5/26/08 7:00 pm
As of now, all marks from the 2008 PIAA AAA Track and Field Championship Meet are included in the 2008 WPIAL AAA Final Rankings and incorporated into the All-Time WPIAL Top 25 List.
If you have any marks that will alter the final rankings, please e-mail them to me as soon as possible.
The weather was very comfortable at Shippensburg this past weekend although a bit breezy in the afternoons. Compared to last year, AAA didn't fare as well, but 2007 was an exceptionally good year. In 2008, AAA earned 24 total medals as compared to 28 in 2007. With 3 gold medallions won, AAA was two short of last year's total. As compared to the three that were set last year, there were no all-time WPIAL marks recorded this year at Shippensburg.
AAA's first gold medal this year came as a surprise, but one that Moon Area's Layne Baggett certainly didn't mind. After both the preliminaries and semi-finals of the 100 meter hurdles, Layne was seeded third behind PIAA record holder Ryann Krais of Methacton and Harrisburg's Alysha Cook. But in the finals, Krais was speeding to a new state record when she lost her timing and fell into the eighth hurdle. That activity distracted Cook, but the steady-nerved three-time WPIAL champion from Moon kept her pace and cruised in with a 14.51 to capture the gold medal. Layne's time, a PR, now places the junior 11th on the All-Time WPIAL Top 25 chart.
AAA's second gold medal came as a surprise to no one. Woodland Hills senior, Cambrya Jones, came in as the pre-meet favorite in the 100 meter dash and she didn't disappoint. The Pitt recruit recorded a quick 11.97 to easily win by twelve hundredths of a second. Cambrya was disappointed that she was edged out in the 200 by Council Rock South's Ije Iheoma, but the Wolverine senior did produce a PR time of 24.25 (5th on the All-Time WPIAL list) in her final high school race.
I don't know whether the Penn Hills 400 meter relay team members are disappointed that they didn't break 47 seconds, but after a botched handoff got them disqualified last year, I think they should be pretty happy that the handoffs this year went smooth enough to enable them to easily win the state championship by six tenths of a second. The Lady Indian quartet of Arrie Smith, Taelor Fowler, Giselle Adanlete and LaShawna Carter-Sewell posted a winning time of 47.52, the second fastest mark in WPIAL history. The fastest?--the 47.38 recorded at this year's Baldwin Invitational by the Penn Hills 4 X 100 squad which included PIAA 400 meter dash medalist, Jordan Lee.
In addition to the 2nd place finish by Cambrya Jones in the 200 meter dash, AAA did have three other PIAA silver medalists. One of them was Latrobe junior, Natalie Bower. Considering it was her fourth race of the weekend, the three-time WPIAL cross country champion gutted out an amazing PR time of 4:55.42 in the 1600 meter run to secure the silver medallion by .14 seconds. Natalie's 4:55.42 now puts her in 3rd place on the All-Time WPIAL Top 25 chart.
Two of AAA's silver medals were won in the field and one of them belonged to Hempfield senior, Kim Kanala. The two-time WPIAL champion and defending PIAA gold medalist in the discus had to settle for 2nd place this year, but the East Carolina bound thrower finishes her high school career as the 3rd best discus hurler in WPIAL history.
Triple jumper Kelly Monteleone of Penn Hills PR'd with a gigantic 39'3¼" leap, but that still left her 2¾ inches short of a gold medal. Fortunately, Kelly is only a junior and has a chance to overcome that deficit next year. She will enter the 2009 season as the 3rd longest triple jumper in the annals of WPIAL track and field.
In team competition, Penn Hills made a strong showing as the Lady Indians scored 28 points to end up tied with Council Rock South as PIAA state runner-ups. Methacton, thanks to UCLA bound super-athlete Ryann Krais who captured three individual gold medals (LJ, HJ, 300H), won the PIAA team championship with 30 points.
jfaiella@webtv.net (to submit marks)
1-425-955-4849 (fax)
http://community.webtv.net/jfaiella (website)
