ALTOONA, Pa. – It was a day of milestones and standout performances at the Altoona Mountain Lion Track and Field Classic, and no one shined brighter than Central Cambria's Ethan Haycisak.
The Red Devils senior dominated the long-distance events, winning both the 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs while also anchoring the victorious 3200-meter relay squad. For his efforts, Haycisak earned the prestigious Coach Bill Reimer Outstanding Performer Award in the Class 2A boys competition at Mansion Park.
"It's good to get some races against people you're going to be seeing in the next couple of weeks," Haycisak said, looking ahead to conference, district, and state championships. "This meet just really sets up everything for the next couple weeks. It really gets the gears going."
The Mountain Lion Classic, a nine-hour marathon of track and field action, features both boys and girls competition in Class 2A and 3A. For Haycisak, the day began with a bang as he joined teammates Joshua Bearer, Reed Takacs, and Miles Doyle to win the 3200 relay in 8:19.6.
"To start off the day, the 4-by-800 went really well," Haycisak said. "It was a good race. A lot of good drops (in time) from people we were looking for. We ended up winning for a second time this week with a really good time."
But the senior wasn't done chasing personal bests. In the mile, he shattered the 4:30 barrier with a time of 4:29.79—a milestone he'd been working toward for some time.
"It felt really good to cross the line and see 4:29 on the board," he said. "It was a good race, good pacing from start to finish."
He capped off his stellar day with a 9:29.42 in the 3200, finally breaking the 9:30 mark with help from teammate Reed Takacs, who placed third in the event. Forest Hills senior Tyler Caron finished second at 9:40.36.
In the 3A boys competition, Somerset Area sophomore Rodney Garwood made headlines in the pole vault, clearing 14 feet on his first attempt. Though he narrowly missed three tries at 14-6, the performance signals big things ahead for the second-year vaulter.
"This is Rodney's second year of pole vaulting at Somerset," Golden Eagles coach J.R. Hemminger said. "He's really come into his own this year. He's been very consistent throughout the year. He started at 13-0, got up to 13-6 and PR'd at 13-7. He's been consistently in that 13-6 range and has been looking forward to that 14-0 bar. The state qualifier is 14-3, so he either has to win the district meet or jump 14-3."
Other standout performances included Westmont Hilltop junior Brock Bowles taking first in the 100-meter dash (11.15) in 2A, and the Northern Cambria 400-meter relay squad of Levi Czar, Colton Brawley, Daniel Farrell, and Zak Kirsch winning in 44.06. Farrell also claimed victory in the triple jump with a leap of 46-5. In the field events, Bishop Carroll Catholic's Eli Cunningham posted a winning long jump of 22-2.5.