Third time the charm
SHIPPENSBURG — The yearly pilgrimage to Seth Grove Stadium and the PIAA Track and Field Championships had been a test to the faith of Paige Rittelmann.
The Butler junior had made it to Shippensburg University and the state meet the last two years and left with two disappointing showings.
This year, though, was different.
Rittelmann cleared 5 feet, 5 inches in the high jump to place fourth Friday morning.
“Kids definitely do better the second time they go (to the state meet),” said Butler girls track coach Annessa Steele. “But with Paige, this was her third time out there. I was just hoping she wouldn't get stuck in a rut out here.”
Rittelmann, though, was a jump away from finishing third. Anne Holland of Pennridge won the event with a jump of 5-7.
“I'm really proud of her,” Steele said. “She jumped really well. She had a lot of confidence and had a good mental approach (Friday).”
Rittelmann wasn't the only Butler standout Friday.
Senior Danica Snyder broke her own school record in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5 minutes, 6.83 seconds in the preliminaries.
But Snyder didn't advance to the finals.
“There are a lot of good girls 1-milers out here,” Steele said. “We had a pretty good day, though.”
So did Seneca Valley's Hunter Williams, who broke the school record in the 400-meter preliminaries with a time of 48.75.
That broke the mark of 48.8 set by Dan Swingle in 1982 and was good enough to send Williams to Saturday's finals.
The Raiders' 400 relay team also set a school record with a time of 3:18.79, breaking their own mark of 3:20.17 set at the WPIAL finals.
