Junior captain Tyler Kraft paced the Bradford cross country team at the 20th Annual Bear Mountain River Run held at Lock Haven University on Saturday.
Tyler placed 30th out of a field of 259 runners in a time of 17:33.1.
“This was a good time in the first race of the year for Tyler,” coach Tom Tessena said. “He may have gone out a little fast as he went through the 2-mile mark in 10:43. That will be just fine when he is stronger later in the season.”
Sophomores Gabe Mitchell and Ryan Cottillion did well taking 46th (18:14.7) and 54th (18:29.9) respectively.
“These guys are starting to show their true potential,” Tessena said. “They can be as good as they want to be if they continue to work hard and push themselves.”
The big start of the day were senior Hunter Fox and sophomore Aiden Wright. Hunter placed 68th in 18:54.8 while Aiden was 71st in 18:57.9.
“Both of these guys were running in their first cross country race and did an incredible job. They are two of the hardest workers on the team so it was great to see them succeed today. This is just the beginning for them and they are going to really help us this year. They beat quite a few of our veteran guys today and maybe that will get them going.”
Sophomore Stephen Morgan has his best race ever, finishing in 96th place with a time of 19:22.3.
“Stephen improved almost two minutes from last year. He always works hard and is now gaining the confidence in his own ability to run the whole race. Our next group of guys, sophomore Devin Benson (111th – 19:37.1), senior David Allen (116th – 19:45.1), sophomore Quentin Minard (117th – 19:45.3), and sophomore Ian Paterniti (20:07.2) need to get going if they are going to be in the next invitational in the varsity race. They didn’t run badly but I had expected them to be further along than what they showed today. I had expected several of these runners to be in the top five today.
“There is no substitute for pushing yourself every day in practice if you really want to help your team.”
Senior Ethan Hollamby had his personal best time of 20:40 which placed him 154th.
“All things considered we had a decent beginning to our season. We just have to keep our eye on the goal of being at our best at the end of the season.
“We placed ninth out of a 25-team field so that was respectable. We could have been seventh if everyone would have run their best and that is what cross country is all about. Hopefully this will be a lesson learned.”
General McLane won the race with 73 points while the Owls totaled 269. Nate Price of General McLane was the individual winner in a time of 15:35.
In the Middle School race 7th grader Leo Paterniti excelled in his first cross country race ever by taking home a medal for a 19th place finish in a field of 107 runners. Leo ran the 2-mile course in 12:43.8 and was the fourth 7th grader across the finish line.
“Leo has been really pushing himself in practice and it paid off today. He is going to be an outstanding runner if he sticks with it.”
Bradford hosts Kane and St. Marys on Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. Spectators are asked to not come earlier than 4:30 to alleviate traffic problems with the close of the school day. All meets held during the week will now be moved to this later time. All team members are reminded to be at the course by 3:30 to prepare for the race.
