Jackson, Coffee qualify for states; girls team takes second at Districts

By: Ed Weaver  /  October 25, 2013

Sophomores Jordyn Coffee and Jada Jackson finished 5th and 6th to qualify for the PIAA State Championships and gave the Lady Hornets 2nd place finish at Districts.

Wellsboro scored 54 team points and were edged out by Mansfield, who scored 38 to take home the District title.

For Coffee and Jackson, this will be their second trip to states in as many years as they both went with the entire team in 2012. In that race, Jackson was the highest finisher for Wellsboro in 51st (21:17), while Coffee was 80th (21:53).

In Thursday's race, Coffee led the way for a fifth place finish (21:20), and Jackson was right behind her in 6th at 21:22. Sophomore Samantha Bailey was the third Lady Hornet finisher in 12th (22:26), followed by Sophomore Camryn Keane in 14th (22:49), Senior Charlotte Worthington in 17th (23:23), Junior Annie Sweeney in 19th (23:27), and Junior Caitlynn Butler in 32nd (24:16).

"I think our team did extremely well today and I am proud to have all of them for a team," Coffee said. "The race today was very well matched and our team is already getting pumped for next year.

"I also have to say Jada and I are so very excited for states and we will run just as hard or even better than we did today!"

Jackson echoed Coffee's remarks.

"We did really well today as a team," Jackson said. "Jordyn and I both ran our normal races, and paced each other during the race."

Both Jackson and Coffee will be looking to make a strong showing at the PIAA State Meet in Hershey.

"Coach Tom Slichter has some good workouts planned for us so both Jordyn and I are looking to improve our last year's times by a couple of minutes and hopefully bring home a medal," Jackson concluded.

In the boys race, the Hornets took home 6th place with 151 points. Senior Joey Doganiero finished his career with an 11th place finish in 18:13, followed by Freshman Joey Messmer in 36th (21:08), Junior Dalton Messmer in 37th (21:12), Freshman Alden Weiner in 40th (21:25), and Sophomore David Zavetsky in 43rd (22:21).

WellsboroAthletics.com would like to congratualte the girls' team on their second place finish and both Jordy and Jada for qualifying for states.