ALTOONA — Senior Brayden Frair broke his own record in the 800 meters at the Altoona Invitational on Friday night. He cruised the distance in 1:54.91 in finishing 2nd in the event. Nationally ranked Carter Smith from Mifflin County won the event in 1:51.94. Frair eclipsed his record that he set this past Tuesday. He has had a tremendous year this season.

This was a long day for us.

We left at 8:00 am and did not get home until after 3:00 am on Saturday for a 19 hour day which was made even longer with a storm delay of over 1 hour. Sophomore Cooper McGee had an amazing performance in the pole Vault. His best vault this season was only 10’6” although he had several much better vaults in practice but nothing prepared us for what he did today. He made 13’3” and placed 4th at this meet. This put Cooper on our top 10 best ever list where he is now tied for 10th place with teammate Enzo Aiello. Enzo place 7th with a 12’9“vault.

Enzo has worked very hard with Cooper. He is basically coaching this event for us as he competes. To have two of the best ever vaulters at the same time is really something.

They are currently tied with Jason McAnany for the lead in District 9 AAA class with all at 13’3”. There are also several others at 12’9” and 12’6” so Districts will be very interesting in that event. Junior Logan Kohler had a big day as well taking 2nd in the 300M Intermediate hurdles(41.75).

He did this after that long rain delay on a very wet track in the rain. He placed 7th in the 110M High Hurdles(Trials 15.80 & Finals 16.15) earlier in the day.

“On a day when we got to see DuBois, St.Marys, Clearfield,and Punxy at the same time, it was a big preview show for districts. We got off to a very slow start only scoring 10 points before the rain delay,” said Bradford coach Tom Tessena. “Meanwhile our D-9 competitiors were having a great day. DuBois was 3rd in the team scoring with 67 points, St.Marys totaled 41 in 8th place while Clearfield had 39 points in 10th. We only had 29 points for an 11th place finish. Our 4x800M relay team of Kadyn Tessena, Jordan Hogue, Evan Troisi, and Joe Caruso placed 9th(8:54.99). We were a little off in our best events the jumps but still managed some good marks. Marcus Terwilliger placed 8th in the high jump(5’9”) and recorderd a personal best of 41’7.75” for 9th place in the triple jump.

Danny Marasco was 9th in the long jump(20’10.5’). Fabian Sherk was 11th in the triple jump(40’10.75”), 16th in the long jump(19’1”), and 13th in the high jump(5’7”) . Joe Cary and Landon Davenport both had a personal best in the Discus. Cary threw 121’6”(16th) and Davenport had a 118’1” throw for 17th. Cary also placed 12th in the javelin(140’1”) and Jake Whitlow threw 113’4” in the javelin. Konner Phillips has his best mark of the year in the Shot Put(38’9.5”).

“Back on the track our 4x800M relay team of

Petkiewicz/TNS Kadyn Tessena, Jordan Hogue, Evan Troisi, and Joe Caruso placed 9th(8:54.99). Caruso placed 19th in the 3200M in a personal best time of 10:36.71. Troisi placed 20th in 10:51.19.

Tessena took 24th in the 800M(2:11.16). He also was on the 4x400M relay with Danny Marasco, Marcus Terwilliger, and Brayden Frair. We placed 6th in a best of the year time of 3:33.19.

The team honors went to State College who had 127 points followed by Altoona with 86. We had hoped to do better day but we still got one school record, a top ten finish in the pole vault, six personal bests, and 7 place winners. Brayden’s record was fantastic.

Cooper’s pole vault was amazing, Logan Kohler’s performances were great, Marcus Terwilliger had a great day, and the 4×400 relay team of Terwilliger, Marasco, Tessena, and Frair stood out as well.

It should be noted that Kohler’s 2nd place in the 300M IH, Frair’s 800M school record, Caruso and Troisi’3200M, and the 4×400 relay came after the more than one hour delay because of the heavy rain and lighning storm. They work working on a very slippery track with rain still falling.”

The Owsl are now on the home stretch with the final dual meet against Punxy away and only 12 days until Districts.

“We have much to do and we need to show more improvement against DuBois and St.Marys if we want to win Districts. DuBois and St.Marys are loaded with 1st place potential and plenty of depth all over,” Tessena said. “Clearfield has 4-6 possible 1st places and Punxy has several possibilities for 1st places as well. We need to get as many 4th and 5th places and do well in the relays along with our number 1 seeds finishing 1st. This should have one of the closest finishes for the top 3 spots in many years.”

Also Coach Tessena is now taking reservations for the Track & Field Banquet which will be held on May 28th at the University of Pittsburgh at 6:00 pm. All team members are free but there will be a charge for parents and other guests. Please call 814-368-7028 or 814558-9479. You can also email to ttessena@atlanticbb. net by Friday, May 9 to reserve your place.

Please include the team members name and the number of total seats you will need