Springing forward

POWERHOUSE -- Be interesting to see what this Brookville boys track team does on the state level. Just off the top of my head, I don't know that any District 9 team has ever won a state title. Back in the day Clarion was runnerup in the state meet, I know that.

ONE LONG JUMP -- Meadville's Tymir Phillips long jumped 24-10 and the recent Lancer Relays. He won the indoor state title March 1 with a leap of 23-9.25. The 24-10 ranks No. 1 in the state.

SOMETHING TO SHOOT FOR -- You know something Bob Bubb used to say back in the early 1970s when he was bringing little Clarion to prominence in the college wrestling scene? From a Division II program to a fledgling Division I that would produced three national champions in one year: Don Rohn, Wade Schalles and Bill "Elbows" Simpson. Something about the hunter and the hunted -- I can't remember his exact words. But it had to do with Clarion recruiting guys who never won a state championship in high school as opposed to those who did. The state champs who went elsewhere were maybe satisfied with their high school laurels. The guys who went to Clarion still had something to prove. Now Cranberry's Dalton Wenner, whose next stop in wrestling is Clarion, has won a state championship, BUT now he has a loss to his name that's not pretty -- an 18-3 tech fall to Minnesota-bound Tyler DeKraker in the Pittsburgh Wrestling Classic. That's something to shoot for -- being able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of DeKraker, who also pinned Wenner earlier this season. Just sayin'. And it's funny: you look where the other three guys in the classic are going to college -- Minnesota, Purdue and Michigan. All Big Ten schools. And then there's Wenner headed down the road to tiny Clarion. Go Dalton.