Throwing events shine at Tim Cook Invitational
It was a beautiful day for a track & field meet.
High schools from south central Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia sent top athletes to compete Saturday in the 12th annual Tim Cook Invitational. In the throwing events, several local athletes stole the show, putting up impressive victories for their schools.
On the boys side, Chambersburg senior Kelton Chastulik shattered the meet and school record in the shot put with a monster throw of 58 feet, 6 inches. Chastulik’s throw beat the previous meet record by nearly six feet, grabbing gold in one of his two medals on the day.
Chastulik was not done yet, though, as he set a personal record in the discus with a 163 foot, 10-inch throw, good for silver.
“It’s something I really work hard at, so it’s nice to keep progressing,” Chastulik said.
With outdoor track and field just kicking off in Chastulik’s final season, he feels like he still has more gas in the tank.
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“There’s definitely more I can do being this early in the season,” he said. “It’s nice to break the PR, but with certain goals I have, you just gotta keep going and grinding it out.”
Chambersburg’s Myles Braxton rounded out the shot put with a series of strong throws, good for a fourth-place finish.
Trojan throwing coach Roger Coleman was all smiles on the sidelines with two of his throwers having good days.
“Kelton had a nice series and Myles had a nice series, too,” he said. “We worked hard all winter, and we’re starting to see the benefits of that.”
It was a neck-and-neck battle all day between Chastulik and Campbell Parker of Greencastle-Antrim. Parker nearly tied his previous meet record in the shot put, but he had to settle for third place.
Where Parker truly excelled was the discus, hitting the winning throw of the invitational on his first throw of the day. Parker launched the discus 169 feet, 8 inches to smash the meet record by more than nine feet.
“In the discus, I caught a really good release on the first one, and the next throws I didn’t have nice releases,” Parker said.
Parker has his sights set high looking forward to the remainder of the season.
“Hitting big marks,” he said. “I really want to throw well at the Penn Relays, because with me going to (University of) Penn next year, that’ll be my home for the next four years, so I’ve got to make a statement there."
For the girls, Jenay Faulkner stepped up huge for Greencastle, taking gold in the shot put. Faulkner’s heave of 38 feet, 10 1/4 inches gave her a bit of breathing room, with rest of the top-nine girls finishing between 30 and 35 feet.
Blue Devil coach Devin McCauley said, “Jenay was going for a Penn Relay qualifying distance. She came just short of that today, but we are hoping to get that here soon so she can qualify.”
The javelin had a strong showing from local athletes, with two of the top-six finishers in girls coming out of Greencastle-Antrim. Keri Gearhart picked up fourth and Faulkner gained a sixth-place finish.
With this being the first meet of the season, improvements can always be made. But as the Cook Invitational came to a close, area athletes proved they have a lot to show.