It was a busy week for Brendan Colwell. But all in all, it was a very successful one for the Penns Valley Area senior.
Last Tuesday, Colwell (PA#4) announced his commitment to Penn State, and he followed that up with a win in his invitational debut at the Altoona Mt. Lion Invitational on Saturday. Colwell went wire-to-wire to win in 15:54, good enough for a course record.
It was a slightly different look for the Penns Valley squad, which was without Colton Sands, the top-ranked runner in Pennsylvania. Sands is nursing a knee injury and hopes to be back for the postseason. Penns Valley captured the overall team title with 52 points, nine ahead of the hosts Altoona, which placed second.
So it was a solo effort for Colwell on Saturday. He took it out hard, coming through the mile in 4:45. The middle mile is a tough one at Logan Elementary as the runners hit some hills. Colwell closed well to narrowly grab the course record.
"I'm not super happy with it," Colwell said. "I thought I was going to go faster today, but doing it solo is kind of hard, plus it's been a tiring last two weeks with finally getting the recruiting process done. I mean, it's OK. It's a good way to open up the season."
For Colwell, he was thrilled just to get the chance to run this fall: "We're super blessed to live in Pennsylvania where we're allowed to go race," he said.
Ian Zimmerman of Northern Bedford ran well to take second in 16:25, a strong invite opener for the senior.
It's a quick turnaround for Colwell, who will head to Hershey on Saturday for the PIAA Foundation Invitational. He'll be gunning for a sub-16 performance on the Parkview Course.
Watch the boys' race from the Altoona Mt. Lion Invite and check out an interview with Colwell after the race below.
