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Three Top Ten Finishes For Bobcats At State Track And Field Meet (05/25/15)

Three Clarion Area High School athletes, Ian Corbett, Liam Raehsler and Jenn Ochs, participated in this past weekend’s PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium. All three Bobcats had Top-Ten finishes in Class-AA, with Corbett and Raehsler earning medals. The Top-Eight in each event receive medals.

Jenn Ochs with coaches and Lady Cat teammates (L-R) Throwing Coach, Nate McClaine, Claire Saylor, Ochs, Julie Kenneson, Head Coach Molly Kirby

(Photo by Barbara Ochs) Jenn Ochs with coaches and Lady Cat teammates (L-R) Throwing Coach, Nate McClaine, Claire Saylor, Ochs, Julie Kenneson, Head Coach Molly Kirby

Corbett competed in two events, the long jump and 100 meter dash. His opening jump of the competition was his best. He went 21-11.75, which was good enough for a third place medal.

This was Corbett’s second medal in the event. He finished seventh as a sophomore, with a leap of 21-01.75, in 2013. Corbett set the school record that same season, with a jump of 22-0. He didn’t compete in the event at States, as a junior.

First place, in this year’s AA long jump, went to Apollo-Ridge senior, Tre Tipton who leaped 22-9.25. Finishing second was Chris Stone, from Springfield Township, in Montgomery County. Stone finished at 22-2.

Corbett failed to make the finals in the 100, although he did make it to the semifinals where he ran an 11.33. Jahvel Hemphill, just a sophomore, from Bloomsburg was the 100 champion for the second year in a row. Karns City’s Logan Moroney finished fifth, with a time of 11.26.

Corbett earned a fifth place medal, last year, with an 11.03 time in the finals. Between the long jump and 100, Corbett earned medals three straight years in the State Championships.

Raehsler also competed in two events, the 3200 and 1600, taking home a sixth place medal in the 3200, which was held on Saturday. His time of 9:23.65 was his personal best and was good enough to earn National Elite Status.  He improved by ten places, from last year’s meet, when he finished sixteenth. Lake Lehman junior, Dominic Hockenberry won the event for the second straight year, finishing with a time of 9:08.10.

Raehsler also ran his personal best in the 1600, during Friday’s preliminaries. His time of 4:27.38 was good enough for fifth in the heat. Ryan Thrush from Brookville, also ran a 4:27.38 in the same heat. Officials had to go to the thousandth of a second, in determining that Raehsler finished fifth and Thrush sixth in the heat.

Both advanced to the finals, held on Saturday, with Raehsler’s having the best non-automatic qualifying time and Thrush the second best. Thrush finished tenth in the finals, with a time of 4:32.02 and Raehsler finished a little over three seconds later, at 4:35.21 for twelfth place.

Dominic Perretta, a junior from Beaver Falls won the 1600, in a time of 4:13.92, his second straight year winning the event. Paretta was a double-winner, this year, as he also captured the 800.

Ochs just missed a medal in the AA Girls javelin, with a ninth place finish. She threw 122-5, in each of her first two throws in the preliminaries. That distance was good for National Elite Status and placed her second place in her flight, behind Zoe Pawlak from Freeport, who threw 131-02. The distances from the preliminaries carried over to the finals, where Ochs’ best throw was 119-2.

(Photo by Barbara Ochs) Jenn throwing at 2015 PIAA Championships

(Photo by Barbara Ochs)
Jenn throwing at 2015 PIAA Championships

Ochs improved eleven places on her twentieth place finish at last year’s State Meet.

The event had a District-Nine flavor, with three of the top nine and four of the twenty-seven competitors coming from the district, including this year’s State Champion, Brooke Hinderliter, from next door neighbor Redbank Valley, who won the event with a NFHS National Honor Roll throw of 158-09. The throw was her personal best.

Johnsonburg’s Ashely Imbrogno threw 135-6 for a fourth place finish, after finishing third a year ago. Otto-Eldred’s Mariah Hartzell finished fifteenth.

Clarion Area Coaches at the meet included Ben Bevevino, Molly Kirby, Dan Alderton and Nate McClaine.

The Bobcats and Lady Cats will get together for a picnic and awards ceremony Tuesday (May 26th) evening at Clarion County Park.

Congratulations to Ian, Liam, Jenn and all the athletes from the area and around District Nine who participated in the State Meet!!!!

District 9 and Area Medalists/Team Points
AA Girls

Brooke Hinderliter Jr. – Redbank Valley – Javelin – 1st (158-09)
(First Ever Track and Field State Champion from Redbank Valley)
Nicole Florio Sr. – Elk County Catholic – High Jump – Tied for 4th (5-4)
Rachel Guyer Sr. – Johnsonburg – 1600m – 5th (5:12.98)
Ashely Imbrogno Sr. – Johnsonburg – Javelin – 4th (135-6)
Savannah Anderson Sr. – Kane – Pole Vault – Tied for 8th (10-0)
Malissa Humanic Jr. – Titusville – Discus – 8th (123-6), Shot Put – 3rd (40-7.25)

AAA Girls
Abby Jones Sr. – Franklin – High Jump – 1st (5-7)

AA Boys
Ian Corbett Sr. – Clarion – Long Jump – 3rd (21-11.75)
Liam Raehsler Sr. – Clarion – 3200m – 6th (9:23.65)

Logan Moroney Sr. – Karns City – 100m – 5th (11.26), 200m – 8th (22.62)
Karns City – 4×100 – 4th (43.70) (Allesandro Marotto Sr., Tyler Dunn Sr., Tristan Rhoades Sr., Logan Moroney Sr.)

Wyatt Hetrick Jr. – Redbank Valley – 110m High Hurdles – 8th (15.69)
Tyler Rolick Jr. – Kane – Pole Vault – Tied for 7th (13-6)
Nick Bowers Sr. – Kittanning – Shot Put – 2nd (54-8)
Joseph Armstrong Sr. – Lakeview – Discus – 4th (161-10)

Team Points
AA Girls
Redbank Valley – 10 Points – Tied for 22nd
Johnsonburg – 9 Points – Tied for 25th
Titusville – 7 Points -35th
Elk County Catholic – 4.5 Points – Tied for 50th
Kane – 0.333 Point – 82nd

AAA Girls
Franklin 10 Points Tied for 17th

AA Boys
Karns City – 10 Points – Tied for 24th
Clarion – 9 Points – Tied for 30th
Kittanning – 8 Points – Tied for 32nd
Lakeview – 5 Points – Tied for 50th
Kane – 1.5 Point – 77th
Redbank Valley – 1 Point – Tied for 78th

Team Champions
AA Girls – Hickory
AAA Girls – Cheltenham
AA Boys – Springfield Township (Montgomery County)
AAA Boys – Cheltenham

(Further photos will be posted with this article when available.)