Beth Santelli
- Post by: mcalibrary
- January 11, 2024
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INDUCTEE
Beth Santelli made it a point to keep herself busy. Busy enough that she would earn 12 varsity letters in four different sports during her career at Mount Carmel Area. You can add four years of winter track to that list to see how busy she really was. Beth first made her presence felt as a freshman cross country runner for Coach Alex Madalis. She would run to a 4th place finish in the Schuylkill League meet and 5th in the District XI meet and would be the lead runner on MCA’s District XI AA Championship Team. She would eventually be the first female runner at MCA to qualify for the State Cross Country Meet at Penn State for four consecutive years.
She would lead the Lady Tornadoes to their second consecutive Dist XI Championship as a sophomore. Running for Coach Bruce Wanzie in 1989 and Coach Angela Farranato in 1990, Santelli would continue her 4 year streak as MCA’s Most Valuable Runner and Schuylkill League All Star. From 1987-1990, Santelli would establish 9 new course records, including a 19:11 at Edgewood in the Pines, and would go undefeated in regular season meets as a senior.
Somehow, Santelli would only run track during her freshman and senior years and would be a 2-time Schuylkill League all-star. She finished as the League runner-up in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs and would earn a silver medal at the 1991 District XI meet in the 3200 meter run. She posted bests of 5:19 in the 1600 and 12:08 in the 3200 meter run. She was named the Most Valuable Track Athlete by Coaches Michael Woytowich and Jolene Scicchitano.
Santelli would also swim competitively for Coach Betty Katona, lettering for 4 seasons. She would be elected Captain of her Cross Country and Track teams as a senior and would be voted Most Athletic Female in the class of 1991.
Beth would attend Penn State University and is a Corporal in the Pennsylvania State Police. She resides in Palmyra and continues to run competitively, focusing mainly on the 5K and 10K races. She has competed in several half marathons as well as the 2004 Philadelphia Marathon; and ran a 1:39.58 in the Hands on House Half Marathon in Lancaster.
Santelli is the mother of a son, Alex, 7 and daughter, Grace, 4.. Today she becomes only the 9th female athlete to enter the Ed Romance Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.