NEWVILLE — The 2025 Mid Penn Conference Cross Country Championships were held on Saturday, Oct. 11 where the race went as expected.
Coming in as the clear favorites, State College High’s cross country teams didn’t let the pressure get to them.
The boys started out hot for State College when the girls followed up and kept State College in it, which led to both sweeping the team titles.
The State College boys delivered a huge message after their dominant performance, reinforcing their status as the team to beat heading into the state meet which is in three weeks.
State College boys had four runners finish in the top seven, with two in the top three. Theo Oppermann came in second for State College with a time of 15:35, and teammate Luke Bradbury followed up right behind him for third with a time of 15:47.
Carter Smith from Mifflin County broke the Mid Penn Championship course record with a time of 15:30 to get the win. He now has his eyes on his second consecutive individual state title.
Kyle Fritzsche and Dexter Walker, both from State College, finished sixth and seventh respectively with times of 16:02.076 and 16:02.236. This helped State College boys come away with the championship.
State College girls followed up by placing six girls in the top 25 where the highest runner finished second. Evelyn Younkin from State College finished with a time of 18:55. Autumn Swisher from State College was the next girl to finish in the top 20 where she was 17th with a score of 19:54
Carolyn Frank and Julia Bigger, both from State College, followed in 16th and 17th with times of 19:56 and 19:57. They were followed by Silvia Hutchinson and Lacey Sheaffer who finished 21st and 25th.
Ana Bondy from Carlisle finished in 1st of the Girls Championships with an impressive time of 18:40, a win by a gap of 15 seconds over Younkin.
Hershey girls had a strong finish where they had two girls in the top five. Sophia Kim finished in third with a time of 19:00 and Evy Winder finished fifth with a time of 19:05.
PIAA Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday, Nov. 1.
