Published: May 16, 2008 12:25 am            

6-AAA meet produces two qualifiers

ALTOONA — A pair of area track athletes punched their tickets for the state meet on Thursday afternoon with outstanding performances at the District 6 Class AAA Championships at Mansion Park.

Somerset’s Craig Eddy won both the 1,600 and 800 runs, and Johnstown’s Antwuan Reed finished third in the 100 dash with a state qualifying run of 11.0. Eddy ran the 1,600 in 4:29.49 and had a personal-best run of 1:58.87 in the 800.

“I won the 1,600 last year and it was even better this year,” said Eddy, who was the top seed in the event. “This is my senior year, so it was awesome. I worked hard this year to get my times down. I depended on my kick at the end.”

Eddy may have been the favorite in the 1,600, but he was the fourth seed in the 800.

“The first lap was kind of slow, then we all started speeding up,” Eddy said. “I starting sprinting and then had a kick at the end. This was the bigger surprise by far.”

Eddy, who will attend California University of Pennsylvania in the fall to play hockey and perhaps participate in track and major in secondary education, started running in fifth grade.

“I just looked up to better runners than I was in junior and senior high,” Eddy said. “I ran with a lot of them. My first two years, I looked to Travis Dean of Westmont and then last year and this year, Jimmy Spisak of Bishop McCort. He always gave me a push and helped me at the end. They made me work harder.”

State College sophomore Alex Kenney won the 100 in 10.8 with Altoona junior Aaron Nadolsky second in 10.91 followed by Reed. Fourth-place finisher Brandyn Maddox, a senior from Bellefonte, also qualified for states.

“It was a pretty quick race,” said Reed, who will attend Pitt to play football. “I couldn’t really get much of a kick with my leg.”

Eddy and Reed will head to the PIAA Championships on May 23-24 at Shippensburg University, with differing amounts of experience. Eddy made the cross-state trip last year while Reed will be making his first venture to the state meet.

“I’ve had some injuries, I didn’t think I was going to finish this year because of my hamstring,” Reed said. “I just want to be healthy. You have to give yourself time to heal.

“It’s going to be a great experience to go to states. Other people say that you just go down there and have to be ready.”

Said Eddy: “At states, I have to run my own pace. That’s all you can do.”

Other athletes who finished in the top three, but failed to qualify for the state meet, included Somerset senior Garrett Breen and Golden Eagles’ teammate Megan Suter. Breen finished second in the long jump and third in the high jump while Suter, a junior, was second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 100 hurdles.

Johnstown senior Ashley Minemyer, the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference champion, was third in the pole vault while Trojans’ teammate Stephanie Szczur, a junior, was third in the javelin.

        

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