Live blog from PIAA track and field championships - WPIAL has two winners
By Mike White | Friday, May 28, 2010
This is a live blog from PIAA track and field championships at Shippensburg University.
Overcast day with a slight breeze. Actually a little cool. There was a chance of a shower this afternoon and it got dark for a short while, but no rain.
The WPIAL had two champions today - Quaker Valley's Tabitha Bemis in the Class AA long jump and Hempfield's Rachel Serafin in the Class AAA shot put. Look below for highlights on their championships and some photos. Also check tomorrow's Post-Gazette for stories and results.
5:57 p.m. - See ya. We'll be back on line (hopefully) late tomorrow morning.
5:50 p.m. - All of the prelminiary heats in the individual running events are now complete. Heading into tomorrow's semifinals or finals, here are the WPIAL runners who are seeded first:
CLASS AAA BOYS
None
CLASS AA BOYS
200 - Trenton Coles, Clairton, 22.09
400 - Trenton Coles, Clairton, 48.23.
800 - Evan Miller, Laurel, 1:57.53.
1,600 - Omar Hyjek, Quaker Valley, 4:21.
110 hurdles - Josh McFrazier, New Brighton, 14.31.
300 hurdles - Sean Deschamps, McGuffey, 39.27.
CLASS AAA GIRLS
800 - Elise Farris, Hopewell, 2:15.75.
1,600 - Margo Malone, North Hills, 4:59.70.
CLASS AA GIRLS
800 - Haley Pisarcik, South Park, 2:18.09.
1,600 - Haley Pisarcik, South Park, 5:03.29
100 hurdles - 1. Tabitha Bemis, Quaker Valley, 15.19
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
5:00 p.m. - All field events are now over for the day. Here are any WPIAL athletes who won silver or bronze:
CLASS AAA BOYS
Triple jump - Richard Rouse, Penn Hills, third place, 47-2. (The winner, Carlton Lavong of Methacton, set a state record at 50-5).
CLASS AA BOYS
Triple jump - Chris Weathers, New Brighton, third place, 45-9 1/2.
Javelin - Billy Stanley, South Park, third place, 200-5.
CLASS AAA GIRLS
Javelin - Tori Paterra, Elizabeth Forward, second place, 145-4
CLASS AA GIRLS
Pole vault - Marissa Kalsey, Waynesburg, second place, 11-0.
Long jump - Erikka Williams, Rochester, 18-3 1/4.
4:45 p.m. - Earlier today, one of the surprises: Elizabeth Forward's Tori Paterra didn't win the Class AAA girls' javelin championship. Felt bad for her. She was pretty upset.
Paterra, pictured to the left, was easily the No. 1 seed after setting a WPIAL record last week with a throw of 162-9. But she finished second with a throw of 145-4. Indian Valley's Laura Loht won with 145-9.
"This is what I had been working all year for, to win this," Paterra said.
4:30 p.m. - Meet is still going on. Final event (1,600 relay) won't be finished until well after 6 p.m. But there are no running finals today. Only finals in half of the field events.
4:25 p.m. - Had some technical problems for a while. We'll bring up to date on things shortly.
12:55 p.m. – Watching boy pole vaulters. You gotta be a little crazy to do that event.
12:50 p.m. – North Hills’ Margo Malone, who set a record at last week’s WPIAL championship, had the best time in the Class AAA 1,600 at 4:59.70. Can she beat Pennsbury’s Sara Sargent, who ran a 5:00.17, but has run low 4:50s.
12:40 p.m. – Another result. Ambridge’s India McCoy finished fourth in the Class AAA high jump at 5-4.
12:35 p.m. – On Monday, Shippensburg will start tearing up the natural grass field here and will replace it with synthetic turf. Also are supposed to add lights. Wonder if PIAA will push back their start time of the meet next year. It starts at 9 a.m. each day.
12:20 p.m. – Vanek failed at 12-9. She still has the record at 12-7.
12:08 p.m. – Crowd just gave a nice roar. Allison Vanek of Wilson Area (District 11) just broke the Class AA girls pole vault record of 12-3. Then she broke it again, clearing 12-7. She is now trying 12-9.
***********************************************************************
11:15 a.m. – TWO CHAMPIONS FOR THE WPIAL!!!!
Tabitha Bemis of Quaker Valley won the Class AA long jump this morning. Hempfield’s Rachel Serafin won the Class AAA shot put.
Bemis won the title on her sixth and final jump. But get this. She won by a grand total of ¼ inch. That’s right ONE-QUARTER INCH. Hard to believe.
Bemis, pictured above with her gold medal, jumped 18 feet, 3 ½ inches. Rochester’s Erikka Williams was second at 18-3 ¼. Here’s the funny thing. Bemis didn’t even know she won until she came to the awards area. After her final jump, she knew she jumped 18-3 and something. She also knew Williams had 18-3 and something.
"I had to hurry up and run the hurdles, so I had no idea who won," Bemis said.
Bemis, by the way, had the No. 1 qualifying time in the 100 hurdles at 15.19.
Serafin, pictured below with her gold medal, won the Class AAA shot put with a throw of 44-3 ¼. 
It was her personal best and more than 4 feet better than her throw of 40-4 ½ at last week’s WPIAL championships. She finished third last week behind Elizabeth Forward’s Tori Paterra (41-10) and Butler’s Briana Lumley, 40-8.
"That was a wakeup call to me," Serafin said.
But this time, Serafin finished ahead of both. Paterra finished fourth at 40-11 ¾. Lumley was seventh at 39-1.
10:45 a.m. – Gotta love Shippensburg this time of year. When the wind blows a certain way, you get a nice whiff of manure. But that’s OK because this is a perfect place for the track championships, which have been held here since the late 1970s. The size of the stadium is perfect for this. It might hold 6,000 or 7,000 and by tomorrow, the stands are just about full. It’s a nice atmosphere.
The PIAA is happy to have the track championships at Shippensburg. The facility is good. Plus, the college is willing to house the athletes in dorms for the weekend. According to some PIAA officials in the past, not many colleges would be willing to house athletes at their dorms for a few days.
10:30 a.m. – Here is how it works. All running events today are preliminary heats. The semifinals and finals are tomorrow. Half of the field events will be today and the other half tomrrow.