Penn Cambria junior Blake Lilly showed he’s on track to become the next star Panthers jumper by winning the triple jump with an effort of 43 feet, 0.5 inches.

Lilly knows he has big shoes to fill.

“Carter McDermott was pretty much a mentor of mine,” Lilly said. “He would always push me to be better. Us two had a little rivalry going, so that competition definitely pushed me to be better.”

McDermott holds the Penn Cambria triple jump record at just over 44 feet and has been among the top competitors at the PIAA meet the last two seasons.

Northern Bedford's Dhylan Miller placed fourth in the 1600 meter run. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“I’m looking to beat Carter’s triple jump record,” Lilly said. “Hopefully by this season it happens. If possible, if I am blessed with the opportunity to jump further than that, it would be great. I just want to continue to improve and hopefully get some records.”

Lilly said an event like the triple jump requires some fine tuning and experience.

“I came out of last season finally figuring out the triple,” Lilly said. “I got down all the phases and all that. I came into this season hoping for a lot of improvement, and I got that. Every meet, I have been jumping around 42 feet, and I just keep improving.”

A first-place ribbon will help build the confidence that’s needed along with the work and talent.

“It’s great coming out to an invitational and being able to get a first-place medal,” Lilly said. “It’s a nice feeling. I still think I could have done a little bit better, but I’m satisfied with the first place right now with more improvements to come.”

Central's Lanee Berkhimer placed third ahead of fourth place Savanna Hershberger of Northern Bedford in the 1600 meter run. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Lilly wasn’t finished there.

He also brought home the first-place ribbon in the javelin with a throw of 161 feet, nearly 10 feet longer than the runner-up from James Buchanan. Teammate Austin Gray was third with a throw of 151 feet even. Lilly was also the runner-up in the long jump to Bedford’s Carson Lynch. Lynch jumped 21 feet, 4.25 inches, and Lilly jumped 20 feet, 2.75 inches.

Portage senior Bode Layo has already been to the PIAA meet, but not last year.

As a junior, Layo finished fourth in the high jump and shot put to miss a state trip by one place in each event.

This season missing out — at least in the high jump — seems unlikely.

Layo leads the Mirror honor roll, clearing 6 feet, 6 inches, and will likely be in contention for a medal at states.

“I’m going step by step — conference, district and then state,” Layo said. “Not looking too far ahead.”

One of the steps was accomplished Friday with a win in the high jump at a modest 5-11 in part due to an extreme downpour in the middle of the event.

“Today, after that weather came in, it really impacted all those guys,” Portage coach Lance Hudak said. “It’s tough with this weather. But this year, the jumps he’s made have been great. He went to Shippensburg last week and jumped with the best kids and the state and was the top 2A finisher. We’ll see how these next couple weeks go before districts.”

Layo said last year’s failure helped fuel better numbers this season, and his coach agreed with him.

“Last year at districts, just missing out in two events — the shot and high jump — it hurt,” Hudak said. “He felt that. Coming back for his senior year, he wanted to concentrate more, especially on the high jump, and do what he’s able to do. He’s really taken it more seriously this year. He’s practicing harder, and he’s really focused on meets in the high jump. Discus and shot have taken a back seat for him this year, and we’ll see how much he’s improved.”

After completing a long basketball season that included another District 6 championship, Layo hit the ground running when track began.

“I couldn’t get over 6 feet, 3 inches last year,” Layo said. “In my first meet this year, I got 6-5. The meet after that I got 6-6, and I could tell everything finally clicked. I go to practice every day and put the work in with the help of my coaches. It takes time — but it came to me.”

Layo would like to get a couple inches higher before the end of the season.

“I need to work on my flexibility,” Layo said. “I can jump. I just can’t bend over it. If I could get the bend, I could get higher numbers.”

No team championships were awarded, but the points were tallied for the first six finishers in each event, leaving the Richland boys and the Bedford girls as unofficial meet champions.

Meyersdale’s Jordan Synowietz broke the meet record in the discus that had stood since 2015 with a throw of 171 feet, 4 inches, and Punxsutawney’s Mary Grusky set the girls record with a throw of 118 feet, 4 inches, breaking a record held since 2017.

KEY

B–Bedford; BB–Berlin Brothersvalley; C–Central; CR–Chestnut Ridge; D–DuBois; EJ–East Juniata; E–Everett; FH–Forest Hills; JB–James Buchanan; MB–McConnellsburg; M–Meyersdale; MR–Mountain Ridge; NB–Northern Bedford; PC–Penn Cambria; P–Portage; PX–Punxsutawney; R–Richland; S–Shade; SF–Southern Fulton; SH–Southern Huntingdon; TM–Tussey Mountain; W–Windber.

