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The state championship qualifying standard is in place to make sure that a talented athlete that didn't win districts doesn't miss out on competing at the PIAA championships in an event where a district champion may have put together a once-in-a-lifetime performance.
Altoona's Brooke Long made the most of getting a second chance in the long jump after finishing as the runner-up at the District 6 meet but making it to states by reaching the standard when she bested a talented group of jumpers to emerge as the PIAA Class 3A champion Saturday at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium.
"It's definitely exciting," Long said. "I thought I would place, but I definitely didn't think it would be first, especially with the jump that I had. It wasn't even my PR, so it was definitely a shocker to me."
Long's gold-medal-winning jump of 18 feet, 1.25 inches came on her very last jump of the day and was a fourth-of-an-inch better than runner-up Lindsey Husic of Bishop McDevitt.
"My last jump felt really good, and that's the one I won it on, but I felt like all my jumps were really good," Long said. "Weather-wise, I was wearing a lot more layers than usual to stay warm, and staying warm is definitely harder than staying cool."
In addition to competing in the rain and much colder temperatures than usual, Long was dealing with coming up just short of medaling in two earlier events Saturday, the triple jump and with her team in the 400-meter relay.
"It was definitely in my head," Long said. "I knew I had the potential to place in the long jump, and it kind of turned into a mind game at that point. I had to push myself through the cold weather and the disappointment from the other events."
The Altoona junior made states as a freshman in 2019 in the triple jump and the 400-meter relay but has developed into a star this season through hard work and coaching over the past two years.
"I felt like a completely different jumper than when I was there as a freshman," Long said. "I jumped almost a foot and a half better than I was jumping as a freshman today. Our coaches have pushed us. We always put in the work when we can, and that's a big factor that's we're always out there working with our coaches and improving every single day."
Long wasn't the only Altoona athlete to reach the podium on Saturday.
Jake Adams, who missed six weeks due to an injury before returning to win the long jump at the District 6 meet, captured a bronze medal at states with a jump of 22 feet, 2 inches.
"It meant a lot, and I'm super happy," Adams said. "I did not think I was going to place that high. I was trying to stay warm and layered up and had to focus in on my event and not focus on the weather. I thought before the year I could get on the podium, but I didn't know if top three was attainable, so this is great."
Adams made the bronze-medal-winning jump on his last attempt in the first round.
"We knew he had the potential," Altoona boys coach and Jake's father Mike Adams said. "Coach (Damon) Luciano does a great jump with our jumpers, and he got to work with him and had him ready and pumped up for states. He went in with a lot of confidence knowing he could get up on the medal stand, and he was fortunate enough to get third."
The Mountain Lions also got a state medal from Austin Kravetz, who placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.88. Kravetz finished under 15 seconds for the second straight meet after working toward getting under that number all season.
"Austin has a tremendous work ethic, and he set a goal for himself to get under 15 seconds and place at states," Mike Adams said. "He's just one of those hard workers that isn't going to let something stand in his way. Doug Spayd, our hurdles coach, has done a great job getting him ready as well. He went in there with a lot of confidence, made the finals and got a medal. That was his goal all year long, so we were really happy to see that."
Notables
n State College won the team state championship with 36 points. Runner-up Butler had 30 total points. Central Bucks West won the girls team state title.
n Long finished ninth in the triple jump with a distance of 37 feet and was part of the 400-meter relay team that also ended up ninth in 49.86.
n The Altoona girls 1600-meter relay team finished 10th in 4:04.61.
n Altoona's Ethan Stroup ended up 13th in the javelin with a throw of 153 feet, 2 inches.
n Ty Friedenberger of Altoona finished 14th in the triple jump with a distance of 43 feet, 6.5 inches.
n Altoona's Aydan Summers was 21st in the 400-meter dash in 51.21. In the girls 400-meter dash, Altoona's Maura Kiser was 30th with a time of 1:03.0.
n Hollidaysburg's Lily Jodon finished tied for 22nd in the high jump.