Wyoming Valley West’s Raheem Blanton had the best long jump distance Friday and the fastest 100-meter dash time Saturday among all Unified Champion Schools competitors in Shippensburg.
Nick Cammarota | Courtesy Special Olympics Pennsylvania
SHIPPENSBURG — Dallas javelin thrower Hunter Pitcavage earned an individual silver medal, Lake-Lehman’s middle distance runners combined for relay success and Wyoming Valley West’s Unified Champion Schools athletes secured bronze medals as a team Saturday as the PIAA Track and Field Championships wrapped up two rainy days of competition at Shippensburg University.
The second day of the meet was much better for Wyoming Valley Conference athletes, who collected medals throughout the day.
Pitcavage helped get it started when he took second out of 29 entries in the Class 3A boys javelin.
Mason Prokay from Octorara won when he sailed his second attempt 206-5.
Pitcavage moved up from third to second on his final attempt with a throw of 198-3. He fouled once and otherwise exceeded 190 feet on his five tries on a day when only four throwers managed that distance even once.
Lake-Lehman’s 3200-meter relay team produced the day’s other silver-medal performance from the WVC.
Bodhi Cronin, who finished sixth in the 800-meter run in 1:56.43, was even faster when running for his team in the relay.
Stephen Martin and Parker Smith put Lake-Lehman in medal position in sixth after the first two legs.
Finn Cronin, Bodhi’s twin, ran a leg of 1:58.93 to move the Black Knights up to third.
Bodhi Cronin ran the final 800 in 1:54.14, the fastest time of any of the 124 legs in the event. He pushed Lake-Lehman into second and then within eighth-hundredths of a second of catching first-place Hughesville. The Black Knights settle for second in 8:00.46.
The finish is the best by a relay team in school history, moving up a notch from the bronze posted last year by three of the same runners.
“This shows the value of veteran leadership and guys who have been there and done that,” Black Knights coach John Sobocinski said, noting that Smith, a district medalist in cross country, was an obvious choice to fill out the lineup.
He fit right in.
“We had some real good training days this spring,“ Sobocinski said. “It’s a group that wants to be pushed.
“We worked at a pace that indicated we should be able to make eight minutes, and we were right there.”
Lake-Lehman also earned medals in the girls 3200 meter in Class 2A.
Kinley Purdy, Faith Cadwalader and Cameron Janick kept Lake-Lehman in contention.
Ava Jones then used the anchor leg of 2:20.57 to move the team up one position to the level of medalist and point scorers in eighth in 9:47.59.
Wyoming Area’s Ben Gravine, one of the last field competitors, gave the Warriors their first points of the meet by placing fifth in Class 3A boys with a discus throw of 166-6.
Nanticoke Area’s Nevaeh Baran, who produced Friday’s only medal, added a second by taking sixth in the long jump with 18-0½.
Wilkes-Barre Area’s Timothy Leonard qualified for two sprint finals Friday. On Saturday, he finished up sixth in the 100 dash in 10.78 and eighth in the 200 in 22.28.
Lake-Lehman’s 11 points for 23rd place in Class 2A boys was the best team finish from the WVC.
Lackawanna Track Conference member Elk Lake placed fifth in Class 2A boys with 24 points while Mid Valley, with the help of freshman Olivia Thomas winning gold in the triple jump, tied for seventh in Class 2A girls with 26 points.
Wyoming Valley West took third place out of nine teams that competed in Special Olympics Pennsylvania’s UCS state championship.
UCS teams combine proportional numbers of athletes with and without intellectual or developmental disabilities as equal teammates and competitors.
Chelsea Hummel and Raheem Blanton won their 100-meter dash divisions to briefly put the Spartans in the lead. For the second straight day, Blanton had the best performance in the entire field in his event.
East Stroudsburg North outscored Spring Grove 63-55 for the title.
Wyoming Valley West’s 48 points beat out Lancaster McCaskey with 45, Downingtown East 41, Valley View 40, General McLane 39, Conroy/CAPA 37 and Warren 25.
