Punxsy Girls Find Success in First Punxsy XC Relays
Friday evening’s first ever Punxsy XC Relays proved to be a success with four teams participating in the relay style invitational held at Jack LaMarca stadium. Punxsy girls came away with 3 top 10 medals and some good times for the beginning of the season.
Weather was near perfect for the evening’s races, which included a 4 x 2 mile relay for both the boys and girls as well as an open division for the boys. On the girls side there were two relay teams per school from Elk County Catholic, Hollidaysburg, Saint Marys and Punxsutawney. “I think everyone enjoyed the format, which gave the runners an opportunity to race at a distance different from what they will run the remainder of the season. Also, I think the chance to run in relay style brought a track element that the kids enjoy to their fall sport.”
Saint Marys “A” team included two top caliber runners in Michelle Bauer and Amanda Foster. Bauer was tenth at the state meet last year, while Foster placed 49th. “Having a relay team with those two girls is almost guaranteed to provide a fast time, and it did with their time being one minute and 55 seconds faster than the second place time.” Hollidaysburg’s “A” team which included several of the top District 6 AAA individuals placed second behind Saint Marys. Punxsy’s “A” team consisting of Isabel Hackenberry, Madison Stonbraker, Jenna Barnoff and Alyse Whitman challenged for second at some points in the race but could never get close enough, finishing in third overall.
Isabel Hackenberry led the “A” team off in third place with a solid time of 14:10. Her time was the 8th fastest time out of all the competitors. “Isabel would have liked to have ran faster but it was a nice opening race for her. She has a lot of potential and with more opportunities I think she will really run some nice times.” Madison Stonbraker finished with a split of 14:52, good enough for 13th overall. “She was very aggressive in her first varsity cross country race and finished very close to her goal time. She is an extremely hard worker and raced very well just missing a top ten medal by 20 seconds.” Jenna Barnoff was the fifth best Punxsy split with a time of 15:03, placing 15th overall. “Jenna raced very evenly and looked extremely comfortable across the distance.” Alyse Whitman ran a 2 mile split of 14:04, the fastest split on the team, good enough for 7th place overall. “In Alyse’s first cross country race I think she handled herself well. I know she wanted to run faster but I think once she gets to run head to head against some of the girls that ran faster splits than her she will be a lot closer to them than she was.”
Punxsys “B” team of Gabby Franklin, Hayley Dilts, Jaci Mennetti and Sophia Lambiotte placed fifth out of the teams just behind Saint Marys “B” team. Gabby Franklin ran the third fastest split on the team (14:32), earning herself the 10th spot on the medal stand. “I was really impressed with how she handled her first varsity cross country race. She knew the course and where to really push in order to keep close to the rest of the competition.” Hayley Dilts ran a time of 15:27, good enough for 18th overall. “Hayley ran smoothly and will be ready to run a solid 5k time soon.” Jaci Mennetti and Sophia Lambiotte both finished with the same split of 18:29. “Jaci and Sophia went out aggressively the first mile and really pushed themselves on the second loop.”
If the relay meet were to be scored as head to head matchups against the other teams, Punxsy would have beat ECC and Hollidaysburg, while falling to Saint Marys. “I think that if the girls 2mile times show their ability in the 5k we should be rather competitive against the teams we will be facing in the district. In order to compete against a team like Saint Marys we are going to have to make every place count moving the whole group up in positioning. It was impressive to see the spread between the first and fifth runner on our team was only 59 seconds. I think the girls spread shows how well they have been working together in practice.”
A lot of work went into this invitational to make it such a success. “Coach Wehrle and I are extremely thankful for the help from the parents, family members, athletic department, maintenance staff, and timing company to make something that was such a great experience for our runners and the runners from the other schools attending.”
The girls will get their first opportunity at the 5k distance on Tuesday when they travel to Dubois.
Team Results:
Punxsy Individual Splits
Alyse Whitman-14:04.5 (7th)
Isabel Hackenberry-14:10.3 (8th)
Gabby Franklin-14:32.5 (10th)
Madison Stonbraker-14:52.3 (13th)
Jenna Barnoff-15:03.5 (15th)
Hayley Dilts-15:27.2 (18th)
Jaci Mennetti-18:29.0 (25th)
Sophia Lambiotte-18:29.2 (26th)
Friday evening’s first ever Punxsy XC Relays proved to be a success with four teams participating in the relay style invitational held at Jack LaMarca stadium. Punxsy girls came away with 3 top 10 medals and some good times for the beginning of the season.
