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Williamsport’s Taylor cruises to hurdles victory at Bald Eagle Invitational

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Williamsport's Allen Taylor (4) clears the final hurdle on his to winning the boys 100 meter hurdles during the Bald Eagle Invitational at Lock Haven University Friday. At left is team mate Caden Fisher.

LOCK HAVEN — With silky smooth strides, Allen Taylor ate up the distance between he and his competitors. He stepped over each of the 10 hurdles as if he were stepping over a misplaced stone on the sidewalk.

The freshman’s strides looked effortless as he ate up chunks of the tartan track at Lock Haven’s Hubert Jack Stadium on Friday. One by one he picked off those in front of him on the staggered start of the 300 hurdles until suddenly there was nobody in front of him.

He ran like a seasoned veteran on a beautiful afternoon which turned into a bitterly cold night for the 20th Annual Bald Eagle Invitational. It didn’t take long to be able to fit an 18-wheeler in the gap between Taylor and second-place runner Chase Carpenter of Jersey Shore. The loose ends of his head bandanna flapped in the breeze he created with his effortless pace.

“You want to go fast, but you want to stay relaxed at the same time,” Taylor said after his two individual wins in the hurdle events last night. “When you’re relaxed, you’re not losing your breath as badly as if you’re worried about the race. So I try to stay relaxed.”

The son of the Williamsport boys basketball coach, Taylor got involved in track and field in fifth grade when he saw his cousin running in the 400 relay. That’s what Taylor wanted to do when he finally could get on the track.

But by the time he got to middle school, it was suggested he take a shot at the hurdles. That suggestion has paid off in the short term of his first season which has been hampered by less-than-ideal running conditions.

On Friday, Taylor opened his day by winning the 110 hurdles, his main event, by clocking a season’s-best time of 15.16, which was nearly a second faster than teammate Caden Fisher, who was a district champion and state qualifier a year ago. He scored his second individual championship with a run in the 300 hurdles in which Taylor looked like he was floating across the track.

While other runners would jump up slightly to clear the hurdles, Taylor’s level never changed. It was if the hurdles were the automatic doors at the front of a grocery store, just opening as he approached. Those hurdles didn’t impede his pace as much as they were merely decorations along his 300-meter run.

His 40.50 winning time was more than a second better than Carpenter’s second-place time, and more than two seconds better than Towanda’s John Schrader in third place.

“I knew with my past — running in Junior Olympics and all that — that it would prepare me for days like this,” Taylor said. “It’s not surprising that I could get times like that, but it still helps me to know I can do this.”

Friday was far from an ideal day for running. A chill hung in the air atop the hill at Lock Haven’s riverfront campus, even as the sunshine rained down on Hubert Jack Stadium. It forced all the athletes to make sure they took the precautions necessary to be prepared for each race by stretching and staying warm.

Taylor was no different than any other athlete at the meet, his times just suggest he couldn’t have cared less. But for as quality a performance as Friday’s was, Taylor’s focus lies on posting times in both events which would put to shame what he did yesterday.

“I feel pretty good. I like where I am,” Taylor said. “There’s always a lot of work to do, but I’m pretty overall satisfied.”

Jersey Shore’s Isaac Davis took a sprinter’s approach to getting out to the front of the field in the 1,600-meter run last night. The senior distance runner took off on a dead sprint at the sound of the gun to make sure he was leading the pack of runners after 100 meters.

Davis has learned in his four years how dangerous it can be to sit back on the start and potentially get boxed in by other runners. So he put the onus on himself to make sure he got a quick start last night. He turned a 63-second split on the first lap of the mile into a comfortable victory, posting a 4:28.64 to top state medalist Quinn Serfass of Loyalsock.

Davis also won the 3,200, winning by more than five seconds.

