The Bellefonte Red Raider Track and Field team has been on a red hot start with wins over teams like Brookville, Bald Eagle, Bellwood-Antis, Philipsburg-Osceola, and Penns Valley. Many people on the team, upper and lower classmen, have contributed to these huge victories.
The first meet of the year took place on a cold and rainy Saturday morning against the Brookville Raiders, when Bellefonte would hold on for the nail-biting win for the boys’ side with a final score of 72-69. The girls dominated the majority of the meet with a final score of 92-49.
The next meet would take place at Bellwood-Antis going against them and Bald Eagle the boys teams handled business pretty efficiently beating Bellwood 99-51 and taking Bald Eagle down with a score of 106-44. The girls team would also have pretty large and dominant wins over both Bellwood and Bald Eagle as they would take down Bellwood, 90-60 and Bald Eagle, 102-48.
The next meet for the Bellefonte Red Raiders would take place as their final home meet of the season against the Penns Valley Rams and Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties. This meet would go on to see many exciting performances. The girls track team would have a pretty solid win over Penns Valley with a final score of 90-60 and they would completely dominate Philipsburg winning by a score of 129-21. The boys track team showed a lot of dominance in their meet as they wouldn’t even give either the Rams or the Mounties a chance beating Penns Valley 111-39 and Philipsburg with a huge score of 132-18.
This meet specifically would see a lot of big performances and records fall. Freshman jumper Kaven Smith-Kirk in his first year doing track and field competed in high jump and broke the freshman and stadium records clearing 6’, while another freshman jumper Althea Helms would break one of the oldest school records in triple jump as she would jump 36’ 2 ½’’.
There would be multiple big performances from others as senior sprinter Collin Sharp would win the 100 meter dash running a time of 11.41.
Bellefonte sprinters would sweep the 200 meter dash with Aden Howell, Jaeden Gabrovsek, and Kaven Smith-Kirk.
The boys distance teams also had great performances from Kaiden Williams in the 800, Alex Crist in the 1600, and Caleb Vinnedge in the 3200. Caleb also has been throwing bombs in discus.
For the jumps, junior Zane Hummel has been having a very good start to the season as he looks to make it back to PIAA State Championships after qualifying as a sophomore.
In the throws, Bellefonte seniors Jeffrey Barnyak and Logan Proctor have been having good seasons scoring a lot of points and being huge to the early success for the boys team so far this season.
The girls have been led by Althea Helms and senior Sara Proctor in the sprints, as Sara won the 100 recently running a 13.41 and Althea won the 400 running a 1:00.27.
Junior Annie Cernsuka, sophomore Natalie Jolley, and senior Alyssa Hopkins have been huge for the girls distance team, finding their way to many top three finishes and wins.
The girls jumps have seen a lot of success throughout the season from Sara Proctor, Sophomore Mady Miller, Sophomore Anna Tyson, Althea Helms, and Sophomore Victoria Schellenberg who has also been having a very good start to the season in throwing as she has also thrown in all three events especially leaving her mark in javelin.
Some other throwers who have been leaving a pretty good impression so far this season are sophomore Madison Miller, freshman Emma Harter, senior Lauren Skrzycki, and freshman Hailey Vinnedge.
The season has been off to a hot start as both teams start off 5-0 and the athletes and coaches have all set some serious and awesome goals for this season. All of the athletes are still having fun and ready to get after chasing a district title.
This season has seen big things from first year athletes such as sophomore Neil Alterio who threw 104 feet in his first ever meet but he’s hoping to hit a bigger mark.
“This season has been off to a pretty good start throwing 104 in my first meet ever. However I would like to hit a personal record of 110 feet,” Neil said.
Jeffrey Barnyak and Mady Miller are both looking forward to the district and state championships.
“To be able to compete against the best in the state is an accomplishment itself. I would really like to break the school record in discus,” Jeffrey said.
Mady is hopeful for a future at state championships.
“I would really like to send a relay team to the state championships, which I am in as well,” Mady said.
A lot of the athletes on the team are super supportive of each other as they all help push one another to be better and the best version of themselves possible. Junior Brady Miller and senior Lauren Skrzycki have been huge on that.
“I feel as if while I am having a down year the rest of the team is doing very well. A lot of my teammates are far exceeding what I thought possible and I enjoy seeing these people improve every day,” Brady said.
Lauren would also talk about how the team helps her and others.
“I know it has helped me compete better and I am sure it has the same impact on others as well, I’m really appreciative of it,” Lauren said.
They look to continue the momentum they have as they chase titles.
