Franklin County is in medal contention at PIAA track & field
After a stellar showing at the District 3 track & field championships, Franklin County throwers are ready to bring home some PIAA hardware.
Eight District 3 medals were handed out to area throwers last weekend, with each district medalist returning to Shippensburg University this weekend ranked as some of the top throwers heading into the state meet.
In the 3A girls shot put, District 3 champion Jenay Faulkner is seeded fourth with a qualifying mark of 41-6.5. Faulkner is also seeded 13th in the javelin after placing fifth with a major PR throw of 130-01.
Chambersburg's Reagan Winebrenner is seeded ninth in the 3A girls discus with a qualifying throw of 126-05.
On the boys side, Chambersburg's Kelton Chastulik threw a major PR at districts for a gold medal and a top-two seed in the 3A shot put - but he's unfortunately behind state-record holder Jordan Geist.
Chastulik's PR of 61-10.5 is more than 10 feet shorter than Geist's qualifying throw of 73-10.75, but Chastulik said last week that he's ready to push Geist in his last meet in a high school uniform.
Behind Chastulik is Greencastle's Campbell Parker, who is seeded eighth in the shot put, and ranked No.5 in the 3A boys discus with a throw of 178-04.
Chastulik is seeded seventh in the discus, while Greencastle's Jacob Hockman enters his first PIAA meet as No. 13 with a district throw of 160-06.
Southern Fulton brings a pair of javelin throwers into the mix after sweeping the District 5 2A championships. Olivia Mottern is seeded 23rd in the girls 2A javelin throw, while Timothy Wright is 15th on the boys side.
Lizzie Peppernick, the District 5 discus champion from Fannett-Metal is seeded 22nd in 2A, and Hailey Dodson of McConnellsburg is ranked 30th in the 2A girls shot put after winning the the District 5 championship last week as a freshman.
Chambersburg's Jocelyn Kibbe will compete for a 3A pole vault medal, while Gavin Wills of Southern Fulton is seeded No. 13 in the boys 2A pole vault.
ON THE TRACK: Six area athletes and one relay team have earned top-20 rankings heading into the PIAA meet, with Greencastle's Taryn Parks and McConnellsburg's Josh Booth collecting the area's top seeds on the track.
Despite winning the District 3 championship in the 800 last week, Parks elected to run the 1600, which she is ranked No. 3. Booth is the top-seeded runner in the 300 hurdles after winning the District 5 2A championship last week with a qualifying time of 39.43.
Distance runner Abby Yourkavitch of Chambersburg is ranked 10th in the 3200 after sneaking in with a qualifying standard of 10:59.14.
McConnellsburg's McKenzie Gelvin is seeded 16th in the 2A 800, while Spartan sprinter Chance Hawabaker is No. 13 in the boys 2A 100 meter dash.
Hawbaker will see the track a second time as a member of the McConnellsburg 4x400 relay team, which is seeded 18th in 2A.
Southern Fulton's Chase Varner is ranked 18th in the boys 2A 800, and will also compete on the SF 4x800 relay team, which is seeded 23rd.
James Buchanan's James Corcoran is seeded 24th in the 3A boys 400, while Jeremiah Ashkettle of Southern Fulton is 26th in the 2A 400.