SHIPPENSBURG - On what was likely the coldest day in PIAA state track and field championships history, several area athletes managed to advance to today's second day and, hopefully, better weather.
Despite temperatures which didn't rise above the mid-50s, and a stiff wind which made the wind chill appreciably colder, several Southern Columbia athletes and North Schuylkill's Dan McSurdy had solid days.
Things didn't go as well for Mount Carmel, however. The Red Tornadoes had entrants in six events and failed to qualify or medal in any of them.
Southern's 3200-meter relay team of Tony Chiavaroli, Jansen Ring, Dylan Swank and Andrew Steely advanced to today's final with a time of 8:22.76, and teammates Luke Rarig and Joe Kleman also advanced to this morning's semifinal round in the 110-meter high hurdles and 100 meters, respectively.
McSurdy advanced to both the 300-meter intermediate hurdle finals and to the 100 final along with Kleman.
"I just wanted to advance to the final," McSurdy said after he and
Rarig ran in the same heat of the 300 intermediates. McSurdy advanced with a time of 40.53, which he said was oky considering the weather.
"The wind was deadly," the senior said, "especially going into the turn. It kind of came at you on a diagonal, and then it just pushed you up the straightaway."
Rarig wasn't as fortunate, failing to advance with a time of 41.87 but was pleased with his earller race in the 110 highs. He had a time of 15.22 to advance to the semifinals but acknowledged feeling some pressure because of being seeded second.
"Definitely, I do," Rarig said. "But I was pretty happy about it. I didn't have a good race (in the 300s)."
Rarig said a good start is essential for him in the highs this morning.
"You need a good start and a clean race because the hurdles down here will break you," he said.
Kleman first advanced to the 100 semifinals with a time of 11.15 seconds in the morning, then doubling with a 23.04 time in the 200 late in the afternoon.
McSurdy advanced to the 100 semifinals with a time of 11.02.
"My start has to be good in the 100," the senior said.
Also advancing to finals were North Schuylkill's Brendan Shearn and Southern's Andrew Steely. With Shearn, Steely and several other District 4 runners working with each other in both heats, those two plus Lewisburg's Sean Walker, Danville's Tyler Vella, Wellsboro's Bobby Hill, Hughesville's Jay Hiller and Northeast Bradford's Sam Williams all made the finals, taking seven of the 12 spots. Shearn ran 4:30.45 and Steely 4:30.64.
Mount Carmel (8:36.35) and North Schuylkill (8:50.96) both failed to advance in the 3200 relay.
Mount Carmel's 400 relay team finally had its luck run out. The Red Tornadoes had two bad handoffs, the second of which resulted in the team not finishing its qualilfying heat and being eliminated.
The Red Tornadoes' Eric Joraskie just missed medaling in the shot put, finishing 10th with a throw of 48-9, and Rob Varano placed 11th in the pole vault (12-6). Elijah Duran also finished 11th, in the triple jump, with a leap of 42-51/4.
Shamokin's Matt Gass, the only area AAA entrant on Friday, failed to advance to the 400-meter finals with a time of 52.21 seconds.