Photos by Kathy Reed
By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – What a home opener for the MIfflin County Huskies track team.

The Huskies opened up their home part of the 2023 campaign with wins over Millersburg and Steel-High Tuesday night.

It was a strong night by the boys team who defeated Millersburg 106-44 while the Huskies topped the Rollers 107.5 – 34.5.

“I thought it was a wonderful starting performance. We had a lot of standout performances for the first meet of the season. Probably due to the great weather we had today,” said MIfflin County coach Tamara Sechler. “Most of the kids that I checked in with were all excited because they were getting strong performances. We are really proud of how the boys competed today.”

On the girls side of the meet, the Lady Huskies defeated Millersburg 81-60 and Steel-High 127-9.

In the beginning of the meet, the boys 4×400-meter relay swept things posting a time of 9:19.57.

In the 4×100-meter relay, the Huskies again took the top spot with a time of 45.76.

Nahfee Jones blazed his way to a first place finish in the 110-hurdles with a time of 18.20.

Jones also took the top spot in the 300-meter hurdles, 45.39.

In the 100-meter run, Myka Simmons took top honors with a 11.01.

Simmons also scorched the pavement for a win in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.96.

There was quite a close finish in the 1600-meter run between winner Conrad Coffey and second place finisher Reese Cubbison. The race came down to the home stretch when Coffey barely edged out Cubbison, finishing in first with a time of 4:57.18 while Cubbison was second with a time of 4:57.42. They would meet again in the 3200-meter run.

It was deja vue as the two battled down the home stretch in the 3200, again Coffey crossed the finish line first with a time of 11:09.69 while Cubbison was just behind at 11:09.90.

Things continued to roll for the Huskies as they also won the 400-meter run. Carter Smith finished with a time of 53.34.

Ending the night for the Huskies, the 4×400 relay team took bookended the win for MIfflin County posting a time of 3:38.6.

In the shot put, the Huskies got the top spot thanks to a throw of 43’ 7” by Travis Renninger.

Renninger also took first in the discus as he launched a meet high 129’ 8”.

In the match up with Steel-High, Renninger finished second against the Rollers.

In the long jump, teammates Jayden King and Josiah Sechler finished 1-2 with jumps of 22’3” and 21’, respectively.

Sechler also clinched the top spot in the javelin, hoisting a throw of 176’ 10 1/2”.

Styers Oden took the pole vault with a leap of 9”.

Mifflin County also took the triple jump, King took the top spot with a leap of 43’4”.

Completing the triple win, King also took the high jump, giving him his third win of the day with a best jump of 5’ 10”.

Caden Bell took the 800-meter run as he topped things with a time of 2:09.48.

“We went up against two teams, smaller number, they were not in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth like we usually see. But they were a couple teams that wanted to come up and run against us and get some times. So we opened it up for them to come up,” said MIfflin County coach Scott Gantz. “It was a good meet to start our home season with.

Things were just a dominating on the girls’ side for MIfflin County.

Leading things off, the Lady Huskies took the number one spot with a time of 11:56.96.

In the 100-meter hurdles, Lilly Markley took home the top spot with a time of 19.77.

The 300-meter hurdles, MIfflin County also clinched the top spot from Markley as she finished with a time of 57.32.

The Huskies were just as successful in the 800, Adeline Leason clinched the top spot with a 2:52.13.

Taking second was Pia Patel with a 20.75 while teammate Callie Simonetti placed third with a mark of 21.13.

In the 100, Lyza Underhill finished first against the Rollers with a time of 12.88.

Mifflin County also took the 1600, Amilia Coffey topped out with a time of 6:20.9.

Against the Rollers, Madison Leister placed first in the shot put with a throw of 26’2”.

Taking the high jump was Tia Ematat with a top jump of 4’8”.

In the long jump, MIfflin County got a winning jump of 13’ 9” from Danielle Warfel.

Warfel also placed first in the 400, with a finishing time of 1:05.6.

Bailey McNitt took the top spot in the triple jump winning with a distance of 30’ 11”.

McNitt also took top honors against Steel-High in the javelin with a toss of 82’.