BOYS

100 dash: 1, Kougher, D, 11.43; 2, McAneny, R, 11.48; 3, Nipple, EJ, 11.53; 4, Hanzely, D, 11.58; 5, Suber, BB, 11.63; 6, Lynch, B, 11.73. 200 dash: 1, Kougher, D, 22.62; 2, Hanzely, D, 23.09; 3, Nipple, EJ, 23.36; 4, McAneny, R, 23.38; 5, Mugerwa, R, 23.68; 6, Suber, BB, 23.89. 400 dash: 1, Nipple, EJ, 50.73; 2, Mugerwa, R, 51.24; 3, Yeager, JB, 51.53; 4, Muthler, C, 53.39; 5, Poteat, E, 53.61; 6, Klosky, W, 53.68. 800 run: 1, Bish, PX, 2:04.77; 2, Setree, PX, 2:05.26; 3, Gouse, P, 2:05.53; 4, Ritz, SF, 2:05.76; 5, Redinger, B, 2:07.5; 6, Baer, D, 2:10.75. 1600 run: 1, Caron, FH, 4:39.79; 2, Ritz, SF, 4:41.94; 3, Hall, JB, 4:43.51; 4, Miller, NB, 4:46.11; 5, Heuston, C, 4:48.65; 6, Ehrisman, EJ, 4:53.66. 3200 run: 1, Caron, FH, 10:07.75; 2, Hall, JB, 10:21.53; 3, Drum, PX, 10:28.34; 4, Ritz, SF, 10:34.28; 5, Miller, NB, 10:34.97; 6, Polacek, R, 10:44.27. 110 hurdles: 1, Mugerwa, R, 16.23; 2, Levander, R, 16.29; 3, Buterbaugh, MB, 16.48; 4, Rutan, PX, 16.71; 5, Kenzie, JB, 16.82; 6, Carroll, FH, 16.93. 300 hurdles: 1, Mugerwa, R, 42.24; 2, Buterbaugh, MB, 42.39; 3, Hart, EJ, 43.02; 4, Mellott, SF, 43.21; 5, Rutan, PX, 43.6; 6, Carroll, FH, 43.72.

400 relay: 1, DuBois (Delaney, Kougher, Blakeslee, Muhammad), 43.3; 2, Richland, 43.86; 3, Bedford, 45.2; 4, Windber, 45.69; 5, Penn Cambria, 45.9; 6, James Buchanan, 45.97. 1600 relay: 1, Richland (J. Mugerwa, A. Mugerwa, Yarnick, McAneny), 3:32.4; 2, James Buchanan, 3:33.2; 3, DuBois, 3:33.8; 4, Berlin Brothersvalley, 3:41.5; 5, Everett, 3:43.2; 6, Punxsutawney, 3:47.3. 3200 relay: 1, James Buchanan (Crocker, Hall, Embree, Yeager), 8:48.85; 2, Richland, 8:56.7; 3, Punxsutawney, 9:02.52; 4, DuBois, 9:02.59; 5, Bedford, 9:12; 6, McConnellsburg, 9:16.12. High jump: 1, Layo, P, 5-11; 2, Bell, E, 5-11; T-3, McCulty, R, 5-9; T-3, Wildnauer, D, 5-9; 5, Edmonson, FH, 5-9; T-6, Latterner, PC, 5-9; T-6, Gontkovic, R, 5-9; T-6, Leasure, E, 5-9. Long jump: 1, Lynch, B, 21-4.25; 2, Lilly, PC, 20-2.75; 3, Klosky, W, 19-11; 4, McCulty, R, 19-3.5; 5, Bolyard, M, 19-2.5; 6, Bell, E, 19-1. Triple jump: 1, Lilly, PC, 43-0.5; 2, Manners, PX, 42-8.75; 3, Klosky, W, 41-6; 4, McCulty, R, 40-6.5; 5, Cessna, E, 39-6; 6, Bell, E, 39-4. Shot put: 1, Crawford, D, 43-11; 2, Synowietz, M, 43-9; 3, Mobus, E, 43-6; 4, Mahla, R, 42-5; 5, Brininger, EJ, 41-11; 6, Lake, SH, 41-3. Discus: *1, Synowietz, M, 171-4; 2, Hollis, R, 146-1; 3, Crawford, D, 143-2; 4, Brambley, E, 132-4; 5, Ingraham, B, 132-3; 6, Layo, P, 131-7. Javelin: 1, Lilly, PC, 161-0; 2, Amon, JB, 151-7; 3, Gray, PC, 151-0; 4, Bard, SF, 150-10; 5, Hanzely, D, 145-2; 6, Mahla, R, 144-10. Pole vault: 1, Lushko, R, 12-0; 2, Ickes, CR, 12-0; 3, Miller, PX, 10-9; 4, Mumma, MB, 10-9; T-5, Hart, C, 10-9; T-5, Evans, B, 10-9.

