Saturday, October 19th was a perfect afternoon at the Lock Haven University Pennsylvania Middle School Cross Country Championship at the West Branch Cross Country Course for the finale for Mifflin County junior high cross-country team.  Three members of the team set new season PRs, eighth graders Craig Whitenight (12:03), Corinne McConahy (15:37) and Carys Morgan (17:29) and all three will move onto the high school program next Fall.  Seventh graders, Levi Anderson (13:26) and Bentyn Ishler (14:17) finished their first year running with strong times that demonstrated great growth over the season.

Below is a season wrap up from Coach Gary Ishler for the boys and Coach Kim Bennett for the girls:

While lacking numbers, the Mifflin County junior high cross-country team can look back on a productive and successful season.

Led by returnee Craig Whitenight, all three runners showed significant improvement from meet to meet. Craig recorded PR’s in each of his last four races, and took first place overall in the final two dual meets. Craig’s two-mile time improved more than two-minutes from the first meet to the final one. With his work ethic and desire to get better, Craig will be a tremendous asset to the high school team in the years to come.

Levi Anderson, in his first year of running, finished second to Craig in his two wins, and ran consistently faster times as the season progressed.

Bentyn Ishler, despite a late start, dropped three minutes in his two mile time from the start of the season to the end.

Levi and Bentyn will forge the foundation in building a vibrant and competitive junior high team, and ultimately complementing our outstanding high school program.

Most importantly, the boys learned more about running in general and cross country in particular, and how despite setbacks like injuries and an occasional bad race, there are countless rewards–from competition and achievement, to comradery and fun. The boys truly bonded, becoming supportive teammates and good friends.

It was a fun season for their coach as well, and we look forward to next year.

On the girl’s side, there were two girls, Corinne McConahy and Carys Morgan, that returned from last year and showed great growth throughout the season.  They had one new runner this season, seventh grader Ellie Rowe.

Corinne McConahy came into the season determined to decrease her time at every race and managed to accomplish this at every race but one where she was only off by 3 seconds.  From the first race until the championship on Saturday, Corinne improved her time by over 3 ½ minutes.  Her intrinsic desire to run harder and faster at each race will make her a value runner for the high school program next Fall.

Carys Morgan has successfully decreased her 2-mile over the season by 3 minutes.  Carys has been a consistent and reliable teammate.  She has achieved her best times both years of the program at the Lock Haven meet.  Her low-key and whimsical personality along with her ability will be another great addition to the high school team next year.

Ellie Rowe came to the cross-country program from Girls on the Run.  This year, cross country provided her the opportunity to build on her endurance to complete the two-mile races.  By mid season she had decreased her time from the beginning of the season by 4 minutes.