Emily Stuaffer surpassing her 2013 form is great for the shot put
After a strong freshman year with a gold medal, and a strong start of her sophomore season, injuries put her season to a crashing halt, and despite her admirable courage to try and learn the shot put with her opposite hand, Stauffer never got to defend her indoor state title and never had the chance to try and improve on her 2013 outdoor silver medal.
While recovering, Courtney McCartney of Selinsgrove cleaned up the top honors and became and US top ten shot putter in 2014, breaking the 49 foot mark in the process. McCartney was now at the top of the event with no signs of slowing down.
Fast forward to December and Emily Stauffer’s return to the throwing circle at Kutztown. After spending nearly all of the 2014 calendar year throwing with the opposite arm, Stauffer returned healthy and ready to make her climb back to the top spot she never had the chance to defend. A lifetime best 45-11.50 was an emphatic performance to indicate her return to the big stage.
Fast forward another three weeks to the match up fans would have hoped to have seen last year but were unable to. The last two indoor champions squared off at the Lebanon Valley Invitational. A win for Stauffer against the champion would put her back in the title hunt.
In a hotly contested affair, only an inch and a half separated the two stars, with Stauffer coming out on top 47-10 to 47-8.50. Stauffer now has the inside track to the title with McCartney now having to wait until their next meeting to regain that position.
Regardless of who wins the title, we now have a huge head to head match up in the field events that will be just as exciting as any track match up. The two are in the top five of the country in the event and for the first time since 2008, the almighty 50 mark could be surpassed.
Keep your eyes on these two throwers. This could be the best shot put rivalry in PA history!
Western PA finally gets started
While most of Eastern PA has spent one month competing, Western PA has had to wait their turn to get their season started. Their turn finally came on Saturday at the first Youngstown State Invitational. Here are some of the big takes from that meet.
There is now a clear favorite in the boys shot put and his name is Jordan Geist of Knoch. Last spring, he broke 60 feet as a 9th grader. In his first meet as a sophomore, he broke 61 feet and got close to 62 feet, throwing a US#4 61-9.50. The nearest rival to Geist is 8 feet away. How far can Geist throw this season? It will be fun finding out.
Last year’s boys 60 meter hurdles runner up Mitch Valko of South Fayette ran the 2nd fastest 60 meter hurdles time in the state this season with a time of 8.19. Only Charles Bowman Jr of Central Dauphin East has run faster. Valko was the best hurdler out west by a large margin last season. If that’s the case this season, he may be able to put all his focus on catching up to the Eastern PA hurdlers and getting the gold on March 1.
Lauren Costa and Alexis O’Shea of West Allegheny combined to win four events. Costa won the dash and 200, while O’Shea won the 1600 and 800. O’Shea made the AAA finals of the 16 and 8 last spring, while Costa medaled in the 60 last winter and finished 5th in the 100 meter dash. Will the duo cause havoc all over the west with big senior seasons?
With Western PA now up and running, the indoor season is now operating on all cylinders. Keep track over the next few weeks to see what influence they will have on the state rankings.
Remember that state rankings shuffle we promised?
At the end of last week, we ensured fans and athletes that the state rankings would go through a major makeover. Now that’s it all over, just how big of a makeover was it?
We will start with the girls field events. The shot put saw the top five marks all change, and six of the top eight overall. The triple jump was half redone with four new marks, including a state leading mark from Shannon Taub of Council Rock South.
In the sprints, the ENTIRE top 8 in the 200 meter dash is brand new! The leader is still the same in US#2 Taylor Chapman of Pennridge, but the list now has zero 200 meter flat track marks. Seven of the eight times all came from Saturday’s Hispanic Games. Lauren Costa of West Allegheny is the lucky one to make the list without having to go to New York City. The 400 meter dash fell one mark short of the same feat, as seven of the top 8 are now from the Hispanic Games. McKenna Keegan of Avon Grove was the lone survivor.
Half of the girls mile was made over, but Marissa Sheva of Pennridge is still the lone sub 5 minute runner in the state. Olivia Sargent of Pennsbury was a little over 3 seconds away from joining the sub 5 minute club. The 3000 meter run saw five new performances, with the 2-4 spots held by Lizzie Morris of Central Bucks East, Hannah Molloy of Pennsbury, and Brooke Hutton of Coatesville only separated by two seconds from each other.
The 4x200 meter relay saw the most change, with five new teams, including new state leaders Susquehanna Township, adding themselves to the top 8.
For the boys, the 200 meter dash was changed everywhere but at the top, where Christian Brissett of Cheltenham still holds his place. The 400 meter dash has a brand new top five from the Hispanic Games all under the previous state lead of 51.01. The 4x2 also have seven of eight new performances, with Pennsbury being the lone survivor from the makeover. The 1600 and 3200 meter runs added new faces from the Youngstown Meet, while the DMR has a brand new top three with Lasalle on top of the pile.
The biggest impact on the boys field event was in the boys shot put, as six of the top eight marks all came from this weekend, including the first 60+ foot indoor throw from Jordan Geist of Knoch.
The indoor season is now officially at its halfway point. Changes will keep coming as more athletes start their seasons. Will we see another massive blow up of our rankings between now and states, or will the top boys and girls be too tough to catch?