“You gotta get out there. There’s people gunning for me and Quinn and they try to come out in front of us and box us in and you can’t let that happen,” Davis said. “And that quick start helps me throughout the race. I know I have room where I can put in a little more work and go faster if I need to. When I go out fast, then I know I’m going at a good pace.”

Davis is running with a ton of confidence coming off a cross country state championship in the fall. And Friday night he was able to use that confidence to execute a gameplan he thought could best lead him to a win.

It’s all part of the process which is going to help him hopefully reach some pretty wild time goals by the end of the season. Setting high standards for himself is all Davis knows how to do. He doesn’t want to make his goals easy so that he can reach them quickly and then coast for the rest of the season.

He wants to be able to push himself, much like he did during the cross country season, with the hopes it’ll pay off when he eventually makes a return trip to Shippensburg for the state meet next month.

“It’s always goals against the clock, and it’s always big goals. I want to run around nine minutes in the two-mile and 4:15 or 4:10 in my mile,” Davis said. “You got to shoot big because that’s the only way to achieve your biggest goals. And with the training my coaches have given me, I know I can get there.”

20TH ANNUAL BALD EAGLE INVITATIONAL

Top 10 team scores: 1, Altoona, 103; 2, Jersey Shore, 78; 3, Loyalsock, 72; 4, Lewisburg, 68; 5, Williamsport, 59; 6, Central Columbia, 57; 7, Milton, 32; 8, Towanda, 28.5; 9, Mifflinburg, 27.5; 10, Warrior Run, 26.5.

2,000 steeplechase: 1, Brenden Miller, Upper Dauphin, 6:07.42; 2, Wil Hanna-Leverett, Archbishop Curley, 6:49.48; 3, Alex Reed, Loyalsock, 7:06.26; 4, Brayden Henninger, Altoona, 7:08.11; 5, J. Henry Lyon, Williamsport, 7:09.64; 6, Max Wortman, Saint Joseph’s, 7:10.97; 7, Oliver Matz, South Williamsport, 7:13.21; 8, Branston Peese, Penns Valley, 7:19.94.

3,200 relay: 1, Jersey Shore (Tanner Allison, Isaac Davis, Micah Worth, Chase Carpenter), 8:14.69; 2, Warrior Run (Cassidy Hoffman, Damein Moser, Addison Magyar, Tyrese Hazzoum), 8:17.34; 3, Midd-West, 8:28.41; 4, Lewisburg (Felix Hernandez, Michael Hernandez, James Koconis, Logan Moore), 8:33.33; 5, Penns Valley, 8:34.83; 6, Altoona, 8:35.99; 7, Williamsport (Jared Thompson, Tyler Holcomb, Sam Hillman, Oam Patel), 8:50.03; 8, Central Columbia, 8:50.12.

110 hurdles: 1, Allen Taylor, Williamsport, 15.16; 2, Caden Fisher, Williamsport, 16.02; 3, Isaiah Barnes, Altoona, 16.48; 4, Austin Kravetz, Altoona, 17.14; 5, Zach Bedell, Lewisburg, 17.27; 6, John Schrader, Towanda, 17.29; 7, Shyler Kreitz, South Williamsport, 17.35; 8, Kameron Schreffler, Lewisburg, 17.45.

100: 1, Sam Newton, Loyalsock, 11.44; 2, Jared Verse, Central Columbia, 11.48; 3, Connor Adams, Altoona, 11.59; 4, Mitchell Lawhead, Altoona, 11.60; 5, Camden Smith, Canton, 11.74; 6, Bryce Phillips, Montgomery, 11.79; 7, Zach Stopper, Loyalsock, 11.79; 8, Treyson Potts, Williamsport, 11.80.

1,600: 1, Isaac Davis, Jersey Shore, 4:28.64; 2, Quinn Serfass, Loyalsock, 4:32.58; 3, Colton Sands, Penns Valley, 4:36.43; 4, Alejandro Quintana, Loyalsock, 4:39.61; 5, Ryan Sullivan, Loyalsock, 4:42.44; 6, Owen Bartlebaugh, Punxsutawney, 4:42.62; 7, Wil Hanna-Leverett, Archbishop Curley, 4:43.43; 8, Greg Williams, Altoona, 4:44.70.

