The Decade in District 6

District 6 is one of the smaller districts in the state, not boasting the size of the powerhouses like Districts 1, 3 or 7, but the region has boasted many competitive teams across each of the classifications. The decade began with one of the best such examples, the 2010 Altoona boys. That team posted a score of just 21 points at the district championships and was led by a 1-2-3 sweep individually. Wade Endress ran a 15:37 to absolutely dominate the race. His mark stood as the fastest time on the Indian Valley course layout this decade until Colton Sands smashed it this past fall. Endress had a strong grip on the best runner of the decade for most of this stretch, winning three district titles, grabbing three AAA state medals (including the 2010 silver) and qualifying for the NXN Championships. Altoona finished 5^th in the state in 2010 under his leadership (4^th in 2009).

The Altoona program was the class of AAA for the early years of the decade before handing off the reigns in the later half. State College became the team to beat in District 6 after they narrowly defeated Altoona at the 2013 District 6 championships (more to come on this in the 2013 set of posts). They went on to place 4^th in the state in AAA, the best team finish in the large school division of the decade. Since that team, State College has won 6 additional district championships and gone on to score multiple top 10 finishes at states. They scored 20 points at the district championship in back to back years during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Their 16:16 average at Forest Hills in 2015 is the fastest average time at the meet this decade. The next two fastest marks came on Indian Valley (Altoona in 2010, State College in 2019).

Individually, State College has had four different district champions with only Alex Milligan winning two in the decade. Nick Feffer posted the school’s best individual finish at states when he placed 11^th in 2016. That being said, Feffer’s winning district time (16:03) was slower than the other champions who each had sub 16 marks. The fastest was 2017 champ Mitchell Etter at 15:44.

Mifflin County snuck in a team title in the competitive AAA division in 2012, effectively splitting the Altoona and State College dynasties. The 2012 team was led by Jon Colwell, the district champ that season, as well as Addison Monroe. More recently, Mifflin County has had equally strong teams led by Chayce Macknair and Brayden Harris, each of whom claimed top 10 spots at the state championships in 2018. Harris’s times and placing as a sophomore are the best for his age group.

Although the AAA classification has grabbed many headlines, in the smaller classes District 6 has had the most success. Most notably, Penns Valley has won both team and individual state championships in Class A. After winning district titles in 2015 and 2016, Penns Valley hit another level in the 2017 season when they added two spectacular freshman in Colton Sands and Brendan Colwell. They scored a decade record 19 points at districts and followed up with the team gold in Hershey. Four of their runners earned individual medals led by Sands (10^th), also including Chris Colwell (15^th), Brendan Colwell (17^th) and Sam Gray (24^th).

Penns Valley followed up their championship run with a 4^th place state finish in 2018 and a 5^th place finish in 2019. The 2019 state meet was special for another reason as PV finished off the state meet with the incredibly rare 1-2 individual finish from the same team. Colton Sands was the champ in 15:56, Brendan Colwell as next in 16:05. Colwell was then 17 seconds ahead of the next closest competitor. This dynamic duo went on to place 9^th and 11^th at Footlocker’s Northeast Regional with Sands qualifying nationals (he ended up a phenomenal 10^th there). Those places were the highest from District 6 this decade.

What Penns Valley has been to A, Central Cambria has become to AA. This Red Devils won the A District title in 2013 and added AA gold in 2015 through to 2019. They narrowly missed out on the 2014 title as well, losing on 6^th man tie-breaker to Somerset at the championships. Their fastest average time and lowest point score both came in 2019 as the school scored 33 points and averaged 16:50. The team then went on to have their first marquee moment at the state championships. Behind rising star Toby Cree, the 2019 Central Cambria squad took 5^th at states.

Clearly, 2019 was a great year all around in District 6 as Garrett Baublitz of Juniata finished off a fantastic career. Garrett was 9^th, 2^nd and 6^th over a three year stretch at the AA State Championships and won an unthinkable 4 straight individual district titles. His fastest mark was his last as he cruised to a 15:49 individual title at Indian Valley.

The record for the fastest individual time at Forest Hills belonged to Bedford’s Will Kachman. As a senior, Kachman dropped a 15:36 to win by a big margin over future top-10 state finisher Bryce Descavish (of Central Cambria). Kachman (technically a member of District 5) won three district titles in D6 and was second in 2012 as a freshman. He was under 16 minutes twice in district finals.

