Geise, Raup continue Danville throwing tradition
Neither Collin Geise nor Troy Raup received the ultimate prize of a PIAA title last spring, but the Danville throwers are much more confident about their prospects after strong junior seasons. Geise and Raup both finished top three in the state in their respective events as they continue Danville’s throwing tradition as the 2026 track and field season commences. Geise took the home the silver medal in the javelin while Raup finished third in the discus during last season’s PIAA Class 2A championships.
Geise’s best throw of the state meet traveled 187 feet, 9 inches, less than 2 feet behind Corry’s Nolan Carey (189-5). Geise is seeking to become Danville’s fourth state champion in the javelin. He’s hoping to join Chad Foster (1992), Travis Miller (2006) and Bronson Krainak (2024).
“It gave me so much confidence because going into the meet that wasn’t even my goal,” Geise said. “I didn’t think I was even capable of doing that, seeing the numbers that the guys in front of me were putting up. I was ranked, I think, seventh or eighth out of everybody going into it.
Finishing second really just proved to me that anything can happen on any given day. So it got me really excited for the season to start and really gave me a lot of motivation too for my training this offseason. ” Geise didn’t pick up a javelin until he was a freshman as he grew up playing baseball.
Coach Jon Vella knew Geise had a strong right arm, so Geise decided to try it out one day at practice and immediately fell in love with it. Geise was teammates with Krainak during his first two seasons. Krainak has been instrumental to Geise’s development as Krainak often helped Geise during practice.