400: 1, Zander Bradley, Central Columbia, 51.59; 2, Trevor Teats, Midd-West, 51.86; 3, Chris Day, Mifflinburg, 51.93; 4, Jared Thompson, Williamsport, 52.13; 5, Camden Smith, Canton, 52.49; 6, Colton Aikey, Milton, 53.71; 7, Matt Nickolaus, Loyalsock, 53.74; 8, Kameron Kline, Midd-West, 54.32.

400 relay: 1, Altoona, 43.85; 2, Central Columbia, 44.22; 3, Lewisburg (Thomas Bhangdia, Dylan Farronato, Owen Foreman, Alex Sabo), 44.38; 4, Loyalsock (Darius Williams, Jacob Waltz, Zach Stopper, Sam Newton), 44.71; 5, Wellsboro (Aidan Hauser, Joseph Grab, Brett Rudy, Alex Kozuhowski), 45.41; 6, Milton (Qamar Yasin-Bradley, Owen Keister, Jalil Garrison, Hoyt Bower), 45.47; 7, Towanda, 45.91; 8, Williamsport (Latrelle Jackson, Treyson Potts, Stephen Engel, Maxwell Goode), 46.0.

300 hurdles: 1, Allen Taylor, Williamsport, 40.50; 2, Chase Carpenter, Jersey Shore, 41.86; 3, John Schrader, Towanda, 42.74; 4, Isaiah Barnes, Altoona, 42.76; 5, Shyler Kreitz, South Williamsport, 42.95; 6, Jack Schechterly, Central Columbi, 43.44; 7, Caleb Reimer, Mifflinburg, 43.44; 8, Rodney Horton, Archbishop Curley, 44.62.

800: 1, Tyler Leeser, Milton, 1:55.48; 2, Tyler Bailey, Mifflinburg, 1:57.03; 3, Matthew Wehrle, Punxsutawney, 1:57.98; 4, Griffin Sites, Towanda, 1:59.29; 5, Matt Nickolaus, Loyalsock, 2:05.74; 6, Micah Worth, Jersey Shore, 2:06.21; 7, Wil Hanna-Leverett, Archbishop Curley, 2:07.59; 8, Noah Ettinger, Midd-West, 2:08.52.

200: 1. Sam Newton, Loyalsock, 22.97; 2, Jared Verse, Central Columbia, 23.11; 3, Mitchell Lawhead, Altoona, 23.20; 4, Camden Smith, Canton, 23.59; 5, Matt Madigan, Towanda, 23.81; 6, Zander Bradley, Central Columbia, 23.92; 7, Alex Kozuhowski, Wellsboro, 24.05; 8, Connor Adams, Altoona, 24.09.

3,200: 1, Isaac Davis, Jersey Shore, 9:24.25; 2, Brenden Miller, Upper Dauphin, 9:29.66; 3, Quinn Serfass, Loyalsock, 9:43.81; 4, Colton Sands, Penns Valley, 9:43.82; 5, Carter Kauffman, Saint Joseph’s, 9:49.13; 6, Ryan Sullivan, Loyalsock, 9:56.71; 7, Alejandro Quintana, Loyalsock, 9:57.33; 8, Owen Bartlebaugh, Punxsutawney, 9:58.44.

1,600 relay: 1, Mifflinburg, 3:27.87; 2, Lewisburg (Thomas Bhangdia, Felix Hernandez, Dylan Farronato, Owen Foreman), 3:28.98; 3, Central Columbia, 3:32.56; 4, Milton (Jason Valladares, Colton Aikey, Kellan Guinn-Bailey, Nathan Young), 3:33.10; 5, Warrior Run (Cassidy Hoffman, Forrest Seybold, Addison Magyar, Tyrese Hazzoum), 3:34.66; 6, Midd-West, 3:37.65; 7, Canton (Timmy Ward, Connor Hess, Dennis Saar, Camden Smith), 3:38.40; 8, Punxsutawney, 3:41.43.

