It will be a brave new world for District 4 track and field athletes, coaches, officials and fans on Saturday when, probably for the first time since the PIAA went to two classes for track, the district will run a combined AA-AAA meet, starting at 9:30 a.m. at Athens High School.
Previously, the AAA boys and girls meet was held in either mid-week or Friday night, and the AA meet was held on Saturday. But with only about a half-dozen AAA schools in the district, running a separate meet was becoming a bit of a burden. Whether moving all those athletes to the same venue as the AA athletes will prove to be less of a burden will be known at about 9 p.m. Saturday.
Other districts combine their meets, but usually in a two-day format. Trying to crown 72 event champions in a single day may prove to be trying.
According to the District 4 website's entrants list, there are a total of 1,195 entries, 683 on the track and another 512 in the field. Divided by 72 events, that's an average of roughly 17 entries per event, which means the schedule is going to be of paramount importance.
The final event, the AAA boys 4 x 400 relay, is scheduled to go off at 4:50 p.m. But what has tournament officials keeping their fingers crossed, obviously, is the weather. The forecast is for sunny skies and temperature in the mid-70s, and the meet would go with minimal problems even if there was a steady, soaking rain.
But this being May, there is always the possibility of a thunderstorm. PIAA rules mandate for all outdoor events that action must stop for a half hour at any sign of lightning. That means if a violent storm rolls through the Northern Tier for say, an hour mid-meet, the delay would actually be at least an hour and a half.
We're not even taking into account injuries, delays for athletes who are competing in two events at the same time and the other oddities that can occur at track meets, such as the high jumpers and pole vaulters all deciding to make every height.
No shortage of stars
As for the meet itself, it won't be short of stars. There will be 22 returning state placewinners, including some of the stars of Montoursville's and Lewisburg's girls and boys 3200-meter relay teams, which each won state titles. Lewisburg's boys were also second in the 1600 relay, and Lewisburg and Bloomsburg were third and fourth, respectively, in the girls 400-meter relay. Lewisburg's team was pretty well decimated in that event, but the Bloomsburg team is almost intact, including Lauren Ball, who was third in the long and triple jumps at the state meet. Williamsport's Rachel Fatherly was third in both the AAA girls shot put and discus.
The area contingent will be led by six defending district champions, including Southern Columbia hurdler Matt Moore, who won both the 110-meter highs and 300-meter intermediate hurdles last year, then placed second at the state meet in the latter event. Moore is seeded first in both events with times of 14.59 and 39.54, respectively.
Other area defending champions are Mount Carmel's Heather Bolick and Megan Van Doren in AA girls javelin and high jump, respectively, Shamokin's Alaina Petrovich (AAA girls high jump) and Shamokin's boys 3200-meter relay team, which has three of its four runners from last season back and is seeded first.
Bolick, Van Doren and Petrovich can attest how good the competition can be, though. The three defending champions are seeded sixth, fifth and seventh, respectively, this year.
Returning area runners-up include Mount Carmel's Mikael Hause (AA 1600), Southern Columbia's Tom Schetroma (AA shot put), Shamokin's Matt Gass (AAA 400), Mount Carmel's Ali Varano (AA long jump) and Shamokin's boys 1600-meter relay team. Schetroma, Gass and the Indians' 1600-meter relay team all are top seeds.
Returning third-place finishers include Varano (AA 400), Shamokin's Renea Broscious (AAA shot put), Mount Carmel's Eric Joraskie (AA discus) and Shamokin's girls 1600-meter relay.
Other area top seeds are Mount Carmel's Meyrick Lamb (AA 400) and Elijah Duran (AA triple jump).