PIAA TRACK AND FIELD: Greencastle-Antrim's Faulkner places fourth in shot put
SHIPPENSBURG — Considering it’s something she basically decided to do for fun, placing fourth in the state just exemplifies her level of athleticism.
Already committed to play Division-I basketball at Holy Cross after she graduates next spring, Greencastle-Antrim’s Jenay Faulkner showcased her versatility on a less familiar stage Friday morning at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.
Improving her distance on each of her six throws, Faulkner’s best mark of 42-1 1/4 earned a fourth-place medal in the girls’ AAA shot put, headlining G-A’s performances on Day 1 of states at Shippensburg University.
“I was sort of nervous at the beginning, that’s why my throws weren’t as good, but they felt good at the end,” Faulkner said. “It’s pretty cool (to win a state medal), especially since I never took it that seriously until I made districts. So to throw this far, I’m definitely going to take it more serious next year.”
Coming off a third-place finish at last weekend’s District 3 Championships, Faulkner surpassed 40 feet on her first throw of Friday’s finals before posting 41-5 and eventually, 42-1 1/4.
“Jenay had a pretty awesome day,” G-A head coach Devin McCauley said. “She showed tremendous poise and kept building on each throw. She’s just a special type of athlete, and she had a mindset to come out and throw well.”
Fellow Blue Devil standout Liam Okal was also in action on Friday, advancing through the preliminaries of the boys’ 200-meter dash.
Okal finished third in his heat to move on to Saturday’s semifinals with a time of 22.38. The senior sprinter entered the event seeded ninth, hoping to join top eight medalist come Saturday afternoon.
“Liam gave himself an opportunity to run again tomorrow and hopefully get a medal,” McCauley said. “We knew coming in that he was going to be on the fringe of the podium, so we’re hoping he can put together two more strong races and see where he stacks up.”
The semifinals of the 200 are set to begin around 11:45 a.m.
Campbell Parker (boys’ shot put) and Lauren Hirneisen (girls’ 1,600) gave G-A four state competitors on Friday, with both missing out on medals in their respective events.
The biggest storyline of the day actually came from Parker’s event, as Jordan Geist of Knoch High School shattered the previous PIAA meet record with a throw of 74-3 1/2 in the shot put.
Parker will get one more shot at the podium Saturday when he throws in the boys’ discus, which is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.
— Contact Ben Destefan at 717-762-2151, bdestefan@therecordherald.com or on Twitter: @bdestefan_RH