Matthew Prebola was locked in on Tuesday.
The Tunkhannock javelin thrower brought his best to the rare turf runway at North Pocono Middle School in Moscow for the PIAA District 2 AAA Championships, uncorking six throws that were all better than his previous best entering the day.
Prebola's best toss came on his third attempt, landing with a mark of 222 feet, 2 inches, which currently sits at US No. 1 on the season and the seventh best throw in Pennsylvania state history.
But the junior was feeling it right from the start of the event, moving up from US No. 2 in the national lead after his first attempt, which came in at 213-10.
"I felt good going into it," Prebola said. "On the first throw, I just wanted to keep it low -- that was my whole plan going into it. My whole series just felt good."
Video of Prebola's 222-2 mark on his third attempt
He got better from there, going all the way out to 221-6 on his second attempt, and then he popped his best of 222-2 on No. 3. But Prebola didn't think that one was going to be his best of the day
"When that left my hand, I actually didn't think that was my farthest one, so I just surprised myself with that one," he said.
In the finals, Prebola put down marks of 214-0, 218-5, and then another 218-5. Each of the tosses in the series were better than Prebola's previous PR, which stood at 210-0 from the 12th Rock Throws Invitational a few weeks ago. All six throws were also better than the previous US No. 1, which was 211-0 from Missouri's Bryce Kazmaier.
Next up comes the PIAA State Championships at Shippensburg in a week a half, trading in the turf for an all-weather runway. The field is stacked with US No. 7 Collin Burkhart and US No. 10 Tristian Schmidt expected to make things interesting.
"I'm gonna focus on the same things I was today, not gonna change too much," he said of his preparations for states. "I know there's great competition next week. I'm really looking forward to it."
