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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
Central senior Madison Kennedy is used to standing in a batter's box facing District 6's best in the high school softball playoffs this time of year.
But Tuesday at the District 6 Class 2A track and field championship meet at Mansion Park, Kennedy found herself in a different position -- standing atop the medal stand as the girls javelin district champion.
"Softball will always have a special place for me," Kennedy said. "But, yeah, I'm a track person now. I never imagined this. I was just doing it to have fun. We needed some more girl throwers, and I figured I would give it a try."
She won the javelin on her next-to-last throw with a distance of 127 feet, 1 inch, topping West Branch's Marley Croyle.
"It was a nailbiter," Kennedy said. "It was a relief when I won. I'm very excited and thankful for all the coaches who have put in lots of time helping me get here."
Kennedy was one of Central's top softball players and helped the Lady Dragons have tremendous success during her high school career, but she was approached just before the track season about trying to do both sports this year.
"I had a very busy schedule with softball too," Kennedy said. "My coaches were very willing to work with me late after softball practice and on weekends to fit in some javelin practice. There were a lot of fundamental things that I had to learn from the start."
Kennedy finished in third place in the Altoona Igloo meet, her first-ever competition, and she continued to improve throughout the season.
"Some people just have it, and she's someone who just has it," Central track and field coach Blake Over said. "We kind of talked her into coming out this year, and she's been to four or five track practices. She's mainly softball, so to have someone with that much natural talent to come out here and excel for us has been awesome."
Kennedy wasn't the only Central athlete to win a District 6 title with an inspirational story on Tuesday.
Dragons senior Jack Dunn won the high jump, clearing 6-3, after getting hurt running the 200-meter dash at the Mountain Lion Invitational earlier this month. The hamstring injury forced him to miss the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference meet, and he didn't think he would compete at districts until this past Sunday into Monday.
"It was really tough, and I didn't think I'd be here now," Dunn said. "I'm still not doing my sprinting events, but I just trusted in God throughout it all, and He allowed me to get through the high jump today. I'm so thankful for the opportunity, and I didn't want to waste it."
Dunn's performance was his best of his career in the event.
"It's actually super emotional," Over said. "He thought his season was over, and he came out today and said he would try high jump. I told him if it hurt too bad to cut it and try and go to states in the relays if we make it, and then he came out and jumped better than he's ever jumped before. That's really cool for someone like him. He's such a good kid, and I'm happy for him."
Penn Cambria's Carter McDermott is also familiar with hamstring injuries as one derailed his junior year from the Igloo meet on, but he re-established himself as senior and put a punctuation mark on that with a District 6 title in the long jump with a distance of 22-9.25.
"It feels great to be back where I was my sophomore year," McDermott said. "I had a rough go my junior year, injuring my hamstring, but I was hoping and praying on that last jump that I could pull out a big one, and the big man answered."
McDermott was pushed by runner-up Zane Hummel of Bellefonte, who jumped 22-2.75.
"Once I saw he hit 22, I knew I had to get there," McDermott said. "He pushed me to get that high 22 today."
McDermott will also be among the favorites in today's Class 2A triple jump.
"It means a lot, and it shows I'm here to compete with the best again," McDermott said. "Just because I got injured my junior year, I'm not going to lay off and baby it. I'm ready to go this year. I want to get to 23. I was hoping to get it today to get the meet record, but it didn't come. Hopefully that means I'm saving the best for my last meet."
Tyrone's Brady Ronan also qualified for the PIAA meet by finishing third with a distance of 21 feet, 7 inches.
Ronan's classmate, Rebecca Lewis, secured a District 6 championship for the third straight year by topping Huntingdon senior Hayden Mark in the long jump, 17-5 to 17-0.5, after Mark had beaten her in the LHAC meet. Central's Delaney Hall also advanced to states by finishing third.
Lewis won the 400 dash district title as a sophomore and won the long jump and was part of the winning 400 relay team from Tyrone as a junior.
"I was really excited," Lewis said. "It happened kind of the same way as last year, which was my first year at long jump. I was surprised last year, because I came into it ranked fourth. To win two years in a row is really exciting."
Penn Cambria's Aaron Brumbaugh was third in the boys javelin throw with a distance of 159-11, and Bishop Carroll's Brode Ryan advanced to states in the discus with a throw of 138-2. Juniata Valley's Bryce Weirich was third in the pole vault and also moved on to the state meet.
Central Cambria's Dom Kuntz finished fourth in the 1600 run but qualified for states by reaching the state standard with a time of 4:25.1.
On the girls side, Central Cambria's Alaina Sheehan finished third and made it in the 1600-meter run.
