RUNNER'S WORLD: YOUNG RUNNERS LEAD TOWANDA GIRLS' RESURGENCE (2024-09-25)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
After seeing the boys’ team win a league title last year the Towanda girls’ cross-country squad is getting into the act in 2024. So far this season the Black Knights are undefeated with just one week to go as they look for their first league title in over a decade.

Leading the charge is a youth movement with Towanda’s top three runners last year’s state qualifier, sophomore Izzy Larson, and two freshmen in Mary-Kate Eberlin and Kenzie Brown.

“It’s been pretty surprising on how well we’ve been doing as a team, but I had high opes on how well we were going to do,” said Larson. “I knew we were going to come in and be super competitive and tough.”

Eberlin won the junior high girls’ race at the NTL Championships last year with Brown coming in sixth.

“It’s definitely been very exciting,” Eberlin said about the team’s success. “I knew coming into the season that we were going to have a pretty good team, but seeing the outcome of our team has been really great.”

Of course, going from junior high to varsity isn’t easy, beginning with the jump of distance from 1.5 miles to 3.1.

“There’s definitely a lot more pressure team wise,” said Brown. “There’s a lot you can do to make a name for yourself quickly, and I think we definitely have met a lot of those expectations this year.”

Larson likes the fact that she has girls she can run with this year and going forward.

“I’m glad our team has grown,” she remarked. “It’s good to have girls that are in your age group.”

They jumped out strong with a good first invitational, then beat NEB and Athens, their toughest competitors, in the first dual meet of the season.

“It was pretty nervous in the beginning of the year, but after the first race at Cliff Robbins, I was really excited for the races to come,” Eberlin said, then added about the NEB race. “I was pretty excited. I knew it was going to be tough for the first meet going against them.”

Looking ahead to districts things get a lot tougher as they’re competing in the Class AA bracket of District IV, at least for the next two seasons. They feature state powers Danville and Lewisburg, two teams that have had a death grip on the two state qualifying spots coming out of the district.

Still, with more young girls coming up from junior high Towanda sees a window of opportunity down the road.

“I have a very good feeling about how out team’s going to do standing next to the larger schools,” said Larson.

Regardless of what happens it’s an exciting time for Towanda runners.

“We know that we’re going to have good seasons coming up, especially from our seventh and eight graders,” remarked Brown.

NTL HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS

It’s that time of year again for the NTL Hall of Fame nominations. The nominees can be runners, coaches, or teams, and information can be emailed to cman0478@gmail.com. Please send all information by October 1.

