LOYSBURG - Chestnut Ridge senior Michael Young is not going on vacation, and he's actually happy about it.
Last year, Young's family left for Hawaii after he medaled at the state track and field meet, and three years ago they traveled to England, forcing Young's older brother, T.J., to miss the state meet.
"We try to go somewhere every other year,'' Young said after winning his second event at Wednesday's District 5 Track and Field Championships at Northern Bedford County High School's Panther Community Stadium. "Last year, it worked out. I packed for Hawaii and left straight from the state meet. This year, there are no vacations. I can stay focused.''
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Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Chestnut Ridge’s Matt Dull wins the 300-meter hurdles Wednesday afternoon.
Young will have a week to get ready for next weekend's PIAA Championships in Shippensburg. Young and teammate Matt Dull each won two events Wednesday to lead the Lions to the District team championship. Ridge, with the help of its 400-meter winning relay team, finished with 100 points to edge out Northern Bedford (87) and Bedford (78).
"I had competed in four district team championships and hadn't won,'' Young said. "I lost two in soccer and two in basketball. Being district champions as a team means a lot more to me than winning as an individual.''
In addition to Young and Dull, both seniors, and the Ridge 400 relay, other area competitors who punched their tickets to the state meet included Northern Bedford junior Zach Pressel and junior Justin Baker in the high jump and junior Tayler Pressel in the triple jump, Tussey Mountain foreign exchange student Gabriel Goizueta in the 3200 run, Everett junior Robbie Miller in the 1600 run and the Bedford 1600 relay team.
Young repeated as champion in the triple jump by leaping a personal-best 45 feet, 5.75 inches. Later in the day, he won the long jump with a 20-11.5, despite nursing a sore foot that kept him from practicing since the West Central Coaches Invitational nearly two weeks ago.
"I've been staying off of my foot,'' Young said. "I wanted to be ready for this meet. I knew it was a big meet, and I wanted to reach my potential. I'm going to need to take care of [my foot] to get ready for Shippensburg. I guess I'm going to stay off of it and be lazy.''
Young jumped 45-2 last year in the triple jump at states to earn a seventh-place medal. Although the triple is his better event, he said he's hoping to medal in both jumps this year at states.
"The adrenaline at states is what I crave,'' he said. "I know that is waiting for me, and I can't wait to feel it again.''
Dull will get to experience states again after competing in both hurdles events at Shippensburg last year. He earned a fifth-place medal in the 300 hurdles and ended up in the middle of the pack in the 110 hurdles.
Dull won the 110 on Wednesday with a time of 15.15 seconds, which was slower than his 15.01 last year at districts when he finished second. But he wasn't pushed too much this year, winning by nearly 1 second.
"I came in to do my best and win,'' Dull said. "I'd like to medal in the 110s this year at states and hopefully get down to the 14s. I think with someone pushing me I can do a lot better.''
Dull wasn't pushed in the 300 hurdles, either, winning by 2 seconds. His time of 39.05 was better than what he ran at districts and states last year, but it was .05 slower than the District 5 record.
"I was hoping for the record,'' Dull said. "I messed up a little. I right-legged two hurdles on the turn, or I would have gotten it.''
Dull's season-best time in the 300 hurdles is a 38.87, which would put him in high medal contention again this year at Shippensburg.
"Being there before will definitely help me deal with the pressure and the amount of competition,'' Dull said. "I'm hoping to do well in both [events] this year.''
Ridge will be sending four other athletes, including three seniors in Chase May, Steven Frankenberry and J.P. Hillegass along with freshman Trent Lohr, to states. They ran a 44.72 in the 400 relay to edge out Bedford, which posted a 44.76.
"They did a fantastic job,'' Ridge coach Bob McVicker said. "They got the baton where they needed to, and Frankenberry sealed the deal. I was tickled to see that.''
Northern's Zach Pressel will be making his second trip to states, but this year he'll be going with his twin brother, Tayler, and teammate and fellow high jump competitor Baker.
Zach Pressel cleared 6-6 in the high jump for the third time in his career to repeat as district champion. He placed fifth in the state last year with a jump of 6-5.
"I didn't really feel pressure,'' Zach Pressel said. "I know my main competition was my teammate [Baker], and we get along real well and cheer for each other all the time.''
Baker, who finished third at districts last year with a 5-10, improved by 6 inches to meet the state qualifying standard of 6-4 and earn a spot in Shippensburg.
"I just wanted to qualify,'' Baker said. "I was running a fever this morning. I was hoping I'd feel better later in the day, and once I started competing, adrenaline kicked in. After I cleared 6-2, Zach said I was pretty far over the bar, so I knew I would probably get 6-4 and qualify for states.''
Tayler Pressel qualified by hitting the triple jump standard of 44-0 right on the nose. Everett's Miller qualified because Shade's Jordan Wilt, who won both the 800 and 1600 runs, decided not to run the 1600 at states, paving the way for Miller, who placed second in the 1600 with a time of 4:46.04.
Bedford had no athletes qualify until the final event of the night when the 1600 relay team captured gold with a time of 3:30.65. Seniors Josh Wakefield, Dakota Hess and Dylan Evans teamed with junior Steven Stroup to hold off Fannett-Metal's foursome.
Goizueta will represent Tussey Mountain at states, along with his hometown of Madrid, Spain. He blew away the field in the 3200 run, winning in a time of 10:08.42, which was nearly 20 seconds better than his next closest competitor.
"I'm surprised I'm doing this well,'' Goizueta said. "I'm very happy. Once I got out in front I felt comfortable to go get the win. I said, 'I'm not losing now.'''
