Mifflin County’s Carter Smith and State College boys shine at PIAA Cross Country Championships

The Mid-Penn Conference made its mark on Saturday at the PIAA boys cross country championships.

Mifflin County junior Carter Smith capped a stellar freshman season by capturing the individual championship in the 3A boys race (15:41) to lead the final event of the season at the Parkview XC track in Hershey.

Hershey senior and District 3 champion Vinay Raman (15:48) took third, while Isaac Oppermann and Theo Oppermann finished 4-5 to lead State College to the 3A team title. The only non-District 3 runner in the top five was Lower Merion junior Nicholas Mazzeo (15:45), who finished second for the second year in a row.

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Lewisburg senior Jonathan Hess captured the 2A title (15:57) and Mohawk senior Jackson Schodel won the 1A race (15:52).

Smith, from Mifflin County, did not compete at states last year. In fact, the Mifflin County junior wasn’t even on the 2023 cross country roster.

Instead, he trained for track – he was third in the 800 meters at the PIAA Track and Field Championships last spring – accordingly biding his time to kick.

“I did 400 and 800 workouts last year to build up my speed,” Smith said. “My plan for my first two years was to do track and field so I could build up my leg speed, then move into cross country my junior and senior year so I could improve my aerobics. I think it worked out pretty well.”

That strategic thinking paid off in the race when he passed the rest of the leading trio, Mazzeo and Raman, in the twisty final mile of the Parkview course.

“My coach and I came up with a strategic game plan to get out quickly to avoid getting caught and get through the first two miles,” Smith said. “Once we get past the two-mile mark, you go to work and then the race really starts. My coach Ronald Sprecher told me, ‘Hit when you know you can,’ and I just hit when I knew I could and got to the line.”

Smith finished second to Isaac Opperman by 0.06 at Mid-Penns before taking gold at the District 6 Championships on Oct. 26.

Redemption run

Hershey’s Raman, the District 3 champion, capped his high school career with a bronze, placing 11th as a junior and 15th as a sophomore.

An 11th-place finish in 2023 served as motivation this fall to develop a long-term training plan to help him move up at states.

“I was a little disappointed to finish 11th, but I don’t think I achieved what I wanted,” Raman said. “This year I came back, remembered again where I wanted to be, how I wanted to race, and planned the whole year around how we were going to do it here. I think it came together pretty well.”

For the three-time cross-country medalist, finishing in the top 10 was the sweetest moment.

“I said I wanted to be in the top three. It’s a little disappointing that I didn’t win the title, but I’m happy with how I improved from last year,” Raman said.

Little lions roar

State College led the way with a team score of 53, well ahead of La Salle High School’s 117 points.

Along with the Oppermann brothers’ top five finishes, sophomore Luke Bradbury, seniors Owen Coughlin, Stephen Fowler, Griffin Selber and sophomore Kyle Fritzsche were among the top 40 runners among the teams to cap off the Little Lions’ dominance.

District 1 had a strong presence in the rest of the top 10: Council Rock North (3rd), North Penn (4th), Penncrest (5th), West Chester Henderson (7th) 1st place) and Council Rock South (8th place) in the top ten.

Chambersburg finished ninth, led by senior Liam Kirkpatrick (16:20, 19th) and junior Julian Clark (17:01).

Hershey finished in 11th place, led by Raman and fellow senior Jacob Abraham. Abraham finished 12th overall (16:04).

In 2A, District 10’s Grove City was the champion (85), followed by Hess-led Lewisburg (126). The 1A title was won by Winchester Thurston (89).

Full results

View full PIAA Cross Country results are here.

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