Day 1 of the PIAA District 3 Track and Field Championships were a success. Weather delayed things early, but the rain may have provided some relief from the extreme temps. By the time the 3200m runners stepped onto the track shade was covering the home stretch and temperatures were in the low 80s, not upper 80s as originally predicted.
Day 1 Highlights:
J’ven Williams (jr, Wyomissing) broke the PIAA D3AA discus record with a toss of 187-0. You’ll see him again today in the shot.
Laila Campbell (so, Spring Grove) broke the PIAA D3AAA records in both the 100m and 200m in the qualifying rounds. How fast will she run in finals today?
Justin Rogers (sr, Hershey) continued his record setting season, breaking the D3AAA pole vault mark with a 16-4 clearance. A brush of the bar at 16-10 by his forearm is all that stopped his progression as it was an enormous clearance otherwise.
Weber Long (sr, Greencastle-Antrim) broke the PIAA D3AAA 3200m record by 0.06s, running 9:06.63. He negative split 4:44/4:22. 6 guys broke 9:20!
Claire Paci (so, Greencastle-Antrim) won the girls 3200m in 10:38.10 helping Greencastle sweep the 3200m titles. 8 girls broke 11:00!
12 girls and 10 boys bettered the state qualifying standard in the 3200m, but each district can “only” enter 8 athletes. So, the last time in to qualify for states for the girls was 10:51.01 and the last time in for the boys was 9:23.39. Those have been state medal winning times in years past…
Wade Shomper (sr, Cumberland Valley) continued his dominance in the shot, taking home the D3AAA title with a put of 61-7.25. He won the competition by nearly 12 feet!
JJ Kelly (fr, Chambersburg) improved upon his Central PA #2 all-time freshman performance in the triple jump by reaching out to 47-0 and claiming victory.
Noah Gunderson (sr, Annville-Cleona) PR’d en route to winning the D3AA high jump title, clearing 6-6.
Katie Urbine (jr, Solanco) “weathered” the move indoors and claimed victory in the D3AAA pole vault with a 12-0 mark.
The girl’s D3AAA shot put competition was a great one between Governor Mifflin senior Annika Ermold and Harrisburg junior Ericka Jackson. Heading into the 5th round, Jackson held a 0.25 inch advantage. Both improved in the 5th round with Ermold launching her throw 39-3.75 and Jackson improving to 39-3.5 That would be how they’d finish with Ermold winning her 2nd D3AAA shot put title, this time by 0.25 inches.
The Shippensburg boys had a great day 1 and may be well on their way to a team runner-up finish. Traevon Kater (jr) and Spencer Edey (jr) finished 3rd and 5th in the triple jump to get their scoring started.
The Chambersburg boys also had a great day 1. They will pick up points (from what was projected) today in the 110mH as they qualified 3 boys into finals. They also picked up points in the triple jump with JJ Kelly and in the shot with Sedrcik Vessah (jr) placing 3rd.
Updated team point projections:
A “(+)” indicates a team qualified an additional individual(s) into finals than what was projected. In other words, they will score more than what was projected.
The closest race entering day 2 is in girls D3AAA between Cumberland Valley and JP McCaskey.
D3AAA Boys
D3AAA Girls
D3AA Boys
D3AA Girls
