great race from start to finish.”
Tessena said most of the teams present on Saturday were there to gain experience for the state meet in November.
“Doing well today gives you a shot to do well the first weekend in November for the PIAA state championship meet,” Tessena said. “It was good to have two guys in the top 25. Last year we finished 21st, so we showed real improvement today.”
Sophomore Tyler Kraft “ran extremely well,” according to Tessena, placing 24th in 18:04 and just missing a medal.
Tyler just missed a medal which we handed out for the top 20 finishers.
Junior Isaac Paterniti was the team’s third runner, taking 77th in 19:04.
“Isaac only has three meets under his belt, so he has plenty of room for improvement,” Tessena said. “He was conservative in the start and had too much left at the finish. This was a great experience for him.”
Gabe Mitchell was in fourth for the Owls, running 19:23 for 93rd place.
“This was a big step for Gabe who has fought his way up to the top group,” Tessena said. “He is getting better each week.”
Vinny Bizzarro was fifth on the team, placing 96th after running 19:27.
“Vinny is still dealing with some physical issues, but he ran well today on a tough day,” Tessena said. “He is getting better each week.”
Next in was Ryan Cottillion (134th, 20:11), who got the surprise start when another runner went down prior to the race.
“Ryan ran a pretty good race,” Tessena said. “He is definitely going to be a good runner if he continues to work hard.”
Junior David Allen was 140th in 20:26 after overcoming some cramping issues. He was the team’s fourth finisher on Tuesday and Tessena expects him to be faster going forward.
The Owls return to the course with away meets on Tuesday at Elk Catholic and Thursday at Clearfield.
“I hope we get some people back, but if we don’t, we are getting some good competition for those top-seven spots,” Tessena said. “We have about five weeks left until districts so we have time to get a lot better. That is our goal.”
