After the final day of the District 6 Championships on May 16, Tyrone Head Coach Brad Kanuch realized they would need a bus instead of a van to transport all the athletes who qualified for the PIAA State Championship Meet at Shippensburg next weekend.
Tyrone had athletes reach the podium in 17 different events and qualified for States in nine events. The girls finished in third place overall, and the boys were fifth.
According to former Tyrone head coach Chris Shedd, the last time Tyrone took more than one van to states was from 2011-2013 when the team had 15 athletes twice and 13 athletes once. This year 16 Tyrone track athletes will be making the trip to States.
The medal count began on Tuesday when Tyrone earned a gold from senior long jumper Becca Lewis and a bronze from senior long jumper Brady Ronan (see related story).
On day two, the girls continued their domination of the 4×100 relay, winning gold for the fifth consecutive year.
The relay team of Nicole Ramsey, Becca Lewis, Bree Paul, and Sarah Chichester broke ran a 49.94, breaking their own school record again.
“We really wanted to break the 50-second barrier and we knew we could do it in that race,” freshman Sarah Chichester said. “It was so exciting to actually do it.”
The boys’ 4×100 team of Andrew Weaver, Brady Ronan, Seth Hoover, and Draven Crowell set a new personal best record by half a second to take second, running a 44.0, three-tenths of a second below the state standard of 44.3.
The boys’ 4×800 relay of Ethan McCloskey, Rocky Romani, Steven Buck, and Aiden Detwiler placed second with an 8:19.73, setting a new PR by half a second.
The 4×800 is just two-tenths of a second off the school record with an opportunity to set a new mark at States.
“I’ve never seen Coach Kanuch as happy as he was after the boys four by eight,” said senior Tony Hughes.
The boys 4×400 relay of Drew Irons, Steven Buck, Brady Ronan, and Rocky Romani also PRed by four seconds and took third running a 3:27.47
“It’s awesome. We had a five or six-second PR. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to go to States as a freshman. I’m pretty excited for it,” Irons said.
Bree Paul placed third in the 300 hurdles running a 47.36 breaking the school record she set earlier in the season yet again. Paul missed out on second place by only .004 of a second.
“Being able to place and make it to States was a huge goal of mine,” Paul said, “I’m super excited to have the opportunity to go and I hope to PR while I’m there.”
Senior Brady Ronan placed top three in all his events, bringing home the silver in the 4×100, and 3 bronzes in the 200, 4×400, and long jump.
Senior Becca Lewis placed top three in all four of her events, earning gold in the long jump and as a member of the 4×100 relay, and two bronzes in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash.
In addition to being part of the winning 4×100 relay team, sophomore Nicole Ramsey placed fifth in the triple jump with a 36-00.25, surpassing the state standard of 35-06.0
“I’m really happy with how the triple jump went. One of my biggest goals this season was to compete at states and I’m really excited to see how the state meet goes this year,” Ramsey said.
Romani took 8th in the 400m dash run running a 1:02.15, a full 10 seconds off his best time, but Romani wasn’t even disappointed, because he ran the slow time to reach another goal.
“I know I could’ve done better in the 400, but I was saving myself for the 4×400 relay,” said Romani. “Helping my team get to states in that event was much more important to me than getting a personal best in my individual 400.”
Also reaching the podium, but not making it to the state meet were sophomore Nicole Ramsey and freshman Sarah Chichester who placed fifth and seventh in the 200.
Junior Aiden Detwiler sadly just missed out on a trip to states, taking fourth in the 800, running a 2:02.38.
“Fourth is the toughest place to get,” said Detwiler, “But I’m really excited to make it to states in the relay.”
Senior Andrew Weaver placed sixth in the long jump with a 20-3.5, and Addison Warren took eighth in pole vault, and the girls 4×400 took fifth.
The State Championship Meet will be held at Shippensburg University on Friday, May 24, and Saturday, May 25.
Tickets must be purchased online by clicking the link below:
https://www.piaa.org/sports/tickets.aspx