Five Bobcats, One Lady Cat Qualify For State Track And Field Meet (05/17/14)

By virtue of some fine performances in the District Nine Class-AA Track and Field Championships, at Brookville, on Friday, six Clarion Area High School Track and Field athletes qualified for the PIAA State Championships. The State Meet will be held next Friday and Saturday, May 23-24, at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.

(Photo by Chris Ganoe) Ian Corbett winning the 100

First and second place finishers as well as those meeting State Qualifying Standard times, distances or heights advance to States.

The Bobcat Boys finished third in the team standings, behind Kane and Karns City. Brookville and Northern Potter rounded out the Top 5.

Leading the local contingent is Ian Corbett, who qualified in three individual events and as a member of the 4×100 relay. Ian won the 100 and long jump and finished second in the 200. He also joined Matt Wagner, Zach Hill and Cody Hearst as a member of the second place 4×100 relay which ran a 45.67 finishing less than a second behind Karns City.

(Photo by Chris Ganoe) Laken Ganoe finished 3rd in the triple jump

Corbett ran a 10.89, in the 100, finishing ahead of Karns City’s Logan Moroney who took second with an 11.24.  The two have been each other’s strongest competitors, in the district, in the 100 and 200 all season. Corbett was clocked at 22.79 in the 200, with Moroney taking first in 22.70.

Corbett’s 100 time was 1/100th of a second off of the District Meet record set in 2012 by Sheffield’s Kalil Slaughter.

With a leap of 20-03.5, Corbett outdistanced Coudersport’s Coy Hoffman by 1½” for the gold medal in the long jump.

Also capturing gold, for the Bobcats was Liam Raehsler, who captured the 3200 with a 10:02.53. In a near photo finish, Raehsler crossed the line just 1 and1/100th of a second ahead of Kane’s Chris Hunt, who turned in a 10:03.54. Raehsler’s time was his season’s best.

(Photo by Chris Ganoe) An exuberant Liam Raehsler after win in 3200

The other local State qualifier was Lady Cat, Jenn Ochs, in the javelin. With a season best throw of 124-04, Ochs finished in fourth place. Her throw exceeded the State Qualifying standard of 121-0 by more than 3 feet.

Other Bobcat and Lady Cat performances at the District Championship Meet:

Boys: Antonio Troese finished fifth in the 800 (2:09.38). Hill finished in a tie for sixth in the high jump (5-08). The 4×800 relay, consisting of Adam Bettwy, Prince Brooks, Damien Cherico and Brandon Phillips (10:00.38) finished sixth. Cherico finished tenth in the 800 (2:13.03).

Laken Ganoe just missed a trip to States, finishing third in the triple jump (34-02). She also finished tied for ninth in the high jump (4-08) and finished tenth in the long jump (14-08). Julie Kenneson tied for seventh in the high jump (4-10).

(Photo by G. Chad Thomas) Kyla Miles taking handoff from Madison Weaver in 4×100

The 4×100 relay, consisting of Ganoe, Grace Kroh, Madison Weaver and Kyla Miles (53.93) finished seventh, their season’s best. Forest Mills ran a season best (5:54.65), in the 1600, to finish eighth. She also finished eleventh in the 800 (2:40.44). Janelle Toy finished twelfth in the 1600 (2:40.81).

(Photo by G. Chad Thomas) Cody Hearst finishes 4×100 after taking handoff from Zach Hill

Congratulations and best wishes to all the Clarion Area athletes who advanced to States!!!!

Notes: Sheffield’s Slaughter also set the District Nine Meet record in the 200 and Clarion’s Bryce Straffin set the District Nine Class-AA Meet 400 record in that same year. The pair went on to win State Championships in those events, giving District Nine a sweep in the three Dashes.

Clarion Area currently holds 7 District Nine Class-AA Meet records out of 18 events, including every relay:
4×800 Relay: 1998 – Christian Fawcett, John Martin, Brent McNeil, Ian Brooks (8:02.34)
High Jump: 1999 – Mario Bernardi (6-08)
4×400 Relay: 1999 – Mike Corbett, Dan Patton, Brent McNeil, Jeff Bruner (3:24.84)
800 Meters: 2000 – Brent McNeil (1:55.84)
4×100 Relay: 2001 – Mike Corbett, Taylor Sessions, Kyle Cathcart, Dan Patton (42.62)
Discus: 2003 – Dave Larson (171-06)
400 Meters: 2012 – Bryce Straffin (48:15)

(Complete Meet results can be found at pa.milesplit.com.)