Weather was near perfect for the evening’s races, which included a 4 x 2 mile relay for both the boys and girls as well as an open division for the boys. On the girls side there were two relay teams per school from Elk County Catholic, Hollidaysburg, Saint Marys and Punxsutawney. “I think everyone enjoyed the format, which gave the runners an opportunity to race at a distance different from what they will run the remainder of the season. Also, I think the chance to run in relay style brought a track element that the kids enjoy to their fall sport.”
Saint Marys “A” team included two top caliber runners in Michelle Bauer and Amanda Foster. Bauer was tenth at the state meet last year, while Foster placed 49th. “Having a relay team with those two girls is almost guaranteed to provide a fast time, and it did with their time being one minute and 55 seconds faster than the second place time.” Hollidaysburg’s “A” team which included several of the top District 6 AAA individuals placed second behind Saint Marys. Punxsy’s “A” team consisting of Isabel Hackenberry, Madison Stonbraker, Jenna Barnoff and Alyse Whitman challenged for second at some points in the race but could never get close enough, finishing in third overall.
Isabel Hackenberry led the “A” team off in third place with a solid time of 14:10. Her time was the 8th fastest time out of all the competitors. “Isabel would have liked to have ran faster but it was a nice opening race for her. She has a lot of potential and with more opportunities I think she will really run some nice times.” Madison Stonbraker finished with a split of 14:52, good enough for 13th overall. “She was very aggressive in her first varsity cross country race and finished very close to her goal time. She is an extremely hard worker and raced very well just missing a top ten medal by 20 seconds.” Jenna Barnoff was the fifth best Punxsy split with a time of 15:03, placing 15th overall. “Jenna raced very evenly and looked extremely comfortable across the distance.” Alyse Whitman ran a 2 mile split of 14:04, the fastest split on the team, good enough for 7th place overall. “In Alyse’s first cross country race I think she handled herself well. I know she wanted to run faster but I think once she gets to run head to head against some of the girls that ran faster splits than her she will be a lot closer to them than she was.”
Punxsys “B” team of Gabby Franklin, Hayley Dilts, Jaci Mennetti and Sophia Lambiotte placed fifth out of the teams just behind Saint Marys “B” team. Gabby Franklin ran the third fastest split on the team (14:32), earning herself the 10th spot on the medal stand. “I was really impressed with how she handled her first varsity cross country race. She knew the course and where to really push in order to keep close to the rest of the competition.” Hayley Dilts ran a time of 15:27, good enough for 18th overall. “Hayley ran smoothly and will be ready to run a solid 5k time soon.” Jaci Mennetti and Sophia Lambiotte both finished with the same split of 18:29. “Jaci and Sophia went out aggressively the first mile and really pushed themselves on the second loop.”
If the relay meet were to be scored as head to head matchups against the other teams, Punxsy would have beat ECC and Hollidaysburg, while falling to Saint Marys. “I think that if the girls 2mile times show their ability in the 5k we should be rather competitive against the teams we will be facing in the district. In order to compete against a team like Saint Marys we are going to have to make every place count moving the whole group up in positioning. It was impressive to see the spread between the first and fifth runner on our team was only 59 seconds. I think the girls spread shows how well they have been working together in practice.”
A lot of work went into this invitational to make it such a success. “Coach Wehrle and I are extremely thankful for the help from the parents, family members, athletic department, maintenance staff, and timing company to make something that was such a great experience for our runners and the runners from the other schools attending.”
The girls will get their first opportunity at the 5k distance on Tuesday when they travel to Dubois.
Team Results:
- Saint Marys A: 54:02.5
- Hollidaysburg A: 56:57.6
- Punxsutawney A: 58:10.7
- Saint Marys B: 1:02:32.2
- Punxsutawney B: 1:06:58.0
- Hollidaysburg B: 1:07:29.2
- Elk County Catholic: 1:09:08.7
Punxsy Individual Splits
Alyse Whitman-14:04.5 (7th)
Isabel Hackenberry-14:10.3 (8th)
Gabby Franklin-14:32.5 (10th)
Madison Stonbraker-14:52.3 (13th)
Jenna Barnoff-15:03.5 (15th)
Hayley Dilts-15:27.2 (18th)
Jaci Mennetti-18:29.0 (25th)
Sophia Lambiotte-18:29.2 (26th)