P-O's Adams leaps to states in three events

By Gordon Brunskill

ALTOONA — Kaylee Adams keeps taking that next step, adding her name to the Philipsburg-Osceola history books.

She just would like to have a title next to her name.

Adams repeated her feat of a year ago, qualifying for the PIAA Track and Field Championships in three events, and she also helped the Lady Mounties to a sixth-place finish for the young program’s best team result ever at the District 6 Class AA Championships on Tuesday night at Mansion Park.

“I tell the kids going into this meet, it depends on where you’re at as an individual,” P-O coach Doug Perry said. “If you think you have a chance of making it to states, then that’s what you go for. If you just have a chance of setting a school record, that’s what you go for. If you’re just moving up our top 10 list, that’s what you go for.”

Adams made the state meet in the high, long and triple jumps. Bald Eagle Area also had a double-qualifier as Amanda Mondock tossed third-place finishes on the pile in the shot put and discus. Also, Penns Valley will be sending a sizable contingent, with Sarah Montminy in the 800 meters, Lissy Muchler in the 300 hurdles and the 400-and 1,600-meter relay teams.

There were no local district champions, however, and the Lady Rams were the top team finisher in fifth with 39 points. P-O had 32 and BEA was 10th with 23. Northern Cambria raced past Richland for the team title with 121 points to the Rams’ 106.6.

The top three finishers, and anyone else hitting a PIAA standard, earned berths in the state championship.

For Adams, it was a matter of doing a lot of shuttling around the track, with the high and long jumps going simultaneously and somewhere in the middle she had to anchor the 400 relay team. It left her a little winded for her later jumps and focusing on what was lost instead of the opportunity to return to the state meet for the third time in as many years.

“Especially with the 4x1,” Adams said of the team’s fifth-place run. “The guy wouldn’t let me take any time to relax. He was like, ‘No, you have to go now.’”

Adams hit the state qualifying standard on her second attempt in the long jump at 17 feet, 11/ 2 inches, and that made everything a little easier on her way to a second-place finish. She then cleared 5-foot-2 in the high jump before the relay, and returned with some tired legs as she missed all her attempts at 5-4. She finished fifth, but made the state automatic standard on the dot.

Clearing that height, an inch above her personal best, will be a focal point over the next week in preparation for the Shippensburg event May 23-24.

“I want that so bad,” Adams said.

Earlier, she had qualified for the state meet on her last attempt in the triple jump, but it was at the expense of a teammate Alysa Conway. Adams cleared 35-31/ 4 to edge Conway by 11/ 2 inches.

“That was hard,” Adams said. “I felt bad about that.”

Muchler made the state meet thanks to someone else’s misfortune.

Northern Cambria’s Breanna Kochinsky, a PIAA qualifier last spring, was leading the 300 hurdles with two hurdles to go, but she tripped over that hurdle, falling flat on the ground. Muchler was fourth at the time but passed Kochinsky and held onto third place in 48.45 seconds to make the state meet for the second straight year.

“I felt really bad but I knew I just had to keep going,” Muchler said, still struggling to catch her breath several minutes later. “I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even know if I would be able to make it. But I did and I was really happy.”

That was the first of many highlights for the Lady Rams, with the 400 relay team next to grab a Shippensburg ticket.

They had a slow start but were back in contention by the second handoff and Caroline Witter fought off Bishop McCort’s Julie Morey to hang onto third place by .16 seconds with a time of 52.03.

“I was just coming down the stretch thinking, ‘I’ve got to get third to get to states,’” said Witter, who was anchoring the top seed for the race. “I just thought I had to do the lean-in to win. I had a lot of adrenaline. I was concentrating on not leaving early, getting the handoff straight and not being off.”

Miranda Crater, Stacey Bryant and Kala Fultz had the first three legs of the event, setting up Witters sprint to the finish line.

“I just had to believe in myself to get that third position,” said Witter, who also was seventh in the 100-meter dash. “I just had to concentrate on the finish line and keep us in the top three.”

Penns Valley’s next state qualifier also had a tinge of heartbreak with her celebration. Montminy and Central Cambria’s Kelsey Seymour had an impressive duel for all of their two trips around the track, with Montminy right on the defending district champion’s heels. Seymour put on a kick during the final turn and pulled away for a meet-record 2:16.35, just ahead of the Ram senior’s 2:17.44.

“I was thinking, ‘Just stay with her as long as you can,’” Montminy said. “She always takes off at the 150 (meters remaining) and I was trying to hang on. It’s pretty hard and she had me by two or three meters at the end, but I was closer this time than I was the last time I ran.”

Not so fortunate was teammate Kristin Darr, who was third entering the final stretch but was passed by Central Cambria’s Ashley Stump.

“It definitely hurts because she’s been working hard all season and I wanted her to go,” Montminy said. “She gave it her all and I know she’ll get it next year.”

Darr did not have to sit on the sidelines for long. She joined Mallery Suter, Bryant and Montminy in the 4x400 relay in a three-team domination of the night’s finale in 4:07.23.

“We did it last year and we wanted to do another P.R. and go as a team,” Darr said. “I love the relays.”

Central Cambria won ahead of Richland, three seconds ahead of the Lady Rams, while fourth-place Northern Cambria was 10 more seconds down the track.

Mondock also had a little drama. It came down to her last throw before she uncorked a school-record 117-2 to move up to third in the discus.

“I didn’t think I was going to do it because it was my last throw,” Mondock said. “It was just the want of going. I knew I had to do it. It was my last year and I gave it everything I had.”

She then completed her double about 90 minutes later with another third in the shot put, at 36-6, giving her third straight PIAA bid in that event to go with a first-time discus trip.

“It makes everything a lot easier now,” Mondock said of having events on both days at Shippensburg. “I don’t have to worry as much.”

Long jump was filled with local girls who just missed out on a trip to states. Conway took fifth, BEA’s Danielle Reese was sixth and Penns Valley’s Maria Andrews took eighth.

Reese also was seventh in the javelin while Andrews was seventh in the triple jump. The Lady Eagles’ Melanie Lutz took fifth in the pole vault, Penns Valley’s Alisha Jordan was sixth in the 3,200, and the BEA 3,200 and P-O 1,600 relay teams each placed eighth.