By Joby Fawcett
Times-Shamrock Writer
For two days, the top track and field athletes in the state congregated to Seth Grove Stadium at Shippensburg University for one final verdict to separate the best from the best.
When the dust settled, the Elk Lake track and field team sent five total athletes to the medal stand to highlight a weekend’s worth of competition at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.
In the Class AA boys meet, Elk Lake junior Hunter Watkins earned a seventh place medal in the javelin and the 3200 relay team of sophomores Julie VanEtten, Keri Jones and Justine Johns and junior Katie Bennett used a late push to grab a sixth-place medal in the girls’ meet.
SPEEDY GROUP
For the Elk Lake girls, Bennett made up a lot of ground on the third leg of the race and passed three runners to put the Lady Warriors in position to win the medal in the final heat on Saturday.
Johns was the last leg and finished it with a total team time of 9:41.23.
Villa Maria Academy, the number one seed, won in 9:11.81.
“This is very exciting,” Johns said. “We are just really thrilled. We had a really good mind-set that we had the potential to do this and we worked really well as a team.”
On Friday, the quad ran a time of 9:50.83 and won the second heat, cruising to the lead and never relinquishing it to advance to the final with the third-best time.
It was also 10 seconds faster than the time the group ran to win the District 2 Class AA gold.
“This is amazing,” Bennett said. “We are so excited about making the finals. Our coach (Will Squier) really prepared us. He knew what to do and when to do it and we listened it paid off for us.”
Bennett also ran in the 800 run on Friday, finishing 23rd out of 26 runners with a time of 2:28.90.
Both Bennett and VanEtten ran for the 3200 team that finished 14th in last year’s state meet.
FAMILIAR NAME
For the second-straight year, a Watkins graced the medal stand in the javelin competition – this time in the boys’ meet instead of the girls.
In the Class AA boys’ competition on Friday, Watkins did not hit a best distance, but he did claim seventh with a distance of 178-11.
His sister, Taylor, won a sixth-place medal in the Class AA girls’ javelin last season with a mark of 129-9.
“It’s always satisfying to come down here and get a medal,” Watkins said. “I was hoping for a PR (personal record), but the wind was tough. Getting a medal is thrilling.”
Fighting a strong headwind, Watkins hit his throw early in the first round and held on for his medal.
It was far short of the 192-4 he threw to win the gold at the District 2 Class AA Championship meet, a distance which would have been good enough for a state silver medal.
Still, it landed him on the awards stand and bested last year’s state meet throw of 159-9 and a 13th place finish.
As a junior, Watkins can also set his sights on next year and continue to improve.
“Moving up really sets the goal for next year,” Watkins said. “I am hoping to come back and I really want to keep improving.”
The Elk Lake boys 3200 relay team also competed on Friday and finished 21st out of 25 teams in 8:42.38.
Sports editor John Lund also contributed to this story.
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