Freshman captures 4 golds at YAIAA track and field championships as 5 records fall
Ella Bahn started her day with a bowl of Cap'n Crunch, an orange and high hopes.
The cereal isn't advertised as the "Breakfast of Champions," but maybe it should be. After all, the Spring Grove freshman won four individual events Wednesday at the YAIAA track and field championships at Central York.
She not only won the 100 and 300 hurdles, 800 meters and high jump, Bahn set a league record in the 300 hurdle event.
"I am very tired," Bahn said in between award presentations.
Susquehannock's Ryleigh Marks broke the 2016 record of 14.53 with a time of 14.38 in the 100 hurdle prelims. Bahn won the event in 14.52. Marks took second in the final with a time of 14.63 when she clipped a hurdle.
That final came after Bahn won the high jump title by topping 5-5. She won the 300 hurdles in 43.85, which broke the 2016 record of 44.39, set by South Western's Lynne Mooradian.
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"I have to go cool down and get ready for the 800," Bahn said as she moved from one end of the football field to the other.
"She has a great work ethic and is a great kid," assistant coach Steve Perago said. "Her parents were both track athletes in high school."
And now she has eight days to recover before doing it all over again at districts.
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4x800 relays: Records nearly fall
Neither Dallastown's girls' team nor South Western's boys' team knew how close their seed times were to league records.
The Wildcats came into the meet 5 seconds off of the record of 9:34.6, set by Red Lion in 1994. The team, which ran together in three invitationals, finished in 9:53.94.
"This was a PR for the four of us," leadoff runner Natalie Good said.
Good and anchor Addison Emenheiser usually run the 4x800 with Kailey Granger and Victoria Rodriguez, who bowed out to run in the mile. They finished first and second, respectively.
Good said the usual relay team will be back together for the District 3 meet next week at Shippensburg University.
Dover finished second, less than 2 seconds behind the Wildcats.
South Western’s Shernan Singh, Shernel Singh, Bryce Graham and Landon Dull were trying for a personal best in their race. Or to break 8 minutes.
They came pretty close to both.
The group came in with a seed time of 8:10.69, just 12 seconds off the record set in 2005 by a fellow South Western team. And although their winning time of 8:14.62 didn't hit either goal, the team is excited about where they are going into districts.
Bermudian sophomore sets record during busy day
Lily Carlson didn't mean to make everyone wait.
After all, you can't hand out medals when the winner is running other events.
The Bermudian Springs sophomore cleared 12 feet, one inch to set a meet record in the pole vault. She had a chance to set some personal goals, but first, she needed to run in the 100-meter hurdles finals.
She took in sixth in that event (16.36 seconds) before returning to the pole vault to attempt to clear a jaw-dropping 12 feet, seven inches — well above her personal record of 12-3.
While she came up short, she still needed to hustle so she could run in Bermudian's 400-meter relay, which took ninth.
At that point, she was finally able to return to the podium to accept her gold medal in the pole vault.
"This what it's normally like at a meet," she said of her busy schedule. "I thought I had a little more energy (after the hurdles) but by my third attempt (at 12-7) I was too tired. I'm still really happy (with a meet record)."
Carlson took fourth place at the league meet (10 feet) last season but has improved greatly since then. A lot of that improvement actually occurred last season, when she won a District 3 Class 2A title (11 feet) and took third at states (11-6).
She could be a contender for a state title this season. But that's not her focus. Carlson said her goal is to set PRs rather than rack up medals. While she's dealt with ankle sprains from basketball in the past, she said she feels good entering this postseason.
"I go into every meet trying to beat myself and do my personal best," she said. "Just try to stay consistent however the medals pan out is how they pan out."
1986 record falls twice
Matt O'Brien is used to running races that cover several miles. The Susquehannock senior is the reigning District 3 Class 2A cross country champ. On Wednesday, he found success in dialing back the distance.
Before he battled South Western's Shernel Singh in the 800, slipping past in the home stretch to win by .19, he went head-to-head with Dallastown's Jakob Rager in the 1,600. O'Brien used a final lap of 1:02.65 to claim the mile title in 4:16.54. Rager was close on his heels, finishing second in 4:17.19.
Both times were good enough to break the record of 4:19.9 set by Dallastown graduate Tim Barkdoll in 1986. There are only two league track and field records older than the mile, the boys' 400 set in 1984 and girls' high jump set in 1980.
"It's the first county record I broke," O'Brien said before hurrying off to participate in a music concert. In addition to the two individual wins, O'Brien was on the relay team that finished second to South Western in the 4x800.
Fastest in the league
The fastest girl in the York-Adams league is familiar to the title. For the third straight year, Spring Grove junior Laila Campbell won the 100 and 200 races, this time in 11.67 and 23.77, respectively.
On the boys' side, West York's Nico Wright-Phillips defeated a final of football players to win the 100 title in 10.86. He was the only runner to break 11 seconds in the prelims or final.
Red Lion junior LaDainian Strausbaugh had the fastest time in the prelims at 11.00. He ran the same time in the final to finish second.
Wright-Phillips followed a similar gameplan in the 200. Strausbaugh had the fastest prelim time (22.55), but Wright-Phillips ran a blistering 21.81 in the final to win the title as the only runner to break 22 seconds.
The Bulldogs also followed through on a goal they had since last year's meet ... they won the 4x100 by edging Dallastown by .14.
Wright-Phillips, Sherrod Anderson, Terry Addey and Perry Addey won the title in 42.66, narrowly missing the league record.
But now they are ready to move on. They said as a team that they are confident going into districts and are happy their hard work is paying off.
They didn't get the relay record, but Perry Addey snared the 300 hurdles mark. He was the only hurdler to break 40 seconds, breaking the 1989 record of 37.8 by finishing in 37.53.