Connellsville’s Rod Richter and Mount Pleasant’s Abbey Way saved their best for last, turning their top performances into gold medals at the PIAA Individual Track &Field Championships Friday morning hosted by Shippensburg University.
Richter had the top three throws (170-6, 172-6, 169-1) in the second flight of the Class AAA discus of the preliminary round, and all three were long enough to top Baldwin’s Drew Hofbauer’s second-place throw of 169 feet. Richter hit his winning throw of 175-8 on the final throw of the championship flight.
“I was more comfortable. The pressure was all off,” Richter said of his final throw. “I’m pretty excited.”
Way finally broke through to the medal podium after three consecutive ninth-place finishes in the Class AA pole vault. The senior didn’t have clean run to the gold medal, but was the only girl to successfully clear 11-6, tying her personal best.
“I was ninth every year. That made me want to win so much,” said Way, who will attend East Carolina in the fall. “I was more confident this year.”
In other Friday morning qualifiers, Laurel Highlands’ Aleesha Washington finished second in her heat of the girls Class AAA 100-meter dash in 12.34 seconds. Washington will attempt to advance in the 200 later in the day. Mount Pleasant’s Taylor Funk won her heat of the girls Class AA 100 high hurdles in the best time of the prelims, 14.77 seconds, to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. She will run the 300 intermediate hurdles in the afternoon.
Waynesburg Central’s Keith Higginbotham advanced to the boys Class AA semifinals in the 100 by virtue of his qualifying time of 11.23 seconds.
See Jim Downey’s story in tomorrow’s Herald-Standard for more information.
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