Central Cambria squads claim gold at District 6 cross country championships

Oct. 31—REEDSVILLE, Pa. — Central Cambria continued its team dominance, while Red Devils junior Annaliese Niebauer brought home gold at the District 6 Cross Country Championships Saturday at the Indian Valley Elementary Center course in Reedsville.

The Red Devils swept the team titles in both boys and girls Class 2A. Finishing second in Class 2A was the Red Devils' Aiden Lechleitner and Westmont Hilltop's Julia Dill, while Portage senior Lauren Shaffer finished second in Class 1A.

The Central Cambria girls' team crushed the competition with 22 points, placing seven runners in the top 11, including top-five finishes for Niebauer, Morgan Brandis and Stella Kuntz. The Red Devils have won four straight and 16 of the past 17 District 6 titles.

Forest Hills finished second with a team score of 66 points, as junior Delaney Dumm led the team with a fourth-place finish while Danielle Dumm was eighth. The team's third state qualifier was Payton McGough, who finished 12th.

"It's awesome and I feel like sometimes people expect it to happen, but it's awesome to be a district champion team for the boys and girls," Red Devils coach Randy Wilson said. "It's huge to have the individual champion on the girls side. I think we had five runners in the top seven and the boys ran a tough race. Aiden was right there and got second. We hung on for the team win. I'm really proud of them."

Niebauer ran a strong race, beating Dill by 22 seconds with a time of 19:29. Niebauer was strong through the course's hills and was able to navigate the mud without much difficulty as she coasted to the win.

"I felt good, just feeling pretty dirty right now honestly," Niebauer said in reference to the course conditions. "We've ran in basically every condition, so the rain didn't faze me much. The mud was pretty bad, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm very happy with my time. I think it's a PR from my last time, even with these conditions."

On the boys side, Central Cambria had five runners in the top 11 with four among the first 10 finishers, including Lechleitner and Devon Morgan, who finished fourth. Cody Roberts (eighth), Elijah Wandel (11th) and Dom Kuntz (12th) all scored points for Central Cambria. The title was its eighth consecutive District 6 gold.

Lechleitner and Juniata's Logan Strawser were neck-and-neck throughout the race before a late kick in the final mile allowed Strawser to pull away as Lechleitner was second with a time of 17:04.

Shaffer won with a time of 18:56 a season ago, but finished second to Penns Valley's Anna Stitzer on Saturday. Stitzer put forth a dominant performance, covering the course in 19:07. Shaffer finished with a time of 19:45. Wet grounds led to rough course conditions as runners constantly battled through piles of mud.

Shaffer, a Bucknell recruit who owns a pair of District 6 gold medals and now a pair of silver medals, was excited about her performance, while tipping her hat to Stitzer for the way she was able to dominate the race.

"I'm really proud of myself," Shaffer said. "This is my fourth year and to have two runner-ups and two district championships, that's a pretty good high school career I'd say. This week, as coach (Lance Hudak) always says, 'The hay is in the barn.' It's about maintaining and having a hard day and to have fun with it. It'll be the last one. States hasn't been my cup of tea since freshman year. This year, I'm going to play it cool and just have fun.

"I've known Anna for years and she's really put in the work," Shaffer added. "I'm actually really proud of her because last year, she showed up and got really good. My plan was to stick behind her for most of the race and I know that she really starts fast. Around 2.2 miles, I started to hurt so I tried to stay back. I didn't feel like I was strong enough to stay with her. She ran a great race and kudos to her."

Along with Shaffer, Portage's Josh Canavan (fourth), Alex Chobany (ninth), Gabe Corte (12th) and Ben Sanner (14th) also advanced to give Hudak's squad five state qualifiers — the most he's had in seven years. Canavan was the top boys' finisher for Portage as he came in fourth with a time of 18:13.

"We were able to get five total and team-wise, we just missed out on both sides," Hudak said. "Our boys were third and our girls were too. It's just frustrating because of how good District 6 is in cross country. Many other districts, our boys and girls are definitely in (as a team) and going to Hershey. I'm so happy and proud for our kids who have worked so hard to get to Hershey, and just a little bit down for their teammates that just missed out."

Other local PIAA Class 1A qualifiers included United's Colton Henning (10th), Richland's Brianna Rager (12th) and Cambria Heights' Zoe Adams (19th).

In Class 2A, Westmont Hilltop's Avari Admire (10th) also earned a trip to Hershey.