Marcus Terwilliger placed 3rd in 12:13, Danny Marasco was 13th in 12:43.6 and Kadyn Tessena took 18th in 12:48.8 to lead the Fretz boys cross country team to a second place finish in the Northwestern PA Middle School Championships held in Kane on Saturday.
This meet featured the top middle school runners in the area with 18 schools participating. Logan Kohler placed 25th in 13:19, Evan Soto was 31st in 13:36.8 while Ashton Winsor placed 33rd in 13:40.2.
“This course was exactly two miles so it was longer than we have been running but we all ran good times,” Bradford coach Tom Tessena said. “These guys ran in six invitationals this year and were 1st place three times, 2nd places two times and 3rd place once in addition to winning all their dual meets (14-0) for a tremendous season. I could not be prouder of this group.”
Fretz’s 60 points were second only to Clarion’s 56.
“Clarion surprised us,” Tessena said. “They ran well today led by first-place finisher Hayden Weber, who ran 11:47. This race was even closer than the score. We had several places we should have picked up the necessary points but didn’t.”
Oswayo Valley finished fourth with 95 points while Elk County Catholic (98 points) was fifth, Otto-Eldred (149) was sixth and St. Marys (158) was seventh.
St. Marys was led by a 19th-place finish from Clay Solada, while Ricky Gray, Lucas Blessel, Jeff Schaut and Ayden Majchrzak also finished in the top 50 for the Dutch.
Fretz and Clarion scored 28-28 head-to-head, Tessena explained, but the Owls couldn’t secure the necessary places to force a tiebreaker, which they owned.
“Marcus ran another super race,” Tessena said. “He got out well in the beginning which most of the other guys did not. He had a great finish and was just barely nipped for 2nd place. The difference was the timing chip was in the second foot crossing the finish line. His other foot appeared to beat the second place finisher but the chip decided who got the 2nd place. He ran great all year long.”
Marasco fought his way through the crowd to reach the top 15, eventually settling in his 13th-place finish spot.
“His time was also impressive,” Tessena said. “These two guys are really going to be needed on next year’s varsity team.”
Fretz’s 7th graders, which include Kadyn Tessena, Kohler, Soto and Windsor, provided necessary depth to the team and learned valuable lessons along the way.
Soto and Winsor, Tessena said, had their best performances of the year.
“They both improved during the year,” Tessena said. “They also didn’t have a good start and finished with too much left at the end. I look for these two guys to really improve next year.”
Tessena will be collecting equipment on Wednesday after school at the high school track equipment room. He would also like to thank all team members for their hard work and dedication, and all parents for their help and support throughout the season.
