Littlestown's Bre Smith wins District 3 gold in discus
SHIPPENSBURG >> Bre Smith ended up right where the District 3 heat sheet said she would, atop the medal stand after the girls' Class AA discus on Friday at Shippensburg University.
But the Littlestown junior, wearing her first-place medal, admitted she never expected to be there.
"(Being the No. 1 seed) actually bothered me a lot because I felt like I had all the stress on me, people are gonna expect me to really do something," Smith said. "My coach told me last week, he was like, 'You're gonna win this thing.' I was like, 'Yeah, OK, sure, like I'm gonna win.' But I did it."
She did it with a throw of 109 feet, 5 inches, more than an entire foot short of her personal record of 110-9. She got off to a shaky start by scratching on her first attempt, but she recovered to win the event by just less than two feet. Her title earned her automatic qualification for next week's PIAA championships, which also will be held at Shippensburg University.
"There's definitely some footwork I need to work on," she said. "I'm gonna try to break the school record (111-8) at states."
Friday's complete results from the District 3 track and field championships
Upper Dauphin's Victoria McGuire placed second, and Bermudian Springs' Gabby Emeigh, a friend of Smith's who was seeded fifth, placed third with a throw of 107-1. Emeigh led after the preliminary round, but ended up short of state qualification.
"I was really confident, but then my heart started beating really fast and I got excited and my footwork starting getting ahead of me," she said. "I should've just relaxed."
KERR REPRESENTS HANOVER WELL >> It was a lonely day for Deandre Kerr as the only Hanover Nighthawk to compete at the first day of the district Class AA meet, but he made the most of it.
The junior started by placing fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 41-11 1/4, and he followed that by winning his time trial and semifinal heats in the 110-meter hurdles. He is seeded third for Saturday's 110 hurdles final and second for the 300 hurdles final.
"I've got to stay lower in the hurdles," he said after running below his PR in both heats of the 110 hurdles. "(During time trials), I was sloppy going over each hurdle, and at the end my arms were flailing everywhere. That's not how I usually operate. I'll get it down."
Hanover coach Joe Kuhns said he isn't worried about Friday's slower times, though.
"He seems to run to competition, that's what I've seen this year," Kuhns said. "He does his best when there are faster kids around him. He hasn't learned yet to push himself hard, he needs that competition to do well."
On a mobile device? Click here to watch Kerr
York-Adams Class AAA results: Painful ending for West York sprinter Abdul Junaid
DORSEY EARNS TOP SEED IN 100 DASH>> Delone Catholic junior Tavian Dorsey won three of the four races he ran, winning time trial heats of the Class AA 100 and 200 dashes, as well as his 100 semifinal, which he won in 11.36 seconds, good for the top seed in Saturday's final.
"My block start was I think the best I had all year," he said of that run. "Coming in, I thought I'd be doing better in the 200 than the 100, but it's the opposite now."
Dorsey placed second in his semifinal heat of the 200 after running a 23.28 and will be the No. 3 seed for that event.
"I'm not using any excuses, but it's hard when you've gotta run four times," he said of his busy day. "We get a lot more rest tomorrow."
Live blog: District 3 track and field championships
RIEDEL COMES UP SHORT >> In the quickest field event of the day, Delone Catholic's Grace Riedel placed second in the Class AA pole vault.
The field of nine vaulters was quickly whittled down to four when five vaulters failed to clear 10 feet. It shrank to two when Delone's Tiffany Small and Fairfield's Cierra Phillips couldn't clear 10-6.
Riedel, the top seed coming into the event, was the next to bow out when she couldn't clear 11 feet and Trinity's Megan Silva did. Still, the second-place finish earned Riedel a spot in next week's state championships.
"I mean I'm disappointed, but there's next week," Riedel said. "I'm really glad that I got to make it again and I'm hoping for another PR."
Small took third place and Phillips took fourth. Phillips, a freshman, had a busy day by also running two heats of the 100 and 200. She missed qualifying for the final in the 100 by .01 seconds.
Delone Catholic junior Kate Mowrey also came up just short in her event. Mowrey, who was seeded third in the 3,200, placed third with a run of 12:00.19. Christian School of York sophomore and first-year runner Nicole Shelton beat her out for second place — and the state berth that comes with it — with a 11:52.02.