CC’s Lechleitner gets medal in 1600 event
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SHIPPENSBURG -- Central Cambria senior Aiden Lechleitner won the area's first medal of the day, a seventh-place finish in the Class 2A 1600-meter run at the PIAA Track and Field championships Friday at Shippensburg's Seth Grove Stadium.
Lechleitner led the race after the first lap.
"That was the complete opposite of what I wanted to do," Lechleitner said. "I started out in the alley, because I was seeded eighth. I knew it was going to be a tight pack. We came around that first turn, and there was just a wall of people on the inside. It was either get boxed in or go out front, so I went out front and took the group through a 65-second first 400, which is no one else wanted to do. It worked to my advantage and threw everyone else off, so that's what I went for after that."
After falling back, Lechleitner had a strong push in the final 100 meters and passed two runners to medal in 4:19.93 (a Central Cambria school record), including Huntingdon's Tyler Radar, who beat Lechleitner last week to win the District 6 title. Radar finished eighth.
"Coming around the last stretch, I was counting what I needed to medal," Lechleitner said. "I was in ninth, and I knew I had to get one of them. I snuck right in between them and got Tyler too. It worked out pretty well, because we have been battling the last two years in cross country and track, and I finally got him."
Lechleitner's teammate, Nolan Wyrwas, qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 11.01 running in the same heat as defending PIAA champion Ethan Black of Conemaugh Township, who is seeded first. The performance guarantees Wyrwas a medal in Saturday's final.
Wyrwas also will medal in the 400-meter relay where he and teammates Jon Wess, Shay Adams and Ojha Ojha finished fifth in preliminaries with a time of 43.25, another Central Cambria school record.
Wess will medal in the 110-meter hurdles after a fifth-place time of 14.79 in the preliminaries a year after not advancing out of the first day. Central's Robert Long-Yarrison was 25th in the event in 16.36.
"It definitely feels amazing," Wess said. "I was seeded fifth in the hurdles last year and finished 11th in preliminaries in my worse race of the season. To come here today, fix all the things that went wrong last season, have a process and make the (400-meter) finals too, it's awesome. There's no better feeling than having two state medals automatically."
Another area athlete that reserved a spot on the medal stand is Penn Cambria sprinter Josh Stolarski, who will enter the 400-meter dash finals as the top seed after a preliminary time of 49.27.
"I basically matched my district time," Stolarski said. "In this prelim, I felt a lot more relaxed and in control of my race. I'm ready to go sub-49 in the final."
Stolarski trailed in his heat early in the race but pulled well ahead in the final 200 meters.
"Last year, we were guaranteed a medal after our 1600-meter relay," Stolarski said. "I felt like I was on top of the world, so now to be guaranteed an individual state medal, you can't get any better than that."
Stolarski, who finished the 100-dash prelims in 17th in 11.26, will also win a medal Saturday in the 200-meter dash where he qualified fourth in 22.24 behind Conemaugh Township's Black, who is also the top-seeded and defending state champion in the 200 and ran a 21.47.
Central's Kade Rhule claimed an eighth-place medal in the javelin with a throw of 171 feet, 1 inch.
"It feels amazing, because I worked pretty hard this year after a rough start, but I got over it and threw really well today," Rhule said. "It was my second throw. There was a lot of practice, every day going to the track and working. Even in school, I would look at my phone and critique things."
Rhule finished just ahead of his teammate, District 6 champion Rylan Daugherty, who ended up ninth and just missed the medal stand.
"It was really bittersweet," Rhule said. "We have been battling it out ever since we started."
2A boys notes
– Central's 400-meter relay team finished 24th in preliminaries with a time of 45.18.
– Central's Eli Lingenfelter cleared 6 feet to finish 15th in the 2A high jump, and Portage's Bode Layo cleared 5 feet, 10 inches to finish in a tie for 19th. Northern Bedford's Noah Pittman missed on all three of his attempts.
– Bishop Carroll's Jacob Harker finished 11th in the 2A discus with a distance of 145 feet, 1 inch. Central's Ben Griffin was 17th with 127 feet, 1 inch.
– Central Cambria's 1600-meter relay team (3:33.1, 19th) and Central's (3:33.19, 21st) did not qualify for the finals.
– Wyrwas was 24th in the long jump with a distance of 19 feet, 1.25 inches, and Stolarski was 26th with 18 feet, 8.75 inches.
2A girls notes
– Northern Bedford's Lizzie Long just missed a medal in the 2A discus with a throw of 113 feet, 6 inches and finished ninth, just 3 inches behind eighth-place finisher Evezi Omuyeh of Delaware County Christian. Homer-Center senior Justley Sharp won the state championship with a throw of 148 feet, 5 inches.
– Chestnut Ridge's Belle Bosch finished fourth in the 2A javelin with a throw of 142 feet, 3 inches behind Union-Allegheny's Evelyn Bliss' toss of 170 feet, 2 inches, which set a new PIAA record. Bellwood-Antis senior Chelsea McCaulsky was 18th with a top throw of 111 feet, 11 inches, and Juniata Valley's Alayna Luther was 21st with a throw of 105 feet, 9 inches.
– Forest Hills senior Delaney Dumm won a bronze medal in the Class 2A 1600-meter run with a time of 5:04.79. Bellwood-Antis senior Alexis Lovrich was 17th in 5:27.04, and Central freshman Lanee Berkhimer was 23rd in 5:58.79.
– Central's 1600-meter relay team finished 15th in 4:11.43, and Central Cambria's team was 23rd in 4:20.55.
– Portage's Cami Burkett (12.53), Tyrone's Rebecca Lewis (13.08) and Juniata Valley's Maddie Hopsicker (13.11) did not make it through the preliminary round in the 100-meter dash.
– Burkett (26.2, 14th) and Lewis (27.17, 22nd) also did not advance in the 200-meter dash preliminaries.
– Tyrone's 400-meter relay team finished 24th in 52.05 in preliminaries just ahead of 25th-place Central in 52.24.
– Cambria Heights freshman Rachael McClellan was 21st in 17.93 in the 2A 100-meter hurdle preliminaries.
– Tyrone's Lewis was 13th in the 2A long jump with a distance of 16 feet, 3.75 inches, and Cambria Heights' Brielle McMillen was 15th with a leap of 16 feet, 3 inches.