All Venango schools sending runners to states

​Venango will have strong representation in Hershey next weekend. Every school in the county qualified at least two runners for the state cross country championships.

Franklin senior Nadalie Latchaw was the top local finisher in the AA races, coming in second in the girls competition with a time of 18:55. It will be Latchaw’s third trip to Hershey, where she finished 51st last year and 70th in 2021.

Oil City had two state qualifies – freshman Corabel Shiley and Addison Wyant, who finished fifth (19:48) and 13th (20:12). Their strong showing led to a third-place overall finish for the girls team.

​Also scoring for Oil City on Saturday in Titusville were Ella Speece (30th), Olivia Vorse (33rd) and Arianna Griffin (61st). Sophia Garmong and Laila Marvin also ran for Oil City.

​Competing for Franklin alongside Latchaw were Madison Marsh, Gabrielle Ion, Olivia Tawney, Emma Ahmadian, Lilliana Fonzo and Ella Marbich.
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Anna Mehlenbacher was the top finisher for the Titusville Rockets, coming in at 29th out of 108 runners. The team finished 10th out of 15. Also running for the Rockets were Mackenzie Covell, Madeline Johnson, Emma Wright, Isabella Ongley, Sophia Sampson and Carly Fry.

On the boys side of things, Franklin’s senior Caleb Prettyman was the top runner in AA. He finished sixth with a time of 16:24. His brother, junior Jay Prettyman, kicked it in for a top ten finish of his own, earning 10th place in a time of 16:37. It is a return trip for the older Prettyman, who finished 51st last year.
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In a team competition that was easily dominated by Grove City boys, which scored only 28 points, the Oilers finished fifth, Franklin was 11 and homestanding Titusville was 15 out of 18 teams.  
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Oil City’s Eli Collins missed qualifying for states by seven seconds, coming in as the team’s top runner at 22nd place. He was followed quickly by Keegan Kirkwood in 23rd place. Also running were Colin Liederbach, Elliot Hulsizer, Brandon Murray, Derek Love, and Ethan Plowman.
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Representing the Knights alongside the Prettyman brothers were Kyle Phipps, Jackson Wilson, Hayden Bellis, Jack McNulty and Trace Silvis.
 
Titusville’s runners were Bryan Johnson, Andrew Bryan, Evan Slocum, Sawyer Wolfkiel, Josiah White, Cash Lavery, Aiden Patterson.
 
Meadville’s Max Dillaman and Megan Puleio also qualified for the state competition.

In the single A competitions, both of Cranberry’s teams earned second places in the girls and the boys District X races at Ridgway Saturday.
 
Kelsey Hanna led the Berry girls with a fourth-place finish. She was followed by fellow top ten finishers Kayla Hanna in seventh and Karleigh Shaffer in ninth. Completing the scoring for Cranberry was Jordan Montgomery in 22nd and Gracee Hess in 24th. Zofia Earp and Taylor Hepler also ran for the Berries.
 
It is a repeat for many of the Berry runners, who were part of the team’s sixth place finish at Hershey last year. The Hanna twins, Shaffer, Hanna, Montgomery and Earp all ran at states for Cranberry last year. It is the third year in the row the school has qualified a team for the competition.
 
It is also a repeat for the boys, who were led by seventh-place finisher Mariner Perry. Not far behind was Dalton Wenner at 12th and Dane Wenner at 14th. Kaleb Heath and Thatcher Matassa rounded out Cranberry’s scoring runners, finished 23rd and 27th respectively. Also running for the Berries were Elias Fox and Sabastien Bemis.
 
The Wenners, Perry, Heath and Matassa were all part of the team that placed 14th in 2022.
 
They will go head to head against Rocky Grove, who won the A competition for District 10 behind a top finish by senior Ethan Knapp. Click here to read a separate story about the team, as well as Rocky Grove’s first female qualifier in some time, Isabel Griffin.