Other district champs included Somerset's Daniel Mayer in the 100 dash and 200 dash and J.R. Hemminger in the pole vault, Southern Fulton's Jacob Ashkettle in the 400 and Steven Meyer in the javelin, McConnellsburg's Ryan Stoeckle in the shot put and discus and the Windber 3200 relay team, which set a District 5 record time of 8:14.63.
Key, team standings: 1, CR-Chestnut Ridge, 100; 2, NB-Northern Bedford, 87; 3, BD-Bedford, 78; 4, SM-Somerset, 60; 5, SF-Southern Fulton, 53; 6, W-Windber, 47; 7, MB-McConnellsburg, 34; 8, SH-Shade, 29; 9, (tie), TM-Tussey Mountain; MY-Meyersdale; and FM-Fannett-Metal, 15; 12, E-Everett, 14; 13, R-Rockwood, 6; 14, BB-Berlin Brothersvalley, 5.
100 dash: 1, Meyer, SM, 11.30; 2, Barnes, NB, 11.47; 3, May, CR, 11.65; 4, Sipes, TM, 11.70; 5, Ansell, R, 11.84; 6, White, FM, 11.89.
200 dash: 1, Meyer, SM, 22.81; 2, Barnes, NB, 22.90; 3, M. Dull, CR, 23.37; 4, Ansell, R, 23.84; 5, Lohr, CR, 23.88; 6, Sipes, TM, 23.92.
400 dash: 1, Ashkettle, SF, 50.51; 2, Evans, BD, 51.30; 3, Mayer, SM, 52.82; 4, Barnes, NB, 52.82; 5, Barton, E, 53.64; 6, Gipe, W, 53.75.
800 run: 1, Wilt, SH, 1:59.74; 2, De. Tomlinson, W, 2:01.46; 3, White, FM, 2:02.65; 4, Stroup, BD, 2:02.75; 5, Gibson, SM, 2:03.78; 6, Russell, NB, 2:04.49.
1600 run: 1, Wilt, SH, 4:42.54; 2, Miller, E, 4:46.04; 3, Kirk, SF, 4:51.24; 4, Farnan, CR, 4:51.64; 5, Charney, W, 4:53.34; 6, Polca, W, 4:58.54.
3200 run: 1, Goizueta, TM, 10:08.42; 2, Day, MY, 10:27.11; 3, Farnan, CR, 10:29.90; 4, Heck, NB, 10:37.03; 5, Fapore, SM, 10:42.23; 6, Voight, SF, 10:44.71.
110 hurdles: 1, M. Dull, CR, 15.15; 2, Hill, MB, 16.12; 3, Lankey, CR, 16.15; 4, Wakefield, BD, 16.21; 5, Arnold, BD, 16.83; 6, Over, NB, 17.28.
300 hurdles: 1, M. Dull, CR, 39.05; 2, Wakefield, BD, 41.05; 3, Hill, MB, 42.14; 4, Shetler, W, 42.32; 5, Lankey, CR, 43.22; 6, Siska, W, 43.93.
400 relay: 1, Chestnut Ridge (Hillegass, Lohr, May, Frankenberry), 44.72; 2, Bedford, 44.76; 3, Somerset, 45.46; 4, Everett, 45.87; 5, Southern Fulton, 46.11; 6, Shade, 46.20.
1600 relay: 1, Bedford (Wakefield, D. Hess, Stroup, Evans), 3:30.65; 2, Fannett-Metal, 3:32.23; 3, Somerset, 3:34.23; 4, Northern Bedford, 3:37.33; 5, Chestnut Ridge, 3:37.50; 6, Windber, 3:37.73.
3200 relay: 1, Windber (Gipe, De. Tomlinson, Charney, Leonardis), 8:14.63 (district record); 2, Southern Fulton, 8:27.46; 3, Bedford, 8:30.47; 4, Northern Bedford, 8:33.51; 5, Chestnut Ridge, 9:05.84; 6, Shade, 10:27.37.
High jump: 1, Z. Pressel, NB, 6-6; n 2, Baker, NB, 6-4; 3, D. Hess, BD, 5-10; 4, Pick, CR, 5-10; 5, Young, CR, 5-10; 6, Over, NB, 5-8.
Long jump: 1, Young, CR, 20-11.5; 2, Blough, W, 20-10; 3, Over, NB, 20-6.5; 4, H. Hess, BD, 20-6.25; 5, T. Pressel, NB, 20-0.75; 6, Z. Pressel, NB, 20-0.75.
Triple jump: 1, Young, CR, 45-5.75; n 2, T. Pressel, NB, 44-0; 3, Over, NB, 41-7.5; 4, Barkley, W, 41-2.75; 5, Neri, W, 41-2; 6, Wakefield, BD, 40-5.
Shot put: 1, Stoeckle, MB, 49-0; 2, Buck, SM, 46-1; 3, Edwards, SH, 43-7; 4, Wirick, BD, 43-5; 5, Hixson, NB, 42-9.5; 6, Kline, NB, 42-8.
Discus: 1, Stoeckle, MB, 142-1; 2, Hixson, NB, 137-2; 3, Wirick, BD, 122-0; 4, Stultz, CR, 121-9; 5, Sabo, W, 121-8; 6, Wagner, BB, 120-9.
Javelin: 1, Meyer, SF, 165-11; 2, Wright, SF, 161-6; 3, Yachere, MY, 159-5; 4, Boyer, BB, 159-1; 5, DeMoss, BD, 158-4; 6, Edwards, SH, 153-6.
Pole vault: 1, Hemminger, SM, 12-6; 2, Cross, SF, 12-0; 3, Bottenfield, BD, 12-0; 4, (tie), R. Dull, CR, and Tallyen, W, 11-6; 6, Yachere, MY, 10-6.
n-Met state qualifying standard
