Photo by Dan Beck
We are spending the next month or so counting down the top 20 moments of the 2015-2016 year in Pennsylvania track and field and cross country. After breaking down one of the year's standout freshman sprinters in Pennridge's Kouri Peace. Today, we look at the collective two-day effort from the PIAA outdoor state meet's best boys team---State College Area.
Photo by Ethan Rissell
Recently, we wrote about the year's best boys cross country team. Downingtown West romped to victory at Hershey's Parkview Course in the fall. They then followed up that effort on the track with another convincing team win at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships. When we got to outdoors, West was looking to complete the historic triple crown.
The Whippets were the likely favorite headed into the outdoor state meet. But it was the runners-up from indoor, State College Area, that were looking to deny the triple crown. They also knew it would take a near-perfect meet for that to happen.
Those two days in the hot late May sun, they were as close to perfect as a team could get.
For the Little Lions, it was a true total team effort at states, culminating with a dramatic finish that won them the state championship by a single point.
There were contributions in the jumps. Senior Kellin Valentine took seventh in the triple jump on Friday and followed that up with a sixth in the long jump on Saturday. In a very competitive 100 meter dash, Tristan Daman picked up an important fourth place.
Photo by Patty Morgan
Griffin Thompson put on one of the best performances of the meet in the pole vault, clearing 16-3 and then just missing the state record on his final attempt with the competition already in hand.
Then there was the 4x800 relay. The team of Owen Wing, Anthony Degleris, Nick Feffer and Alex Milligan won the indoor title, and dazzled the crowd outdoors with a convincing win in a US#1 time of 7:37.25. Three out of the four boys from that team weren't done yet, though. Feffer and Degleris took fourth and eighth in the open 800 meters to gain some all important points. Then Milligan pulled off one of the meet's biggest upsets, winning the 1600 meters in a field of mostly fresh opponents, running a PA#1 of 4:10.17.
The 4x400-meter relay was the last event of the day. While main rivals Downingtown West pulled away for the win behind the anchor leg of 400 meter state champ Joshua McLemore, State College took second in the heat. More importantly, State College was .09 ahead of Milton Hershey's time from the previous heat, giving them second overall.
Photo by Abby Huber
After some nervous waiting, it became official. State College, 54; Downingtown West, 53. A one point win for the state championship.
Here's a look at all the state meet performances from State College:
What made the state meet so miraculous for State College wasn't the individual performances, per say, but rather that nearly every athlete brought their A game on the most important stage. The 4x800 was favored to win, but not many would have expected both Feffer and Degleris to double back and grab medals and points in the open 8. Perhaps they were inspired watching Milligan's winning effort in the 1600 a few events before.
We knew that Thompson would be in the mix with the best in the state in the pole vault. But we didn't expect such a dominating performance and a near record that possibly served as a catalyst for the rest of the team into day two of the state meet.
There were more than a few individual performances that grabbed headlines from the state meet, but it may be the collective team effort from State College that is remembered most from a wild 2016 track season.