Parks, Leab improve seed times at Mid Penns
If there's ever a time to hit a breakthrough in your track & field season, it's at the end. And that's exactly what Greencaslte-Antrim's Taryn Parks and James Buchanan's Dalton Leab have done.
Parks and Leab both broke season bests at the Mid Penn Conference championships and continued to improve their seed times heading into the District 3 meet next week.
Parks was seeded second in the girls 800 with a time of 2:16.70, but came out Saturday and crushed her previous season best by more than three seconds. She crossed the line in 2:13.00 for a new area's best time and a conference gold medal as a freshman.
READ: Chambersburg fares well at MPC championships
MORE: Mid Penn Track & Field Results
Parks was also the top seed in the girls 1600 with a time of 4:56.60, and despite taking second place to Northern York's Marlee Starliper (who crushed the Trojan Stadium record with a finish in 4:50.78), Parks cut more than a second off her seed time with a second-place time of 4:56.60.
Leab also claimed season bests in the 1600 and the 800. He placed ninth in the 1600, breaking his own area's best record with a time of 4:32.41 to improve his seed time by nearly two seconds.
His 800 time was even better, breaking two minutes for a fifth-place finish in 1:57.54. His previous area best record in the 800 was 2:00.54.
Both Leab and Parks have met the district qualifying standard for District 3 with their improved marks Saturday.
"We've seen some really good stuff today," James Buchanan coach Jason Cotton said. "Dalton's PR in the 800 made him really happy, he really wanted to get to districts. We had a lot of guys today who were excited to focus on one or two events and get some PRs and focus on the postseason."
The Rockets, who entered the Mid Penn Championships as the Colonial Division champions had high individual expectations for the day.
"Going into the season we were focused more on quality not quantity with only 26 guys on our team, so the division was obviously a big success that we weren't expecting," Cotton said. "So we feel really good about where we're at heading into next week."
OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES: Franklin County athletes brought home a ton of hardware from the Mid Penn Championships, especially in the field.
Greencastle's Jenay Faulkner placed second in the girls shot put with a throw of 38-04.25, while G-A's Campbell Parker claimed third in the boys shot with a heave of 51-05.
Parker took gold in the boys discus with a throw of 175-06, while his teammate Jacob Hockman placed fourth (154-08). Hockman was also in the final for the boys shot put, but placed out of medal contention in 10th with a throw of 45-01.25.
James Buchanan's Jenna Mongold placed sixth in the girls javelin throw in 113-01, while Faulkner just missed the finals, placing 11th with a throw of 107-09. Shippensburg's Carter Van Scyoc placed seventh in the boys javelin in 157-09, and his teammate Cody Gustafson claimed seventh in the triple jump (42-06.5).
In the high jump, James Buchanan's Clayton Bendell took seventh, clearing 5-10.
James Buchanan's Dan Corcoran placed seventh in the boys 400 with a time of 51.85 to meet the District 3 qualifying standard. Greencastle's Darius Carter finished eighth in the boys 300 hurdles in 42.15.
Waynebsoro's Madeline Spears was just out of medal contention with a ninth-place finish in the girls long jump, finishing with a leap of 16-05.5. Spears also placed 11th in the triple jump in 33-08.