SUNBURY - Shamokin's Matt Gass doesn't look like a 400-meter runner. He's about half a foot smaller than all the others, so small that his coach, Mike Rogers, kidded him that his prom photo looked like his First Communion photo.
But then the race starts.
Gass, who last week set a Shamokin school record of 49.98 seconds in the event at the West Chester Invitational, didn't match that time Saturday at the Heartland Coaches Invitational, but he ran a pretty impressive race just the same. Starting in lane three with the fastest seed time, Gass had a tremendous start and had the stagger made up about 100 meters into the race on the way to winning in 50.83 seconds, with his teammate Brandon Nash, coming in second.
Then, in the 1600-meter relay, Gass, running second leg, ran a sub-49 second split as the Indians broke a 35-year-old school record with a time of 3:25.14 to win, with Mount Carmel finishing second. The 1977 team of Rodney Boyer,
Dave Zielinskie, Bob Janaskie and Brian Adams had the record of 3:26.0.
Gass, as part of two wins, was the only area double winner, but he got strong competition from Mount Carmel's Mikael Hause, who won the 1600 and was part of the Red Tornadoes' runner-up 1600-meter relay team. The other area winner was Southern Columbia's Tom Schetroma, who easily won the shot put.
There likely would have been more winners, except for those pesky proms. Shamokin's boys would have been likely favorites in the 3200-meter relay but basically ran a backup team because most of the main guys were at the prom Friday night and just weren't ready to go that early in the morning.
Southern Columbia's Matt Moore easily won his heat of the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.72 seconds, but didn't run in the final or in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, reportedly to get a head start on Southern's prom, which was Saturday night, although that wasn't confirmed by any Southern coaches. Schetroma didn't compete in the discus after the shot put, and some of the other Tigers seemed to be using the meet more as a tuneup for next week's district championships. Several other schools either had proms Friday or scheduled for Saturday night.
Gass said he felt a little sluggish after the big night.
"I was a little tired from the prom, dancing and all that stuff," he said, chuckling. "But I had a real good start (in the 400). I usually try to go get out as fast as I can."
That's because he admittedly worries that the longer, lankier guys might run him down.
"I do worry that I'm going to get caught in the last 100 meters," he said.
In the 1600 relay, Gass took the baton from Zach Santey running about fourth in a heat of six teams, but gave his team a lead over Mount Carmel by the end of the lap, with one infield timer getting his split at 48.6 seconds unofficially. David Williams maintained the slight lead but a bad handoff between him and anchor runner Nash forced the latter runner to go into high gear to catch Mount Carmel's Jacob Kleman. Nash took the lead with a burst at the far turn and maintained it down the stretch.
"Williamsport (which finished eighth) didn't run their best team but we knew we'd get a real good race from Mount Carmel," Gass said.
Hause, who ran with Cody Haupt, Meyrick Lamb and Kleman on the 1600 relay team, said beating the Indians was going to be tough, considering they had the one-two finishers from the 400, but the Tornadoes finished in a strong 3:27.22, which should make them a team to beat at the District 4 AA meet next week.
"I'm going to run these events (the 1600 and relay) the rest of the season," said Hause, who will likely not run the 3200 or 800 at the district meet. "I want to medal at states in the 1600. Last year you had to run 4:29 to get into the final, and that's what I did today."
Hause won the 1600 in 4:29.13 and had the lead the whole way, beating Central Columbia's Andrew Hess (4:32.31) for the second time in four days.
"I felt good the whole way but I wish someone would have pushed me more at the end so I'd have had a faster time," he said.
Schetroma had a throw of 53 feet even in the shot put, winning by more than four feet over runnerup Devante Oliver of Hughesville.
In addition to Mount Carmel's 1600-meter relay team and Nash, there were four other area runners-up. Southern's Joe Kleman was second in the 100 (11.46) and teammate Luke Rarig was second in the high hurdles (15.64). Mount Carmel's Rob Varano tied for second in the pole vault, going 13 feet, 6 inches, and the Red Tornadoes' Gabby Engelke was second in the girls javelin with a throw of 124 feet.
Mount Carmel's Elijah Duran had thirds in both the long (20-8¾) and triple (43-4) jumps. Shamokin's David Williams was third in the 100 (11.49), and Mount Carmel's Eric Joraskie was third in the discus (140-1). On the girls side, Southern's Samantha Bressi was third in the 100 (12.97), Shamokin's Renea Broscious was third in the shot put (34-8) and Mount Carmel's Megan Van Doren was third in the high jump (5-0).
Other area placewinners were:
Fourths - Ray Heromin, Mount Carmel, javelin; Teanna Shutt, Southern Columbia, 1600; Mount Carmel's girls 3200-meter relay; Bailey Bzdak, Southern Columbia, long jump; Brooke Adamski, Southern Columbia, pole vault.
Fifths - Andrew Steely, Southern, 3200; Southern's boys 3200 relay; Joraskie, shot put; Engelke, pole vault.
Sixths - Justin Skavery, Mount Carmel, 1600; Jacob Kleman, Mount Carmel, 300-meter intermediate hurdles; Mount Carmel'sd girls 1600-meter relay; Broscious, discus; Heather Bolick, Mount Carmel, javelin; Ali Varano, Mount Carmel, long jump.
Sevenths - Meyrick Lamb, Mount Carmel, 100; Mount Carmel's boys 3200-meter relay; Josh Tripp, Southern, discus; Alec Zsido, Mount Carmel, pole vault; Ali Varano, Mount Carmel, 200 and 400; Bolick, discus.
Eighths - Rarig, Southern, 300 hurdles and long jump; Cody Pavlick, Southern, shot put and discus; Cathy Fletcher, Mount Carmel, 3200; Bzdak, triple jump.
Mount Carmel finished fourth in the boys team standings with 64 points, with Shamokin and Southern tied for eighth with 40 points each. Williamsport, which had six firsts, won the team title with 99 points. Devon Fisher won the 100 and 200 and paced the Millionaires' winning 400-meter relay team.
Mount Carmel finished eighth in the girls standings with 40 points. Montoursville won the title with 107 points. The Warriors had three champions. Central Columbia's Ellen Shepard won the 100 and 200, and anchored the Blue Jays' winning 1600-meter relay. Williamsport's Rachel Fatherly won the shot and discus, Bloomsburg's Lauren Ball won the 400 and long jump; Danville's Alison Billas won the 1600 and 3200, and Central's Virginia Lamacchia won the high jump and pole vault.