Shot put: 1, Josh Gose, Lewisburg, 48-11; 2, Ben Tofano, Altoona, 45-10 3/4; 3, Michael Tiffin, Lewisburg, 45-2 1/4; 4, Samuel Burke, Archbishop Curley, 43-8 1/2; 5, Matthew Greenblatt, Punxsutawney, 43-4 1/4; 6, Zane Inguagiato, Clearfield, 41-10 3/4; 7, Zeth Johnson, Towanda, 41-4 1/2; 8, Nevin Rauch, Milton, 40-10 1/2.

Discus: 1, Michael Tiffin, Lewisburg, 131-5; 2, Ryan McGuire, Upper Dauphin, 130-1; 3, Grady Yarger, Clearfield, 125-6; 4, Elijah Shemory, Jersey Shore, 125-4; 5, Jacob Hockenberry, Penns Valley, 123-3; 6, Jacob Bellerillo, Punxsutawney, 123-1; 7, John Minnich, North Penn-Mansfield, 119-0; 8, Josh Gose, Lewisburg, 117-8.

Javelin: 1, Sam Penman, Williamsport, 169-8; 2, Nathan Welch, Williamsport, 167-0; 3, Colton Aikey, Milton, 166-2; 4, Hayden Idom-Case, Lewisburg, 163-9; 5, Elijah Shemory, Jersey Shore, 162-6; 6, Michael Folcarelli, Altoona, 162-3; 7, Riley Barnett, DuBois, 161-3; 8, Chevy Bolay, South Williamsport, 158-11.

Long jump: 1, Thomas Bhangdia, Lewisburg, 21-8; 2, Hunter Frantz, Jersey Shore, 20-9 1/2; 3, Connor Adams, Altoona, 20-9; 4, Jacob Waltz, Loyalsock, 20-6; 5, Tyler Petucci, Altoona, 20-5 1/2; 6, Tyler Wagner, Altoona, 20-4 1/4; 7, Darren Baidoo, Lewisburg, 19-11 1/2; 8, Kevin Titus, Jersey Shore, 19-9.

Triple jump: 1, Taye Lynch, Clearfield, 42-11; 2, Hunter Frantz, Jersey Shore, 42-2; 3, Tyler Wagner, Altoona, 40-7 1/2; 4, Dalton Dunn, Towanda, 40-0; 5, Qama Yasin-Bradley, Milton, 39-5 1/4; 6, Connor Zerbee, Altoona, 39-1 3/4; 7, Benjamin Gambrell, Athens, 38-7 3/4; 8, Tyler Petucci, Altoona, 38-5.

High jump: 1, Connor Hess, Canton, 6-1; t-2, Jon Dailey, Athens, 6-1; t-2, Kevin Titus, Jersey Shore, 6-1; 4, Connor Zerbee, Altoona, 5-11; 5, Hunter Frantz, Jersey Shore, 5-11; 6, Taye Lynch, Clearfield, 5-9; t-7, Dante Colon, Mifflinburg, 5-9; t-7, Dalton Dunn, Towanda, 5-9.

Pole vault: 1, Gabe Waltman, Central Columbia, 11-6; 2, Keefer Goodspeed, Warrior Run, 11-6; 3, Liam DeAngelis, Altoona, 11-6; 4, Levi Kennel, Warrior Run, 11-0; t-5, Ian Hoffman, Archbishop Curley, 11-0; t-5, Chadric Flarend, Altoona, 11-0; t-7, Mitchell Luciano, Altoona, 10-6; t-7, Randy Hays, Warrior Run, 10-6.

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