KEY: Bald Eagle Area (BEA); Bellefonte (B); Bellwood-Antis (BA); Bishop Carroll (BC); Bishop McCort (BM); Blacklick Valley (BV); Cambria Heights (CH); Central Cambria (CC); Forest Hills (FH); Homer-Center (HC); Huntingdon (H); Juniata (J); Juniata Valley (JV); Marion Center (MC); Central (C); Mount Union (MU); Northern Cambria (NC); Penn Cambria (PC); Penns Manor (PM); Penns Valley (PV); Philipsburg-Osceola (PO); Portage (P); Purchase Line (PL); Richland (R); River Valley (RV); Southern Huntingdon (SH); Saint Joseph's (SJ); Tyrone (T); United (U); West Branch (WB); Westmont Hilltop (WH); Williamsburg (W)
BOYS
1600 run: 1, Rader, H, 4:16.9; 2, Stroup, J, 4:20.12; 3, Crist, B, 4:21.58; *4, Kuntz, CC, 4:25.1; *5, Bomberger, J, 4:27.23; 6, Simander, SJ, 4:32.59; 7, Beglin, R, 4:37.03; 8, Erwin, SH, 4:39.41.
High jump: 1, Dunn, C, 6-3; 2, Shepps, J, 6-3; 3, Gates, BEA, 6-1; 4, Layo, P, 6-1; 5, Lichtenfels, U, 5-11; 6, Tremel, BC, 5-11; 7, Gontkovic, R, 5-9; 8, Shannon, RV, 5-9. Long jump: 1, McDermott, PC, 22-9.25; 2, Hummel, B, 22-2.75; 3, Ronan, T, 21-7; 4, Farrell, NC, 20-8.25; 5, Sheridan, WH, 20-4.75; 6, Weaver, T, 20-3.5; 7, Cunningham, BC, 20-1; 8, Shannon, RV, 20-0.75. Discus: **1, Polenik, PM, 173-6; 2, Sechrist, MU, 138-5; 3, Ryan, BC, 138-2; 4, Hollis, R, 134-9; 5, Albright, C, 127-3; 6, Vinnedge, B, 127-0; 7, Schenk, C, 125-9; 8, Rice, SH, 125-8. Javelin: 1, Chase, R, 178-7; 2, Elick, PL, 165-9; 3, Brumbaugh, PC, 159-11; 4, Lewis, PM, 156-1; 5, C. Schreier, BA, 151-4; 6, Peck, C, 150-5; 7, Rebovich, PL, 148-4; 8, Skebeck, CH, 146-6. Pole vault: 1, Gossard, R, 14-0; 2, Risinger, MC, 14-0; 3, Weirich, JV, 13-6; T-4, Carroll, FH, 13-0; T-4, Poorman, BA, 13-0; 6, Rose, MU, 12-6; 7, Garshnick, U, 12-6; 8, Farabaugh, BC, 12-0.
GIRLS
1600 run: 1, Mavridis, R, 5:14.52; 2, Brubaker, J, 5:16.55; 3, Al. Sheehan, CC, 5:16.65; 4, Pablic, BC, 5:19.71; 5, Berkhimer, C, 5:24.3; 6, Miller, NC, 5:29.81; 7, Long, CC, 5:30.82; 8, Chobany, P, 5:37.99.
High jump: 1, McConnell, RV, 5-4; 2, Hirsch, R, 5-0; 3, Ressler, U, 5-0; 4, McLeary, FH, 4-10; T-5, Skopic, MU, 4-10; T-5, Salem, R, 4-10; T-7, Turek, BA, 4-10; T-7, Gerwert, BA, 4-10. Long jump: 1, Lewis, T, 17-5; 2, Mark, H, 17-0.5; 3, Hall, C, 16-10.75; 4, McMillen, CH, 16-4.75; 5, Kane, WH, 16-0.75; 6, Cabala, FH, 16-0.75; 7, Bryan, BEA, 15-10.75; 8, Campbell, BA, 15-9.5. Discus: 1, Garnett, R, 118-8; 2, Jackson, RV, 108-8; 3, Miller, U, 103-2; 4, Taylor, R, 100-10; 5, Kyper, H, 92-9; 6, Blackie, CH, 92-0; 7, Phillips, PL, 89-10; 8, Henderson, FH, 86-10. Javelin: 1, Kennedy, C, 127-1; 2, Croyle, WB, 124-4; 3, Gentzel, PV, 122-1; 4, Vinglish, PC, 109-9; 5, Taylor, BEA, 107-0; 6, Vroman, PO, 103-10; 7, Hebel, WB, 100-10; 8, McCombie, CH, 98-3.
**Meet record
*Advancing to states by state qualifying standard