Football, basketball, volleyball, track, baseball and softball all compete in the Mid Penn Division. The Mid Penn Division is made up of 38 teams from different areas of central Pennsylvania; many of the teams in the Mid Penn have college level athletes.
For Altoona, the only two options for divisions are The Mid Penn and The WPIAL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League).
After needing to make a decision, Altoona’s football team joined Mid Penn in 2005. In 2011, they switched to WPIAL, shortly after in 2018 all Altoona teams switched to the Mid Penn.
“The team we just played the other night had 15 Division One athletes,” football coach Thomas Palfey said.
While playing in the Mid Penn Division, Altoona athletes constantly face talented competition. Bishop McDevitt, whose football team won the 4A State Championship in 2022, the 5A State Championship in 2025 and was a runner up in 2021, was a team that Altoona faced on Sept. 26. Bishop McDevitt’s football program has produced many NCAA Division One football players and several professional football players.
“We’re in a unique situation here; Altoona is a 6A school in the middle of a state where the majority of schools are smaller,” Athletic Director Phil Riccio said. “Small schools do not benefit our kids on a competitive level. They do not give them the right avenue to possibly move on to playing college and get better. So with us needing to look for large school competition, our two available options are either the WPIAL or the Mid Penn.”
The difficulty of the Mid Penn helps Altoona push to become more successful and helps get athletes ready for and recognized for college athletics.
“What it does is it gives you added exposure,” Riccio said. “Being tied into a conference gives you the added exposure because, as the college coaches are looking at one team now they say, ‘hey, they played against this other team.’”
“I think we should be in the Mid Penn because it makes people go to the next level with their talent,” Junior Blaine Lanzendorfer said. “It picks you up; it makes you better.”
Some athletes think Altoona should stay in the Mid Penn because it helps athletes go to the next level with their talents. According to Riccio, playing in the Mid Penn can help receive college looks.
“We are on par with most of the teams. Maybe we’re a little bit worse, but we’re mostly the same with them,” junior Julian Trimmer said. “I think that the higher level competition drives us to be better than we are.”
The difficulty of the Mid Penn drives teams to be better because of constant competition. The competition they face helps teams grow and because they play advanced teams
“We have a great history,” junior Bilal Eltayeb said. “We had a lot of great players, and we’re a team that never gives up. We have very good sportsmanship.”
The men’s basketball team won 20 District Championships; girls’ basketball has 1,000 wins.
