Kyle Smith of Lancaster Catholic High School unleashes his second throw during the javelin finals. His 200-foot toss earned him a gold medal and a place in the District Three record book.
Liz Martin of Garden Spot flies over the last hurdle to capture the 100 meter crown, one of two gold medals she won Saturday.
Warwick's Alyssa Grube, Alli Mannon, Emily Graber and Kristine Gutshall are all smiles after winning the girls' Class AAA 3,200-meter relay.
Kyle Smith has so many state football records that it's easy to lose track of his success.
Saturday, Smith put his name in a new record book, setting a new standard by winning the Class AA boys' javelin title with a throw of 200 feet at the District Three Track and Field Championships.
Not to be overshadowed by her more famous L-L League mate, Garden Spot's Liz Martin overcame every obstacle in her way as she surged to victory in both the girls' Class AAA high hurdles (15.32 seconds) and intermediate hurdles (44.94) events Saturday at Shippensburg University.
Also joining Smith and Martin in earning a gold medal for Lancaster County was the Warwick girls' Class AAA 3,200 relay team of Emily Graber, Alyssa Grube, Kristine Gutshall and Alli Mannon.
A team of Warriors has won three straight district crowns in that event, with this year's edition coming home in 9:19.56, just 0.88 seconds off the district record of 9:18.68 set by Cumberland Valley in 2005.
There were also four golden moments for athletes from the Lebanon County branch of the L-L League. Annville-Cleona's Jordan Jones (39.98) won the boys' Class AA intermediate hurdles, Elco's Kayleigh Perry (5:03.76) won the girls' Class AAA 1,600 after winning the 3,200 in 10:54.84 Friday, and the Cedar Crest boys won both the Class AAA 3,200 (7:49.63) and 1,600 (3:22.83) relays.
In addition, there were 10 silver medals won by area athletes, led by Katlyn Diffenderfer of Lancaster Catholic taking second in both the Class AA 100 (13.07) and 200 (26.40).
Other silvers went to Audrey Bamford (15.36) of Elizabethtown, who was nudged at the finish by Martin in the high hurdles, Rachel Jordan (59.74) of Lititz Christian in the Class AA 400, Jamie Colon (173-3) of Donegal in the boys' Class AAA javelin and A-C's Harlee Staller (36-3.25) in the Class AA triple jump.
The Manheim Township girls' 3,200 relay of Anne Berkow, Kasey Mann, Lindsay High and Roz Reynolds finished behind Warwick in 9:30.69, and the McCaskey boys' 3,200 relay of Tyler Martin, Quiwane Walker, Quichon Walker and Eric Witmer was just behind Cedar Crest in 7:52.25.
Also, the Hempfield boys' 400 relay of Dustin Koening, Joel Ladson, Joe Santos and Hansel Akers finished in 42.76, just off the 42.72 winning pace of Central Dauphin; and the Penn Manor girls' 1,600 relay team of Kelly Shertzer, Morgan Fletcher, Katie Maisel and Jessie Greenslade, which had to compete in the rain that hit Shippensburg late Saturday afternoon, ran a 4:01.52 to finish behind winner Harrisburg (3:58.95).
In addition to their gold and silver bounty, area athletes grabbed 14 more bronze medals Saturday, had eight fourths, 14 fifths, 10 sixths, 12 sevenths and 10 eighths.
The top five finishers in Class AAA and the top three in Class AA earned automatic berths into next weekend's PIAA Championship Meet, which will also be held at Shippensburg.
While it was quite an impressive showing, no one stood out more than Smith, who inked his name in the district record book.
A Central Michigan quarterback recruit for football [he also hopes to throw the javelin for the Chippewas], the Catholic High senior said he was happy that he repeated as champion, but was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to build off his 200-foot effort that came on his second of three throws in the trials.
"Coming in, I kind of expected to win," said Smith, who lived up to his top seeding. He won districts last year with a throw of 194-10 and had a career-best 216-0 as a junior. His best this season was a 207-7 he threw on May 10.
"It was a relief to put up the number [distance] I did. I was a little disappointed last year, because I didn't get the number I wanted. To get the record this year, and to throw as well as I did, is special."
Martin knows that special kind of feeling. The Messiah recruit has had a mixed bag of success on the Shippensburg track over the course of her scholastic career, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to leave the kind of mark she really wanted.
"I was dreaming this could happen," she said of winning both hurdles titles, "but I never thought it would be a reality."
As it turned out, Martin needed everything she had inside herself to pull off both wins.
Cumberland Valley's Alex Braxton (45.19) actually passed Martin before the final hurdle in the morning's longer race, before Martin used a great surge to pull out the win.
Saturday afternoon during the sprint hurdle race, E-town's Bamford also appeared to take a slight lead on Martin, before Martin again surged to victory.
The Warwick girls just seem to have this race down pat as they dropped almost 17 seconds off their seed time that won leagues just a week earlier.
"The postseason is the best time of the year [to run]," said Grube. "We just wanted to do our best time, and if winning goes along with that, that's great."
Notes: Lancaster Catholic finished third in the girls' Class AA team race with 56.7 points. Delone Catholic repeated as champ with 91. … Milton Hershey won the boys' Class AA title with 129 points, and the MH girls won the Class AAA title with 47. Hempfield (31) was fourth, Garden Spot (28.5) sixth and Warwick, E-town and Elco were in a tie for eighth with 25. … Central Dauphin (65) won the boys' Class AAA crown, Cedar Crest (40) was fourth, McCaskey (37) was sixth and defending champion Hempfield (33.5) was seventh.