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PIAA track and field: Biglerville's Danny Stoner vaults to silver medal


SHIPPENSBURG>> A bothersome hamstring might have been a blessing in disguise for Danny Stoner.

The Biglerville senior, who set the school pole vault record earlier this season, didn't practice vaulting the last two weeks to rest his tight hamstring. He scratched from his other events at last week's district meet as he vaulted to his second straight district title. On Saturday, he vaulted 14 feet, six inches to earn second place in Class AA for his second straight PIAA state championships medal.

"He was a little beat up because he's a four-event guy," said Matt Concannon, Stoner's pole vaulting coach at the VaultWorX training facility in Camp Hill. "For three weeks, he's probably been doing his best technical jumps, it was just a matter of being fresh for this meet. And he was, which I think is a big reason that he did as well as he did."

Stoner was one of two vaulters to clear 14-6 and ended up tied for first place when nobody cleared 15 feet. Central Columbia's Mitch Liddick won first place since he had just one failed attempt, less than Stoner's three misses, before moving up to 15 feet.

Stoner missed his first attempts at 13-6, 14 and 14-6 but recovered to complete all three heights on his second attempts and continue advancing.

"Last year, I was a third-attempt vaulter," he said. "I would miss everything on my first two and just get it on the third attempt. I'm kind of used to missing a lot; this year was something different because I was really consistent. I wasn't too worried, I was trusting my coach and trusting myself."

Saturday's results from the PIAA track and field championships

At 15 feet — which would have been a personal record for Stoner and would have clinched him a state title — he clipped the bar with his leg on his way down on both of his first two attempts. He barely got off the ground on the third attempt.

"My run felt stronger, and just the way I vaulted in general felt good, too," he said. "I was pleased with it."

Now, Stoner prepares for the USA Track and Field Junior Outdoor Championships, which will be held June 25-28. His high school career is over, punctuated by a silver medal that ranks as his second-proudest accomplishment, behind setting the Biglerville record of 14-7 as he won the YAIAA title two weeks ago in Dallastown.

"That was an amazing night, it felt really good," he said of setting the record. "But this (medal) is next. I came so close to 15."