District 3 track: Langrill runs career-best sprint in 2A
SHIPPENSBURG - Kristin Langrill was feeling the pressure.
The Littlestown senior went into Saturday's District 3 track and field championships at Shippensburg University knowing the 100-meter dash was likely her last chance to qualify for states.
And with a nagging foot injury causing some issues for her during time trials on Friday, she knew she wasn't a lock for a top-two spot.
But Langrill ran the best time of her career, 12.61 seconds, to claim the silver medal and reach states for the first time. The time also earned her Littlestown's school record.
"It's pretty crazy, I was trying not to cry," Langrill said. "Yesterday, I came out and ran a 13.0 in trials and I was pretty ticked off. I cleared all of that off and had a positive mind, and I think that's pretty big in track."
The performance was a high mark in what has been a tough career for the Thunderbolt senior. Langrill missed her entire sophomore season with an ACL tear and spent most of last spring working to get back to full strength. She ended up qualifying for states a second time Saturday by taking second in the 200-meter dash in 26.21.
"I was trying to get 12.5, but I have one more week," Langrill said. "I think the weather helped today, I don't run good in the heat."
Four other York-Adams sprinters (Fairfield's Cierra Phillips, Biglerville's Faith Redding, Delone's Brooks Lawyer and Fairfield's Amelia Heinbaugh) earned medals in the 400. Annville-Cleona Reagan Hess easily took first with a time of 11.92.
Curfman highlights strong day for Bermudian
When Bermudian Springs track coaches asked Ryan Curfman to try running the 200-meter dash last season, he originally wanted no part of it.
Now, he's glad he agreed to do it.
The Bermudian Springs junior earned his first trip to states by taking first-place in the 200 with a time of 22.94 seconds. The top-seed trailed early in the race but used a late burst to claim the victory, letting out a joyous scream as he crossed the finish line.
"My starts have always been bad for all my sprints, I always come out slow and my legs are fatigued," Curfman said. "I have a really great kick, whenever I was pretty much even with everybody I knew I had a good chance for it.
More Bermudian: Grim splits with rival at Arctic Blast Invitational
"I had no intention of going to states this year. I didn't even make it to counties last year."
Curfman wasn't the only Bermudian athlete to book a trip to states Saturday that they originally didn't think was attainable. Sophomore Kayla Pyles entered the 100-meter hurdles seeded eighth and improbably took second with a time of 15.92. Her previous best was 16.73.
"It's kind of mind-blowing, I shave almost an entire second off which I didn't think was possible," Pyles said. "I figured I'd be that girl that was borderline making it to the finals. To pull this out is crazy."
More: District 3 track: Eastern's Kerr pulls off upset in discus in 2A
In addition, Bermudian senior hurdler Trevor Grim booked another trip to states by taking second place in the 110-hurdles with a time of 15.52 seconds. His longstanding rival, Camp Hill's Zack Kuntz, took first in 14.57.
Phillips caps busy weekend with multiple medals
Cierra Phillips smiled broadly as she tore away from the pack in the final leg of the 400-meter relay.
While she had already qualified for states in the javelin, the Fairfield junior wanted more. She wanted a gold medal, and in the 400-meter relay she would get it. The Green Knights quartet of Phillips, Sarah Heinbaugh, Hannah Logue and Amelia Heinbaugh posted a school-record time of 49.93 to take first. It was one of many great performances from Fairfield during a weekend in which the Green Knights took first place in the team race in Class 2A.
"I can feel when we're going to have a good race and when we're going to have a bad race, and that was one of the good ones," Phillips said. "We were super pumped up."
The top-seed in Class 2A in the javelin, Phillips didn't have her best day but still took silver with a high mark of 10 feet, six inches. She also finished third in the 100-meter dash and fifth in Friday's javelin competition.
With a top mark of 11 feet in javelin this season, Phillips feels she can still peak at states next weekend. It's the second straight year she's qualified in the event.
"I haven't been doing my best (in javelin) lately, and coming out today I felt I improved a lot," Phillips said. "We did new steps and a whole new routine. I jump better when it's hot, so I'll take it."
Also from Fairfield, Hannah Logue took second in the triple jump, while Travis Zimmerman reached states with a silver medal performance in the shot put. The team's 1,600-meter relay also took first place.
Eastern's Currier earns first state appearance with gold medal
With Eastern York dropping from Class 3A to 2A this season, many Golden Knights earned higher spots on the medal stand than in years past. One of those girls was junior Taylor Currier.
Currier earned her first district medal on Saturday by taking first place in the triple jump with a mark of 35 feet, one inch. She edged out Fairfield's Hannah Logue to win the gold medal.
Though thrilled to have qualified for states, Currier said she had mixed feelings about her performance after not reaching her personal record of 36 feet, five inches.
"It's not the best feeling, but with the weather not being the best I'm hoping states will motivate me to PR," Currier said. "I will perform better."
In addition to Currier, Eastern York senior Ashley Kerr earned her second gold medal of the weekend by taking first in shot put with a throw of 38 feet, five and a half inches. Junior runner Maddie McLain won a second silver medal with a time of 5:14.71 in the mile.
Taylor going back to states with season-best jump
It's not always easy for Fisher Taylor to focus on track these days.
The Biglerville senior is getting ready to attend the University of Pennsylvania to study biological basis of behavior. But while he admitted senioritis has already set in, he's excited to extend his high school athletics career one more weekend.
Taylor earned his second straight trip to states in the triple jump Saturday, taking second with a mark of 42 feet, 10 inches. The jump eclipsed his previous season-best mark by two inches.
"I'm done with school now and just coming for practices, and it just takes a little bit more heart to push myself to do that," Taylor said. "My goal was to be back at districts, I did that so this is just icing on top."
Delone girls book first trips to states
Delone Catholic athletics fans better get used to hearing the name Maddie Clabaugh.
After showing major promise on both the volleyball and basketball courts this season, the freshman has also excelled in track this spring. Clabaugh qualified for the state championships Saturday by taking second in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.28. Her best time entering the weekend was 1:00.94, good enough for the third seed.
Squirettes junior Leanne Sneeringer also made states for the first time by taking second in the 800-meter run. Her time was 2:24.57.
"I was really nervous, at the end of the race I was in third but I just kept pushing myself because that could have been my last race," Clabaugh said.