Skip to main content

Live from the PIAA Track Championships: Day 2


SHIPPENSBURG -- Good morning everybody and welcome back to our live coverage of Day 2 of the PIAA Track and Field Championships. Medals will be awarded today in all of the track events, so we'll have plenty of updates to follow. Stay tuned.

-------------------

3:04 -- That brings the total numbers of YAIAA medals won at these games to 12, and nine of those were won today. That will be the final number of medals as well -- no more YAIAA athletes will be in action today.

2:53 -- Two more results just in.

In the AAA boys' pole vault, South Western's Troy Lowe, the sixteenth seed in the event, cleared 14-00 to finish in fourth place. The height is a new personal and school record.

"My goal, honestly, when I came here was just to be better than my seed," Lowe said. "I wasn't thinking about placing in the top eight or anything."

Meanwhile, Dover's Laura Rowlands grabbed her second medal of the meet, finishing fourth in the AAA triple jump with a final distance of 39-05. Rowlands reached that mark on her final jump, moving from ninth all the way to fourth.

"I started out really bad, I fouled twice and my jumps kept going down," Rowlands said. "But I was really motivated on the last one.

"Standing there I was thinking 'This is the last jump of my high school career. So I wanted to make it good. I wanted to get back on the medal stand."

2:28 -- Sorry for the lack of updates folks, I've been walking around observing all the action.

Several YAIAA athletes have mounted the medal stand so far. They include:

- York Catholic's Stephen Stankiewicz placed fourth in the boys' AA 800 meters.

- Delone's Janice Erbe took seventh in the AA 300 meters.

- Bermudian Springs' Rachael Kotula earned her second medal of these states, placing sixth in the AA shot put.

- Delone's Sierra Moore finished seventh in the AA 200 meters.

12:19 -- An unfortunate ending to the girls' AA 100 hurdles final. Delone's Mariah Robertson tripped and fell on her final hurdle, turning what looked like it would be a fifth-place finish into eighth-place. As she crossed the finish line, her teammate, Janice Erbe, was there to console her. Erbe finished seventh in the race.

Robertson was obviously upset to see her stellar high school career end in such fashion, but she did her best to put on a good face afterward.

"It figures, first time I fall all year and it's here," she joked.

All things considered, Robertson took the fall pretty well. And winning a second state medal is still a nice way to end a fantastic high school career.

12:01 -- Central York's Khaddisha Arnold fails to qualify for the 200 meters final. Her appearance at states is over.

York Catholic's Deshi Illarza (boys' AA) also fails to qualify, but Delone Catholic's Sierra Moore dashes into the finals.

11:30 -- The girls' 200 meters semifinals are up now. The girls' 100 hurdles final is about a half-hour away. Two Delone Catholic seniors -- Janice Erbe and Mariah Robinson -- will take part.

11:16 -- Bermudian thrower Rachael Kotula's hunt for three state medals in one meet will go unfulfilled. The Eagles senior finished a disappointing 18th in the event (117-03), while Delone sophomore Stormie Hibshman took 15th (119-07).

10:46 -- Quick update from the 100 meters semifinals. Central York's Khaddisha Arnold, who earned a surprise seventh-place finish here last year, failed to qualify for the finals of the event this year. She finished seventh in her semifinal heat with a time of 12.91.

10:31 -- In the girls' AA 100 hurldes, Delone seniors Janice Erbe and Mariah Robertson have both advanced the finals. They finished thrid and fourth, respectively, in their semifinal heat. Both will be guaranteed a medal.

In the boys' hurdles events, William Penn's Braheem Harvey (AAA) and Bermudian Springs' Brett Warner (AA) both failed to qualify for the finals. Harvey won a District 3 championships last week.

10:15 -- First YAIAA state medal of the day goes to Dallastown's Chuck Lockwood, who repeated his performance at states last year by finishing eighth with a time of 9:14.81. The senior used a big kick on the final straightaway to pass three runners and make up about a 10-meter gap, and beat out the ninth-place finisher by 16 hundredths of a second.

Lockwood also used a huge final kick last year to take eighth in this event.

"I don't know what that tells me," Lockwood joked. "Maybe I should start earler."

The finish was a fitting end to Lockwood's stellar career. Besides his two state track medals, he also was a District 3 Class AAA champion this past fall in cross country (he finished fourth in states). Lockwood will run track and cross country at Duquesne next year.

Also, the semifinals of some of the sprint events are underway. Updates on those to follow.

9:37 -- Incredible ending to the girls' Class AAA 3,200. Pennsbury's Sara Sargent made up at least a 30-meter gap between herself and Central Bucks East's Katie Kinkead on the final lap to win the event with a state-record time of 10:21.06. Touching moment during the medal presentation, too, as Sargent's father, Greg Sargent, a former state record holder, presented her with the gold medal.

Even more amazing: Sargeant's only a freshman. Gotta figure we'll be seeing more of her in this event in the years to come.

In the same event, York Suburban's Lily Corsaro finished 18th with a time of 11:25.

9:03 -- The first track event today is the 3,200 meter run. Dallastown's Chuck Lockwood medaled in the Class AAA event last year. We'll see if he can duplicate the feat this time around.