Carter Green's prodigious discus throw of 152 feet, 7 inches at last week's District 11-AA championships has earned her the top seed for in the event at the PIAA state championships - by a large margin.
Green's district-winning throw - her best by more than 10 feet - has her more than 25 feet ahead of the second-seeded competitor, Wilmington's Julie Falvo, who was seeded at 127-4.
But Green, a North Schuylkill junior, knows better than anyone that being seeded high for the state meet and actually matching that seeding are two different things.
After finishing fifth as a freshman in 2011, Green was seeded third in the discus last season. She was all set for the competition after some fine throws during warmups. Once the competition started, everything seemed to go wrong. She threw about 105 feet on her first throw then fouled on her next two attempts to leave Shippensburg without a medal.
Green and teammate Carly Gregas are the only area girls competing this season. Gregas, who tied for fifth in the high jump last season at 5-2, is seeded fourth this year with a leap of 5-4. The top seed is District 4 champion Jocelyn Pasqual of Milton, at 5-6.
Another Spartan, Brendan Shearn, knows all about winning state titles. He won the 3200-meter run last season after finishing second the year before, and also has a state cross country title and a second on his resume. But if he's going to successfully defend his 2012 3200 title, Shearn is going to have to beat a very strong field.
Shearn is seeded second (9:17.31) behind the guy he beat down the stretch last season, Holy Cross' Rico Galassi. who is seeded at 9:15.78. After Shearn, there are no less than 13 runners who bested the state qualifying time of 9:48.01 at their district meets, including a
pair of strong runners from District 4, Northeast Bradford's Sam Williams and South Williamsport sophomore Griffin Molino. Shearn has run a 9:04 this season at an invitational.
Shearn is seeded fourth in the 1600 (4:24.22) with Ryan Smathers of North East (District 10) the top seed at 4:17.13. Southern Columbia's Andrew Steely is seeded eighth (4:26.00) and one of a stunning seven runners from Disrtict 4 who cracked the qualifying standard of 4:31.13. In fact, five of the top eight seeds are from District 4.
Southern Columbia's Luke Rarig is also seeded second, in the AA 110-meter high hurdles, with a time of 15.00. The top seed is Neumann-Goretti's Todd Townsend (14.70). Rarig and North Schuylkill's Dan McSurdy are both seeded highly in the 300-meter hurdles, with Rarig eighth (40.22) and McSurdy fifth (39.73). Riverview's Tyler Murphy is the top seed (38.89). McSurdy is also seeded fifth in the 100 (11.16) with Springfield-Montco Jhaloni Johnson the top seed (10.87).
Two other high seeds are Mount Carmel's Rob Varano in the pole vault (13-6) and Southern Columbia's 3200-meter relay team of Steely, Dylan Swank, Tony Chiavaroli and Jansen Ring. They're seeded seventh (8:09.84). Annville-Cleona (7:53.87) is the top seed with a team that could take a shot at Lewisburg's 2004 AA state record of 7:44.44.