YAIAA gold medals and 1 pole vault record
York-Adams athletes came away with 3 titles at the first day of the District 3 Track and Field Championships Friday at Shippensburg University.
Jumpers who went out in the first wave at noon lucked out. The skies opened just before the second wave went off at 3 p.m.
Spring Grove’s Ella Bahn defended her Class 3A high jump title by hitting 5-6 while also running the fastest qualifying time in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles.
Bermudian Springs’ Lily Carlson set the Class 2A pole vault record at 13-0 and nearly set a state mark when she narrowly missed at 13-8. She also ran the fastest 100 meter hurdle time in the prelims.
South Western’s Jackson Hersh won the Class 3A javelin title with one toss, a throw of 185-2 to win by nearly 4 feet.
More gold to come:These athletes are contenders to strike gold at the District 3 track and field meet
Close enough to see state record
Bermudian Springs junior Lily Carlson loves to see the bar still on the standard as she sails over it in the pole vault.
She saw it on her final attempt at 13-8, but it was wobbling. The bar hung there as she landed on the mat, but eventually fell, just like her hopes of a getting a state title this week. Carlson came closer this week than she did at last week’s league meet, and she still has next week’s state meet for one last shot.
Because next year Bermudian Springs will bump up to Class 3A, and that brings a different state record.
“I was feeling pretty good going into it,” Carlson said. “We’re working on a few things to hopefully make it all come together next week. I think I had good clearance, but it just wasn’t right with the standards. It’s just a few things.”
She might not have secured the state record, but the junior did snag the district record with her gold medal jump of 13-0. Not only did she break it, she shattered it by a foot.
Carlson and Trinity’s Adeline Woodward both cleared 12 feet last year, but Woodward claimed the gold. This year Woodward earned silver with an 11-6 vault.
Carlson has a chance to add a second gold medal in Saturday’s Class 2A 100 hurdles final. Because of the schedule change, can just focus on hurdles, where her prelim time was nearly a second faster Covenant Christian’s Olivia Lentz in second.
“I’m excited about that,” she said. “Every year so far the final is in the middle of my pole vault finals. So this is nice.”
1 down, 2 to go for Spring Grove sophomore
Spring Grove’s Ella Bahn picked up the fourth individual district gold of her short career on Friday, and is the top seed in two hurdle finals on Saturday.
The sophomore won the Class 3A high jump on her second attempt at 5-6. And even though she missed three attempts at 5-7 and didn’t hit her seed height of 5-9, she learned something about herself.
“The end of the season here is the first I’ve been consistently jumping 5-6 or above, so I’m really happy that a bad day is 5-6 for me,” Bahn said. “It’s really exciting for me that a bad day I can jump 5-6.”
The end came down to Bahn and Twin Valley freshman Addison Nudy, who missed all three attempts at 5-6.
Like most big meets, Bahn’s high jump was put on pause while she ran 100 hurdle prelims. She glided to a 14.42 to secure the fastest time by half a second.
Her edge in the 300 hurdles was nearly a full second over Wilson’s Violet Houck, who also has the second-fastest time in the 100 hurdles. The two didn’t run against each other in the prelims.
“I think that’s the close to the fastest I’ve had [in the 300] so far this season,” Bahn said. “I was trying to go fast in the first half, and then slow down in the second so I’m good for tomorrow. I didn’t really push the homestretch.”
Bahn won’t have a jumping event to rush off to after running the hurdles, but she is part of Spring Grove’s 4×100 relay for her fourth event this year instead of running the 800.
One and done for Mustang senior
South Western’s Jackson Hersh knew he was only going to throw the javelin once.
It wasn’t because he had to leave to compete in the 110 hurdle prelims, although he did. It was because he is still recovering from a torn tendon in his elbow and didn’t want to stress the joint.
One throw. One gold medal.
He launched the javelin 185-2 and passed on the rest of his attempts. Carlisle’s Mason Pretopapa followed Hersh’s throw with one at 181-3 for the silver medal. Pretopapa continued to throw, but only came close to clearing 180 one other time.
“I’ve been struggling with the elbow and going through PT, so I just wanted to let one rip,” Hersh said. “I was not [prepared to throw again]. It was one and done.”
He hopes to work the same kind of one-and-done magic at states, although his district finish in the hurdles didn’t qualify him for states. Maybe he’ll be able to make two throws.
Even though he’s a senior, Hersh will be back on the Shippensburg University facility next year. But then it will be as a member of the Raiders’ track and field program. He’s going to study mechanical engineering to help with his side gig.
He likes to buy old cars, dirt bikes, boats, whatever, on Facebook markeplace and flip them. Then he sells them.
“Right now I have a 1961 Ford F100 truck, a little bit of a hot rod, going,” Hersh said. “I’m hoping the mechanical engineering will leave me somewhere with that.”
Gold for Watts
Bermudian Springs senior Alison Watts likes the way this year’s meet schedule is working out for her. Unlike last year when she had to shuffle between pole vault and triple jump, this year she only has one event per session.
