D3 Track & Field: Cedar Cliff girls get new jewelry for prom night

D3 Track & Field: Cedar Cliff girls get new jewelry for prom night
Carlisle Sentinel, PA

SHIPPENSBURG — Saturday night was prom night at Cedar Cliff High school and the girls from the 4X100 relay team picked up the perfect accessory to go along with their evening gowns – a gold medal.

Colts Kelly Allred, Karyn Boyer, Beth Getty and Laura McGowan successfully defended their 400 relay championship by beating out top seed Susquehanna Twp., Central York and CD East with a time of 49.43.

“It was a rough week,” McGowan said. “We didn’t do well at Mid-Penns.”

“I don’t think we expected that,” Allred said. “In the back of our minds we knew we wanted to do it, but to actually do it at all.”

It was a tight race on the first leg, with CD East and Susquehanna Twp. battling each other for first. Colt Boyer did her best to stay close and handed things over to Allred, who did the same.

The big kick for the Colts, who came in as the No. 3 seed, came on the third leg when Getty opened a wide lead for McGowan to cruise to victory.

“I can’t remember the last time I got that big of a lead,” McGowan said with a smile. “(They) made my job easy.”

“Districts is all about surprises,” Boyer said. “Good and bad, and this one was a good one.”

“We all feed off each other,” Allred said.

Despite coming into the 4X800 relay as the No. 1 seed, the Susquenita girls were still out to prove they belonged. It wasn’t easy, Trinity and Milton Hershey got off to great starts, and as usual, Boiling Springs was lurking.

Blackhawks Kristy Ulrich, Amanda Moore and Lexie Miller picked off scores of runners along the way, inching closer and closer to Milton Hershey and Camp Hill, who now occupied second.

“We just trying to get as close as possible,” Ulrich said.

The trio had done all they could and gave McCollum more than enough room to work to make that final push. The senior made her move on the first turn of lap one, sprinting past Milton Hershey and zeroing in on Camp Hill.

“I just wanted to win,” McCollum said. “I knew if I started out fast and held on she wouldn’t keep up. I thought that was a way to break her down.”

McCollum did just that as she made her way to a first-place finish with a time of 9:54.92.

“I couldn’t let her pass me,” she said. “I hate it when people pass me.”

“We just wanted to make it to states,” Miller said. “We weren’t sure how this would play out.”

In the AAA 4X800 relay, the Cumberland Valley girls made it two in a row with their first-place finish with a time of 9:26.30.

Eagles Abby Huber, Sarah Frenette, Paige Anderson and Marina Steinmann tapped into their regular-season training to beat out No. 1 seed Northern.

“We wanted to do our best for the postseason,” Frenette said. “We hope to improve next week and do the best we can.”

“Our goal is not to peak at the first duel meet, but at the end” Huber said.

Cedar Cliff finished second at 9:29.37.

As the AA 1,600 came down the final lap, everyone knew it was coming.

Boiling Springs’ Kara Millhouse was keeping a close distance behind Columbia’s Katie Shelley for the whole race and was gaining speed.

Millhouse had done the same move to the junior the night before in the 3,200 and was making it clear she was out to do it again.

She did, and cruised to her second gold medal at districts with a time of 5:07.62.

“It’s (hard),” Shelley said. “You never know when she is going to take off, and you don’t know when to sprint like that.

“I tried to space it open, but she stayed with me the entire time.”

Millhouse will look to improve on last year’s second-place finish at states next week.

Coming into the AAA 1,600 race, Carlisle’s Marie Lamparter was a little overwhelmed with her No. 2 seed. It was bad enough that the junior was trying to qualify for states for the first time in her career, but to add on the pressure of the No. 2 seed?

Lamparter shook off all the pressure and finished third at 5:08.30 behind Cedar Cliff’s Kassie Meholick.

“This is the first time ever,” Lamparter said. “I missed by .10 last year. I’m really psyched to go.”

Meholick achieved a personal best with her second-place finish. After finishing last in her freshman year and third to last year, Meholick was determined to do better.

“This is the first time I’ve done well at districts,” she said. “It’s a big change for me…I was having a really bad season, I had some slumps, but districts in the time to step up.”

Northern’s Rachel Wong backed up her 800 win at Mid-Penns, with a first-place finish at districts. She survived a serious push from Big Spring’s Amanda Raudabaugh, last year’s champion, for the win.

If the Thundering Herd’s Kacey James had to choose her favorite event, it would be the javelin – no question. But a bad knee forced James to give up her state gold medal event and she set her sights on the shot put and the discus; with the discus being her second favorite.

Well as it turns out, James is on her way to states again, but it won’t be the discus. Thanks to her second-place finish (39-10 1/4) in her least favorite event, the shot put, James is set to make a return trip to states.

“I practiced really hard,” James said. “I came here and watched the javelin yesterday. I just need to get it out of my head and keep concentrating on shot.”

James will be joined at states by teammate Emily Carothers, who placed third with a throw of 39-4 1/4.

“Sometimes I think (we place together) because we push each other and try to keep each other on track,” Carothers said.

“It’s nice to have someone there to tell you what you can work on,” James said. “We both picked each other up from last weekend and hopefully we can continue to pick it up from this.”

Due to the Carlisle teacher’s strike, the two along with the rest of the Carlisle team practiced at Dickinson College last week.

“I don’t know if it was better or worse,” Carothers said. “But it was definitely different.”

Carothers said that the unfamiliarity she felt at Dickinson helped her out throwing at Shippensburg, a place she rarely throws at.

West Perry’s Halima Smith also qualified for states, finishing fourth.

“This is the first time I’m going to states for shot,” Smith said. “I’ve been doing it since 8th grade, so finally.”

Smith has been working with Mustang thrower Hunter Stambaugh to improve her technique.

“He’s been working with me and teaching a little more that I did not know, he’s hard core.” she said. “He just told me to relax and when I did that, I broke the school record, it’s good to have him by.”

Blackhawk Steph Harrison has spent the whole season splitting time between the discus and the shot put and after she unleashed a 137-4 throw in discus, the senior has one more week to keep up her routine.

“I just tried to stay calm and cool and do what I did the past few years,” Harrison said. “You have to trust yourself.”