GIRLS

100 dash: 1, Leydig, B, 13.04; 2, Piscatello, R, 13.11; 3, Eby, JB, 13.22; 4, Eckenrode, PC, 13.35; 5, Zavorotny, B, 13.6; 6, Dibert, C, 13.79. 200 dash: 1, Leydig, B, 26.54; 2, Piscatello, R, 26.65; 3, Eby, JB, 26.71; 4, Bozovich, BB, 28.05; 5, Beck, B, 28.15; 6, Miller, PX, 28.18. 400 dash: 1, Mavridis, R, 1:00.63; 2, Bozovich, BB, 1:01.05; 3, Wible, JB, 1:02.25; 4, Miller, PX, 1:02.75; 5, Carpenter, FH, 1:03.24; 6, Gergely, PC, 1:03.24. 800 run: 1, Madison, SF, 2:26.23; 2, Ruddell, MR, 2:33.85; 3, Wildenauer, D, 2:36.54; 4, Moyer, CR, 2:37.84; 5, Jakubowski, R, 2:38.12; 6, Ritchey, B, 2:38.87. 1600 run: 1, May, B, 5:17.06; 2, Mavridis, R, 5:20.35; 3, Berkhimer, C, 5:22.96; 4, Hershberger, NB, 5:31.74; 5, Madison, SF, 5:34.15; 6, Hawkins, MR, 5:45.4. 3200 run: 1, Mavridis, R, 11:31.88; 2, Berkhimer, C, 11:34.25; 3, Hershberger, NB, 11:39.74; 4, Clever, JB, 11:39.95; 5, Hawkins, MR, 12:27.1; 6, Wise, B, 12:52.54. 100 hurdles: 1, Momyer, PX, 16.11; 2, Glessner, FH, 16.65; 3, Neale, PX, 16.78; 4, Bojalad, D, 17.22; 5, Koontz, B, 17.28; 6, Dunlap, R, 17.38. 300 hurdles: 1, Papcunik, FH, 48.17; 2, Hughes, MR, 48.79; 3, Lewis, PX, 49.62; 4, Dunn, C, 50.25; 5, Dunlap, R, 50.81; 6, Koontz, B, 51.09.

400 relay: 1, Bedford (McAllister, Beck, Zavorotny, Leydig), 50.53; 2, Punxsutawney, 51.63; 3, Richland, 52.10; 4, Penn Cambria, 52.10; 5, James Buchanan, 52.63; 6, Forest Hills, 53.55. 1600 relay: 1, Bedford (Hershberger, McAllister, McDevitt, Beck), 4:14.2; 2, Richland, 4:15.6; 3, Forest Hills, 4:16.1; 4, Central, 4:20; 5, Punxsutawney, 4:22.3; 6, DuBois, 4:24.1. 3200 relay: 1, Mountain Ridge (Ruddell, Rizzo, Gray, Brill), 10:25.13; 2, Forest Hills, 10:35.08; 3, DuBois, 10:44.01; 4, James Buchanan, 10:59.45; 5, Northern Bedford, 11:06.8; 6, Bedford, 11:10.16. High jump: 1, McLeary, FH, 5-0; 2, Peters, D, 5-0; 3, LeMaster, PC, 4-10; T-4, Brallier, B, 4-10; T-4, Griebel, PX, 4-10; 6, Taylor, CR, 4-10. Long jump: 1, Beck, B, 16-8.25; 2, Shaffer, E, 16-0; 3, Sunderland, SH, 15-7.75; 4, Eckenrode, PC, 15-6.75; 5, Mock, C, 15-6.5; 6, Lautenslager, JB, 15-3. Triple jump: 1, Macey, R, 35-0.5; 2, Shaffer, E, 34-8.5; 3, Carney, W, 34-4; 4, Taylor, CR, 33-3; 5, Imes, C, 32-6; 6, Lemaster, PC, 32-5.5. Shot put: 1, Weber, B, 34-8; 2, Gable, NB, 34-6; 3, Mingle, C, 34-0; 4, Grusky, PX, 33-9; 5, Green, JB, 33-0; 6, Yutzy, TM, 31-2. Discus: *1, Grusky, PX, 118-4; 2, Taylor, R, 104-3; 3, Weber, B, 103-4; 4, Gable, NB, 101-4; 5, Rase, MR, 99-2; 6, Yutzy, TM, 98-1. Javelin: 1, Grusky, PX, 131-7; 2, Martin, JB, 105-1; 3, Parks, CR, 100-8; 4, Green, JB, 98-9; 5, Detterline, NB, 97-11; 6, Holloway, SH, 97-4. Pole vault: 1, Ford, R, 10-3; 2, Martz, B, 8-9; T-3, Sumner, TM, 8-3; T-3, Oyler, W, 8-3; 5, Glessner, BB, 8-3; 6, Smith, C, 7-9.

*Meet records