A pair of Moon Area sophomores came home with multiple medals during Saturday’s final day of competition at the PIAA Track and Field Championships, held at Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University.
Rachel Stepp topped all runners except one in the Class 3A girls 400-meter final, finishing second to Cedar Crest’s Kaddel Howard to capture the silver medal. Stepp also medaled after finishing seventh in the 200 meters.
And in the wheelchair division, fellow sophomore Nathan Kustra took home the gold in the 400 meters and silver in both the 100 and 200 meters.
Kustra’s time of 1:25.55 in the 400 placed him ahead of Seneca Valley’s Mitchell Everly, who finished in 1:36.01.
Kustra finished second behind Upper St. Clair’s Holden Schwamberger in both the 100 and the 200. Schwamberger’s time in the 100 was 35.32 compared with Kustra’s 39.53. In the 100, Schwamberger finished in 18.59 to Kustra’s 22.65.
Stepp, who won both the 200 and the 400 events at last week’s WPIAL meet, clocked a time of 56.02 Saturday in the 400 in finishing behind Howard, who had won the event the last three years and made it four straight Saturday. The University of Florida commit finished in 54.56.
Stepp ran a 55.05 during Friday’s qualifying.
In the 200, Stepp finished in 24.88, down slightly from her qualifying time of 24.73 on Friday.
Cheltenham’s Amirah Nesmith won the 200 Saturday with a time of 24.05.
Upper St. Clair’s Sadie Tomczyk, whom Stepp outdueled during the WPIAL 200 race, finished fifth in 24.63.
Moon coach Andrew Parshall said the 400-meter race was even for most of the first 200 meters.
“It was nip-and-tuck and then (Howard) just pulled away,” he said. “Rachel was second and held on.
“We’ll have the top returner next year (in the 400).”
Stepp said she thought things went well, despite the rainy and cold conditions.
“I met my goals there, which was to finish second in the 400 and make it to the finals in the 200,” she said.
Stepp said Howard did not get off to a fast start, which surprised her, “but she passed us all after 200 and just took off. I was just trying to pick off one runner at a time after that, and I pushed myself at the end a lot just to get that one (last) girl.”
In the 200, Stepp said she did not have the best start. “I tried to pick it up at the end but it’s hard because that race is so short,” she said.
Stepp said her trip to the state meet and the season as a whole was a great learning experience.
“The big thing I learned this year was that consistency and all the preparation will pay off at the bigger meets,” she said. “It’s important to stay consistent with each of your races and not let your nerves get to you when it comes to the big races.”
Stepp said she naturally has nerves before every race, no matter the stakes. “I keep telling myself, ‘You know how to run the 400 — you’ve run so many of them,’” she said. “You just have to run your race.”
Several other West Hills athletes competed Saturday but did not medal.
Moon’s Sonya Taylor finished 17th in the girls 800 with a time of 2:16.72. Vivian Salerno of J.P. McCaskey won the race in 2:08.61.
In the boys 800, Moon’s Samuel Herrera wound up 22nd with a time of 2:00.32. Josh Sharp of Upper Darby claimed the gold medal with a time of 1:51.44.
In Class 2A, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart’s 4×800 relay team of Lindsay Bressler, Eva Crofford, Charlotte Gauntner and Hannah Hayes finished 18th with a time of 10:19.58. Hughesville took home the gold with a time of 9:23.39.
Two Charger athletes won medals Friday in Trey Moses and Owen Wasko, who placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Class 2A boys javelin competition. Moses set a school record with his throw of 181 feet, 9 inches.
Parshall said that despite the rainy, cold weather, his athletes from Moon performed admirably.
“It was some of the worst weather I’ve seen there,” he said. “I thought overall we did really well – the kids performed up to their ability amid the harsh conditions.”
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