WHITEHALL — When Jordan Geist was a freshman, he felt himself shrinking away from the limelight and the pressure of performing in front of big crowds.

That's no longer a problem for the Knoch senior, who has garnered such colorful nicknames as the Knochness Monster and Kong of Knoch Island as he draws eager onlookers wherever he goes.

Geist put on another show at the WPIAL Boys Class AAA Track and Field Championships Thursday at Baldwin, breaking a district and state record in the discus with a throw of 208 feet, 7 inches to win gold.

He also set a WPIAL record in the shot put with a winning throw of 73-10¾.

Geist won both in front of large crowds, all expecting herculean efforts from him.

He's learned to roll with it.

“Freshman year I have to admit, I was kind of scared,” Geist said. “It was a bit scary, but I learned to embrace it and channel the adrenaline into my throws.”

Geist also has a keen attention to detail.

Most of his throws, both in competition and in practice, are recorded. He and his coaches then dissect every minute detail of the video.

“The amount of technology we have now at our disposal is amazing,” Geist said. “We kind of have to take slow motion video because some of the motions are too fast for the naked eye. Video is crucial. We can slow things down and pick out the tiniest little things.”

Geist won the discus by 31 feet over Jacob White of Central Valley. Geist's 208-7 came on his final throw of the afternoon.

Geist, who will attend Arizona next year and has designs on competing in the Olympics one day, won the shot put by 22 feet over Alex Murray of Hempfield.

“I'm completely happy with how everything went today,” Geist said.

Geist has been practicing the discus more, knowing he has a finite amount of time with the event before he turns his entire focus to the shot put this summer.

The national record is 237 feet in the discus.

“I don't know if I can get that,” Geist said, smiling. “But 208 is a great start. It would be awesome, but if I throw over 200 I'm absolutely ecstatic.”

Geist was just one of many highlights for Butler County competitors Thursday at the WPIAL championships.

Butler's Noah Beveridge cruised to a win in the Class AAA 3,200 run with a time of 9 minutes, 20.85 seconds — nearly five seconds faster than runner-up Trey Razanauskas of Seneca Valley.

Beveridge, a junior, found it telling that runners from Butler and Seneca Valley — two teams in the same section — placed 1-2 in the event.

“Our section is legit,” Beveridge said. “It's been legit since my freshman year. It's really competitive and it really brings the best out of you.

“Seneca Valley and Butler have some beef,” Beveridge said, smiling, “but off the track we're cool.”

Seneca Valley's 3,200 meter relay team of Luke Bellack, Alex Dixon, Seth Ketler and Sam Owori also left the meet with a gold medal and a time of 7:52.07.

The mark was five seconds better than their previous best.

In Class AA, the Freeport 3,200 relay team of Johnathan Asay, Brett Jones, Kevin Lynch and Alec Parker also won a WPIAL title with a time of 8:15.16.

Freeport's Rob Reichenbaugh took home a gold in the 800-meter run.

Reichenbaugh, though, had a tough go of it despite winning with a time of 1:58.30.

“I might have looked good, but I felt terrible,” Reichenbaugh said. “The 800 is a tough event and it really wipes you out. Then I woke up from my nap about a half-hour (before the event). That wasn't a good move by me.”

Reichenbaugh, a senior, is now hoping for a better showing at the PIAA Track and Field Championships next week.

“WPIAL is really good competition, but states is a whole other level,” Reichenbaugh said. “I'm just hoping to medal this year. I fell a little short last year. I just want to go out and run my (personal best) and see what happens.”