Courtesy of Shari Miller

Starting out the day for the Indians in the field events was senior Grace Wagner in the girls javelin.  Grace finished in 5th place with a throw of 104′ 3″.  Seniors Wyatt Ehrenzeller and Caden Swailes competed in the boys javelin.  Wyatt placed 3rd with a throw of 157′ 8″.  Caden placed 17th with a throw of 136′ 3″.  Throwing Coach Shane Yeater said “I was excited to see all three of my throwers get some quality experience directly before the league championship meet.  Wyatt Ehrenzeller placed 3rd, earning his first medal in track and field, Grace Wagner finished with a strong 5th place performance, and Caden Swailes took 17th despite having an off day.  All 3 of them are capable of taking top honors this Wednesday at Susquenita.”

Freshman Carolyn Heidenreich was the first Juniata athlete to compete on the track.  She placed 14th in the girls 1600 race with a time of 5:48.78.  Freshman Josiah Barner stepped on the track next to compete in the boys 400.  Josiah ran a personal best time of 53.56 to take 11th place.  Sophomore Sylvia Brubaker competed in the girls 3200 race after the meet was delayed because of thunder and lightning.  She was the defending 3200 champion from this invite a year ago.  Sylvia ran competitively from the gun and used her strong kick to come away with the win in a personal best time of 11:05.41 to take another Tim Cook Distance award.  She took another 0:15 off her 3200 school record.  Seniors Wyatt Stroup and Joey Bomberger competed in the boys 3200 race under the lights.  Wyatt came in the race as the defending 3200 Stan Morgan champion from 2024.  Wyatt took charge of the race after the first lap with teammate Joey Bomberger on his heels.  Wyatt never gave up the lead and won the race with a time of 9:30.96 to take another Tim Cook 3200 award.  Joey finished in 7th with a time of 9:47.69.  Juniata Distant Coach Jeff Miller said “We had some great performances on the track.  Carolyn ran a solid 1600 race considering she had two soccer games earlier in the day.  Josiah dropped some more time off his 400 with another personal best time.  He’s only a freshman and puts in the work.  Josiah is an athlete that could do a lot of things, but is now committed to running and specializing in events that will take him the furthest.  It’s going to be fun watching him progress over the next couple years.  He’s a state level talent for sure.  Sylvia showed she’s stronger than ever taking the win in the 3200 and shaving more time off her school record.  She trains year round for moments like this and I’m super proud of how she raced.  This was a huge confidence booster for her.  She has a great mix of speed and endurance that few have.  Wyatt ran tough as expected.  I’m sure he wanted to run faster, but it’s not easy running fast in front of the race for 7 laps.  It was nice to see him get another Tim Cook award.  Joey didn’t disappoint running with Wyatt through the half way point, but struggled the second half to maintain Wyatt’s strong pace.  He didn’t give up fighting hard the last couple laps to run very close to his best time.”