WEEK 4 NTL DUAL MEET RESULTS

At Rome

Boys

NEB 15, SULLIVAN C. 50; NEB 15, SAYRE 50; NEB 15, CV 47; CV 25, SULLIVAN C 34; SULLIVAN C 15, SAYRE 50

1. Creed Dewing (N) 18:14

2. Ryan Jones (N) 18:18

3. Dayton Russell (N) 18:29

4. Brody Bennett (N) 18:38

5. Jackson Martin (N) 18:39

6. Russell Martin (N) 18:42

7. Hunter Simonds (C) 18:46

8. Ayden Finch (N) 18:59

9. Tanner Herb (N) 19:05

10. Brayden Miller (N) 19:09

11. Glenn VanBenthuysen (Sa) 19:30

12. Chase Preston (SC) 19:37

13. Carter Blasi (CV) 19:43

14. Tanner Judson (N) 19:58

15. Matt McKee (CV) 20:14

Girls

NEB 24, SULLIVAN C 35; NEB 15, CV 50; SULLIVAN C 15, CV 50

1. Natalie Yonker (C) 21:02

2. Zoey Reese (SC) 22:50

3. Amelia Kapr (N) 23:04

4. Sophie Bennett (N) 23:15

5. Paige Jordan (SC) 23:30

6. Kara Dughi (N) 23:32

7. Ruth Laudermilch (N) 23:36

8. Addie Thibodeau (SC) 24:02

9. Claire McKee (CV) 24:18

10. Ireland Coats (N) 26:50

11. Sophia Allis (N) 27:53

12. Anna Mazzales (SC) 28:10

13. Clara Dewing (N) 29:50

14. Izzy Kapr (N) 30:38

15. Sophia Boyer (SC) 32:11

JH Girls

SULLIVAN C. 19, NEB 40; SULLIVAN C. 24, CV 35; CV 24, NEB 33

1. Quinn Pennella (SC) 11:33

2. Lainey Hackett (CV) 11:39

3. Addisyn Templin (SC) 11:49

4. Maddison Fay (CV) 12:16

5. Julia Laudermilch (N) 12:22

JH Boys

NEB 20, SULLIVAN C. 41; SULLIVAN C. 20, CV 37; SULLIVAN C. 15, SAYRE 50; NEB 15, CV 47

1. Calen Sweigart (SC) 10:28

2. Josiah Russell (N) 10:42

3. Asher Kolesar (N) 10:46

4. Elijah DeLancey (N) 10:58

5. Keagan Netherton (N) 11:00

At Towanda

Boys

TOWANDA 20, NP-MANSFIELD 42; TOWANDA 16, CANTON 47; CANTON 27, NP-MANSFIELD 32

1. Michael Knefley (N) 18:37

2. Jack Tavani (T) 18:42

3. Boom Thompson (T) 18:53

4. Jacob Carr (T) 19:01

5. Hagen Jones (T) 19:15

6. Lawrence Halbfoerster (C) 19:22

7. Jackson Frederick (T) 19:49

8. Anthony Rifenbark (T) 20:20

9. Cedric Miller (N) 20:44

10. Wyatt Stranger (T) 20:48

11. Quentin Little (T) 21:13

12. Manuel Halbfoerster (C) 21:20

13. Jayden Stranger (T) 21:35

14. Brayden VanLoon (N) 21:40

15. Simon Wile (C) 22:09

16. Landon Lake (C) 22:20

17. Nemiah Wolcott (C) 22:23

18. Joshua Hess (C) 22:54

19. Nicholas Weaver (C) 23:36

20. Isaiah VanLoon (N) 23:44

Girls

TOWANDA 15, NP-MANSFIELD 46

1. Izzy Larson (T) 21:32

2. Mary-Kate Eberlin (T) 22:40

3. Kenzie Brown (T) 23:30

4. Angie Tavani (T) 25:35

5. Hannah Petty (T) 25:52

6. Nore Furry (N) 25:53

7. Leila Cobb (T) 26:44

8. Moira Wheeler (N) 27:13

9. Alivia Lisowski (N) 27:52

10. Melody Hakes (T) 28:27

JH Girls

TOWANDA 15, NPM 40; TOWANDA 21, CANTON 34; NPM 15, CANTON 40

1. Maris Cobb (T) 11:19

2. Lilah Larson (T) 13:23

3. Kiley Mosier (T) 14:15

4. Serena Hess (C) 14:18

5. Liz Halbfoerster (C) 15:06

JH Boys

TOWANDA 15, NPM 43; TOWANDA 15, CANTON 45; NPM 19, CANTON 36

1. Emmett Klees (T) 10:24

2. Brayden Cox (T) 10:33

3. Wyatt Jones (T) 11:00

4. Philip Spinney (T) 11:28

5. Owen Brown (T) 12:29

At Round Top

Boys

ATHENS 22, WYALUSING 35; WELLSBORO 28, WYALUSING 28*; ATHENS 21, WELLSBORO 38

*Wellsboro wins on sixth tie-breaker

1. Graham Wanck (A) 16:51

2. Max Macias (We) 17:44

3. Trennan Tewksbury (Wy) 17:45

4. Ethan Hicks (A) 18:12

5. Matt Rossetti (A) 18:37

6. Jacob Shores (A) 18:38

7. Henry Whitney (We) 18:59.10

8. Parker Cunningham (Wy) 18:59.11

9. Brayden Johnson (Wy) 20:07

10. Jack Fischer (Wy) 20:17

11. Lane Cosby (We) 21:59

12. Gehrin Thurston (A) 22:01

13. Ryder Marley (A) 22:12

14. Aiden Oldroyd (A) 22:27

15. Henry Nowak (We) 24:03

Girls

WYALUSING 21, WELLSBORO 37; ATHENS 24, WYALUSING 32; ATHENS 20, WELLSBORO 42

1. Lauren Kosek (We) 20:51

2. Sara Bronson (A) 20:53

3. Alyssa Vough (A) 21:25

4. Megan King (Wy) 21:56

5. Ava Hughes (A) 22:19

6. Riley Porter (Wy) 23:48

7. Camryn Gesford (Wy) 23:54

8. Laina Beebe (Wy) 24:40

9. Grace Ellsworth (A) 25:02

10. Haylie Horton (A) 26:11

11. Carolyn Roelle (A) 26:12

12. Sophia Yoder (We) 26:24

13. Kira Allen (Wy) 26:51

14. MacKenna Brewer (Wy) 27:08

15. Marlene Roelle (A) 27:33

JH Girls

WYALUSING 22, ATHENS 33; WYALUSING 15, WELLSBORO 50; ATHENS 9, WELLSBORO 12

1. Kasi Kosek (We) 11:24

2. Maria Beebe (Wy) 12:22

3. Stella Unger (A) 12:46

4. Reese Patrick (Wy) 12:59

5. Quinn Vanderpool (Wy) 13:11

JH Boys

WYALUSING 15, ATHENS 15; WYALUSING 15, WELLSBORO 44; WELLSBORO 8, ATHENS 13

1. Griffin Sheldon (Wy) 10:48

2. Cody Tuttle (Wy) 10:58

3. Mitchell Gesford (Wy) 11:10

4. Garrett Gowin (Wy) 11:37

5. Caleb King (Wy) 12:01

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