Other multi-time individual champions include Alex Woodrow of Marion Center (2009, 2010) and Bryce England of Williamsburg (2012, 2013).

Without putting them in a specific order (and having the right to change my mind), my initial all District 6 decade team would be as follows:

Runner of the Decade: Colton Sands, Penns Valley

First Team (alphabetical order):

Garrett Baublitz, Juniata 2020

Brendan Colwell, Penns Valley 2021

Wade Endress, Altoona 2010

Brayden Harris, Mifflin County 2021

Will Kachman, Bedford 2016

Alex Milligan, State College 2015

Colton Sands, Penns Valley 2021

Second Team (alphabetical order):

Bryce Descavish, Central Cambria 2016

Bryce England, Williamsburg 2014

Mitchell Etter, State College 2018

Nick Feffer, State College 2017

Chayce Macknair, Mifflin County 2019

Korey Replogle, Altoona 2012

Alex Woodrow, Marion Center 2011

	Name			Course		Team
1	C Sands	1st	19	Indian Valley	15:14	Penns Valley	A	11
2	W Kachman	1st	15	Forest Hills	15:36	Bedford	AA	12
3	W Endress	1st	10	Indian Valley	15:37	Altoona	AAA	12
4	M Etter	1st	17	Forest Hills	15:44	State College	AAA	12
5	A Milligan	1st	15	Forest Hills	15:47	State College	AAA	12
6	G Baublitz	1st	19	Indian Valley	15:49	Juniata	AA	12
7	B Colwell	2nd	19	Indian Valley	15:50	Penns Valley	A	11
8	D Stroh	1st	13	Forest Hills	15:55	Altoona	AAA	11
9	W Kachman	1st	14	Forest Hills	15:57	Bedford	AA	11
10	V May	2nd	19	Indian Valley	15:58	Bedford	AA	11
11	A Milligan	1st	14	Forest Hills	15:59	State College	AAA	11
12	B Foust	2nd	14	Forest Hills	15:59	Altoona	AAA	12
13	B Bigger	1st	19	Indian Valley	15:59	State College	AAA	11
14	O Isham	2nd	17	Forest Hills	16:00	State College	AAA	11
15	N Feffer	2nd	15	Forest Hills	16:02	State College	AAA	11
16	B Descavish	2nd	15	Forest Hills	16:03	Central Cambria	AA	12
17	N Feffer	1st	16	Forest Hills	16:03	State College	AAA	12
18	B Harris	1st	18	Indian Valley	16:03	Mifflin County	AAA	10
19	G Baublitz	1st	17	Forest Hills	16:04	Juniata	AA	10
20	K Replogle	1st	11	Indian Valley	16:05	Altoona	AAA	12
21	B St Pierre	2nd	19	Indian Valley	16:05	State College	AAA	12
22	K Replogle	2nd	10	Indian Valley	16:06	Altoona	AAA	11
23	B Harris	3rd	19	Indian Valley	16:09	Mifflin County	AAA	11
24	W Cather	2nd	13	Forest Hills	16:10	State College	AAA	12
25	A Stanley	1st	17	Forest Hills	16:11	Southern Huntingdon	A	12

Team of the Decade: Penns Valley '17

Program of the Decade: State College

	Team		Points	Average	Course
1	Penns Valley	17	19	16:47	Forest Hills	1st	A
2	State College	15	20	16:16	Forest Hills	1st	AAA
3	State College	16	20	16:41	Forest Hills	1st	AAA
4	Altoona	10	21	16:25	Indian Valley	1st	AAA
5	State College	19	21	16:29	Indian Valley	1st	AAA
6	State College	18	26	17:12	Indian Valley	1st	AAA
7	State College	14	27	16:35	Forest Hills	1st	AAA
8	Penns Valley	19	28	16:46	Indian Valley	1st	A
9	State College	17	29	16:34	Forest Hills	1st	AAA
10	State College	13	30	16:34	Forest Hills	1st	AAA
11	Altoona	13	31	16:37	Forest Hills	2nd	AAA
12	Central Cambria	19	33	16:50	Indian Valley	1st	AA