By William Bowman
The Daily Item
---- — Lewisburg graduate Drew Miller recently finished one of the best careers ever by an East Stroudsburg track & field athlete.
Miller, a 2006 Lewisburg alum, was one of five ESU athletes named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District II Track & Field team. He finished his career as a five-time PSAC champion and qualified for nationals in the triple all four seasons in college. When he competed at the Division II Outdoor Championships in May, Miller became the first ESU athlete in more than a decade to compete in two individual events — the long and triple jumps — at nationals. He finished 14th in the long jump and ninth in the triple jump.
FUTURE BISON: Cumberland Valley fullback Travis Friend, who is part of Joe Susan's first recruiting class at Bucknell, had three carries for nine yards for Pennsylvania during the Big 33 Game on Saturday.
All of Friend's carries came on Pennsylvania's first scoring drive. His first tote went for eight yards and after getting stuffed, he carried the ball for a first down.
He also returned the opening kickoff 12 yards when Ohio kicked short to avoid Alex Kenney of State College.
RODEO CHAMP: With five local high school rodeo competitors — Jake Wenrich, Alainie McDade, Lauren Wagner, Dustin Holub and Kesley Pontius — all earning bids to nationals next month in Wyoming, lost in the mix of the Pa. High School rodeo finals in Beaver Springs recently was the performance by John Ryon Foster.
Foster, of Weikert in southwestern Union County, won Junior titles in breakaway calf roping, ribbon roping and team roping, as well as a second-place finish in the goat-tying event. In the junior goat tying event, Foster edged Milton's Lance Hower by less than a tenth of a second.
MORE MEDALS: The CSSC United 97 boys soccer team has been playing together since their days in U-10 and their list of accomplishments is lengthy, recently claiming the Eastern Pa. Youth Soccer Association's U-13 President's Cup title as well as a runner-up finish in the Region I tournament.
Since 2005, the squad has reached the final of Hempfield Fall Classic four times, winning crowns in 2005 and 2007. They took gold at the Robert Urban Memorial Tournament in 2006, 2008 and 2008 as well as the U-11 EPYSA state Challenge Cup.
They've won four CPYSL titles, including three in the fall.
United 97 is made of players from all across the Valley. Jon Hauck, Joseph Gentilucci, Eric Dempsey, Gage Reber and Jared Gorki are all from Danville. Seth Burk is from Sunbury while Brandon Adams and Devaughn Johns are from Mount Pleasant Mills. Millville's Dylan Mohr and Nicholas Gaydos are also on the squad along with Matt Hibbs of Williamsport, Cade Harmon of Bloomsburg, Luke Rarig of Numidia, Jacob Trathen of Catawissa and Ian Hufnagel of Hughesville. The team is coached by T.J. Burk, Dan Hibbs and Tom Reber.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY: Veteran late model race driver Jim Yoder, of Selinsgrove, gave his son, Dylan, his No. 27 car for Saturday night's program at Selinsgrove Speedway and Dylan gave his dad an early Father's Day present. Dylan won his heat race and later captured his first career feature win in the 25-lap event, beating the track's dominant driver, Danville's two-time defending champion, Jeff Rine.
In victory lane, Dylan drew laughter from the crowd when he borrowed Rine's signature phrase about his victory. "It was awesome," said Yoder, who beat Rine runner-up Rine by 2.192 seconds.
Dylan's father, driving the No. 15, finished fourth.
