SMALL, BUT MIGHTY: Union/A-C Valley Makes Strong Showing at PIAA Track and Field Championships

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Baylee Blauser, Hayden Smith, and Evie Bliss smiled and hugged under the gray skies at Seth Grove Stadium.

(Hayden Smith congratulates Evie Bliss with Baylee Blauser smiling and looking on after Bliss placed second in the javelin on Friday at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.)

They gave each other high-fives. Pats on the back. Compared medals worn around their necks.

It was a special Friday at the PIAA Track and Field Championships for the Union/A-C Valley trio.

Blauser, an A-C Valley senior, and Smith, a Union sophomore, won gold medals. Bliss, a Union junior, snagged a silver.

It’s an almost unheard-of haul at the state meet for schools the size of A-C Valley and Union, even at the Class 2A level.

“It was great,” said Smith, who won the high jump championship at 6 feet, 5 inches. “We feed off each other — all of us. It took a while. It was a little rough at first, but we all clicked.”

This was the first year of the co-op for track and field between the two schools. It came about almost out of necessity — neither A-C Valley nor Union could have put a full, competitive team together this season.

But, the merger allowed the athletes the room and opportunity to grow.

Records at both schools fell almost every meet. Smith dominated in the high jump and Blauser–motivated after an ankle injury as a junior sabotaged her quest for a gold in the long jump at the state meet–completed her redemption tour with a command performance at Shippensburg University.

Blauser won with a leap of 18-6¾, tying her own school record. She also had another jump of 18-4½.

“I knew when we all placed very high at (the District 9 meet) that I would have more people going to states with me,” Blauser said. “It helped me a lot because I can talk to them, and they get my nerves down, and I can do the same for them.”

Both Smith and Blauser were at the state meet last year, but from different schools.

Both placed ninth in their events.

Smith and Blauser said they didn’t know each other until this year when they suddenly became teammates.

“I was a little nervous because I never really talked to a lot of people from Union before,” Blauser said. “I had no clue Hayden was doing so well until this year.”

Smith nodded. “I had no idea (about Baylee), either,” he said.

They quickly found out.

Blauser said competition began to grow within the team. When Smith broke a record, Blauser wanted to do the same.

That trickled down through the rest of the team, which was almost an even split between A-C Valley and Union athletes.

That fostered even more success.

Even co-head coach Shanna Tharan was surprised.

“Initially, no, I didn’t think we’d do as well as we did with six coming to the state meet,” Tharan said. “I planned on Baylee and Hayden.”

But, Bliss peaked in the javelin late in the season and overcame a poor start on Friday afternoon to surge from ninth place into second with a career-best throw of 140 feet, 11 inches.

Junior Landon Chalmers won the District 9 championship in the discus to make his first trip to the PIAA meet, sophomore Dawson Camper also won a district title in the shot put, and sophomore Daniella Farkas qualified in the 300-meter hurdles.

Bliss came in seeded fourth with a throw of 128-7, which came with her district title.

But, she barely made javelin finals Friday, needing a throw of 119-7 feet just to get her in the top nine.

Then she uncorked her big throw of 140-11 — more than 12 feet farther than her career-best.

“Oh my gosh,” Bliss said. “It was crazy.”

So was stepping up to the second-place spot on the podium and getting that silver medal.

With Blauser’s gold and Bliss’ silver on the first day, Union/A-C Valley entered Saturday leading the Class 2A girls team standings.

As Bliss said: “We’re small, but mighty.”

D9 MEDAL COUNT

District 9 athletes brought home 19 medals at the state meets — 17 in Class 2A and two in Class 3A.

There were three gold medals won: Blauser in the long jump, Smith in the high jump, and Mylee Harmon, of Redbank Valley, in the 400-meter run.

Ian Pete, of Brookville, left with three medals — a fourth in the 300-meter hurdles, a third on the Raiders’ 400-meter relay, and an eighth on Brookville’s 1,600 relay.

Kevin Sherry, of Coudersport, and Laiyla Russell, of Cranberry, each won two medals.

Sherry took home a fourth in the 1,600 and a fifth in the 3,200.

Russell was third in the triple jump and sixth in the 100-meter dash.

JUST SHY

There were a number of D9 athletes who just missed out on medals.

Aiden Ortz, of Redbank Valley, in the long jump, Ashley Fox, of Karns City, in the javelin, Ricky Zampogna, of Kane, in the triple jump, Harmon in the 200, Claire Henry, of Redbank Valley, in the pole vault and Rebekah Miller, of Punxsutawney, in the shot put each placed ninth, one spot off the podium.

That’s one of the more heartbreaking places to end up at the state meet.

But, for Henry, it was something to build on.

Last year as a freshman at the PIAA championships, Henry didn’t even clear a height.

This year, she was determined to make a much better showing. She succeeded.

Henry cleared her first attempt at 9 feet, 6 inches and then tied her career best by getting over the bar at 10 feet to finish ninth.

“It was good because I set that goal, but it was also like, ‘Man, I was so close to getting a medal,’” Henry said.

Still, the experience was a good one for Henry, who made some big strides in the event this season.

“I was very relieved (when I cleared 10 feet) because I did it on my third try, and I was thinking I wasn’t gonna get it,” Henry said. “This gives me a boost going into next year.”