Juniata Boys Win District 6 AA Cross Country Championship Title. Strawser Sets District Record and Wins Individual Title.

Oct 29, 2022

Photos by Bob Hockenbrock and Kenny Varner
Courtesy of Shari Miller

Juniata’s Logan Strawer had several goals going into the 2022 District 6 Cross Country Championship held on Saturday, October 29 in Reedsville. The first goal was to win the individual title. The second goal was to get his team to states by winning as a team. The last goal he had in mind was breaking the District 6 record of 15:14 set by Colton Sands of Penns Valley in 2019. Logan accomplished all three by winning the boys race with a District 6 record of 15:09.6. The boys won the team title by having their top 5 runners in the top 12 places. They defeated Bellefonte 31 – 39 to advance to the State Championships in Hershey next weekend. Sophomore Wyatt Stroup made the podium with his 4th place finish in a time of 16:28.7. Sophomore Joey Bomberger finished shortly after in 5th place with a time of 16:43.1 to make the podium. Sophomore Wesley Ehrisman made the podium with his 9th place finish in a time of 17:27.6. Freshman Levi Zeiders rounded out the scoring for the Indians with his 12th place finish in a time of 17:58. Freshman Ricky Guante placed 16th with a time of 18:55.2. Sophomore Charlie Telfer placed 29th with a time of 21:23.8

Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “These boys ran their hearts out today. It was a total team effort. We set this goal of winning the District 6 title at the beginning of the season and they accomplished that today. I’m so proud of everyone of them. I told Logan some time ago if he could set the district record he would know his fitness would be good enough to possible make it to the Footlocker National Championships. He will try to do that in 4 weeks at the Northeast Regional Championships in New York. He ran a perfect executed race to get the record today. We have been working for this day since back in June.”

In the girls AA race, sophomore Jessie Bomberger led the Indians with her 20th place finish in a time of 23:27. Junior Nia Matthews ran to a 37th place finish with a time of 27:07.2. Junior Aspen Eby placed 39th with a time of 28:34.5. The Juniata girls didn’t have the necessary 5 runners to place as a team. Central Cambria won the team title while Forest Hills Delaney Dumm won the girls race in a time of 18:35.6. Juniata Coach Jeff Miller said “The girls were a little off today. Jessie wanted to make it to states, but she had some breathing problems throughout the race. She’s had a great season and should be proud of her huge improvements this season. She’s only a sophomore so she will continue to work until she gets to the state meet. This sport is tough and doesn’t always go as planned. You just learn from it and continue to push ahead.”