So far it has paid off with a gold medal in the Class 2A triple jump and fourth place in the pole vault.
“Tomorrow I have high jump at 9 a.m. and long jump at noon,” Watts said. “This was amazing today. I could focus on one thing.”
Watts her winning jump on her second effort, landing nearly 3 feet beyond her first attempt to win at 35-9.75. In fact, the rest of her jumps all topped that first effort, except for her one fault.
She needed to keep on her toes until the very end because she was being pushed. Silver medalist Madison Long of Annville-Cleona popped a 35-3 in the third set of jumps and bronze medalist Clara Engel of Kutztown hit 35-1.5 on her final attempt.
“I just couldn’t get on the board today,” Watts said. “I was either way behind or over. Now I just want a nice practice this week to get ready for [states].”
YAIAA runners advancing to Saturday’s finals
Girls’ Class 3A 100 meters: Spring Grove’s Laila Campbell ran the only sub-12-second heat, finishing as the top seed in 11.89. York High’s Azyah Kirkland also qualified for the final in 12.46.
Boys’ Class 3A 100 meters: Red Lion’s LaDainian Strausbaugh ran 10.88 in his heat to qualify third. The top time was 10.48.
Girls’ Class 2A 100 hurdles: Bermudian Springs’ Lily Carlson topped the field by nearly 1 second to claim the fastest time at 15.50. Delone Catholic’s Emma Bunty qualified seventh in 16.89.
Girls’ Class 3A 100 hurdles: Spring Grove’s Ella Bahn had the fastest heat time in 14.42.
Boys’ Class 3A 400 meters: New Oxford’s Brennan Holmes qualified fourth at 50.01. The top time was 49.19.
Girls’ Class 2A 300 hurdles: Fairfield’s Audrey Chesko qualified fifth at 49.21. The top time was 46.72.
Girls’ Class 3A 300 hurdles: Spring Grove’s Ella Bahn, the defending champion, posted the top qualifying time at 44.45.
Boys’ Class 3A 300 hurdles: Kennard-Dale’s Brody Eller earned the last finals spot with a 40.31. The top time was 37.23.
Girls’ Class 3A 200 meters: Spring Grove’s Laila Campbell qualified second in 24.83, off the top time of 24.51.
Boys’ Class 2A 200 meters: Delone Catholic’s Braden Smith qualified seventh at 23.63. The top time was 22.71.
Boys’ Class 3A 200 meters: Red Lion’s LaDainian Strausbaugh qualified sixth in 22.25. The top time was 21.82.
Friday’s local medalists
Boys’ Class 3A javelin: 1. Jackson Hersh, South Western, 185-2.
Girls’ Class 2A pole vault: 1. Lily Carlson, Bermudian Springs, 13-0; 4. Alison Watts, Bermudian Springs, 9-6.
Boys’ Class 3A long jump (winning jump 23-9): 3. Michael Scott, Dallastown, 22-11; 6. Ghage Schmelyun, South Western, 22-2; 7. Garreth Calder, Northeastern, 21-10.50.
Girls’ Class 3A discus (winning throw 135-0): 7. Maddie Marks, Susquehannock, 116-1.
Girls’ Class 3A high jump: 1. Ella Bahn, Spring Grove, 5-6; 7. Emma Chataginer, Central York, 5-2.
Girls’ Class 2A shot put (winning throw 34-11.50): 3. Patience King, Biglerville, 33-2.75; 5. Molly Kuntz, Bermudian Springs, 32-8.25.
Girls’ Class 2A triple jump: 1. Alison Watts, Bermudian Springs, 35-9.75.
Girls’ Class 3A javelin (winning throw 149-11): 7. Megan Thompson, South Western, 112-1.
Boys’ Class 2A discus (winning throw 176-5): 4. Aaron Weigle, Bermudian Springs, 167-4); 5. Pearce Allyene, York County Tech, 166-9.
Girls’ Class 3A long jump (winning jump 19-0.5): 6. Ava Metzler, Northeastern, 17-0.
Boys’ Class 3A high jump (winning jump 6-8): T-3. Brayden Billman, New Oxford, 6-2.
Girls’ Class 3A 3200 meters (winning time 10:30.70): 7. Kaydence Strange, Eastern York, 11:03.01.
Team scores
With half of the field events and one track event in the books, we get a first look at how the team standings stack up.
In Class 2A girls, Bermudian Springs (29), Annville-Cleona (24) and Wyomissing (24) are separated by a handful of points.
In Class 2A boys, Schuylkill Valley and Wyomissing are separated by just one point, 31 and 30, respectively. Annville-Cleona is a distant third with 14 points.
In Class 3A girls, McCaskey (25) has a solid lead over Greencastle-Antrim (16) and Cedar Crest (14).
In Class 3A boys, Berks Catholic (14), Milton Hershey (13.5) and South Western (13) are nearly tied for the lead and Carlisle is two points back at 11.
