BUFFALO TWP — As a young girl, Michaela Bowser remembers watching Bronte Soul sprint down the runway and launch herself in the air in the long and triple jumps for the Freeport girls track and field team.

“I remember saying, 'I want to be like her,'” Bowser said.

A few years later, Bowser is just like Soul.

And the Yellowjackets' senior couldn't be happier.

“As a freshman, I looked at it like, 'Man, I can't wait until I'm a senior,'” Bowser said. “Watching Bronte, she was my motivation. I knew each jump, I wanted to get close to her.”

Bowser still has some distance to make up between her and Soul, who has the long and triple jump records for the Yellowjackets.

But on Thursday at the WPIAL Class AA Team Semifinals, Bowser notched career bests in the long jump (16 feet, 6 inches) and in the triple jump (34-6).

That helped Freeport roll to wins over OLSH (110-39), Keystone Oaks (120-30) and Trinity Christian (135-20), which puts it into the team finals for the seventh straight season.

“That was a huge goal. We all went into today thinking we could do it, we could make it,” Bowser said. “That's the mindset you have to have. If you don't, you're not going to go anywhere. We give a lot of support to each other.”

Zoe Pawlak had the best throws of any competitor in the shot put, discus and javelin and Dava Jack was the fastest in the 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash for the Yellowjackets.

In a way, Freeport boys and girls track and field coach John Gaillot is very much like Bowser. As an assistant for nearly two decades under previous head coach Bill Dillen, Gaillot said he looked up to him.

When he took over the program three seasons ago, Gaillot simply wanted to maintain what Dillen had crafted.

“I'm doing everything the same way he did it,” Gaillot said. “We just tell them to compete. Just try to better yourself every day. That's all we ask, just to be competitors. We don't look at it like you have to win everything. Just work hard and get better and every athlete we've had here under Bill and myself has done that.”

The Freeport girls will compete for a WPIAL team title at 4 p.m. Monday at Baldwin High School.

It'll be the last of three big meets in a six-day stretch for Freeport. Tuesday the Yellowjackets competed in the WPIAL Class AA Northern Qualifier.

“It's tough,” Bowser said. “But, luckily, I did well at (the qualifier) and it carried over to today.”

The Freeport boys missed out on joining the Yellowjacket girls at the team finals, losing to Riverside 86-64. Freeport's boys did beat South Allegheny 103-47.

Cole Hepler hit 164 feet in the javelin and Colin Meehan had the best time of the day in both the 1,600 and 3,200 for Freeport.

Boys

Freeport 103, South Allegheny 47

Riverside 86, Freeport 64

Riverside 115, South Allegheny 35

3,200 relay: Riverside 8:48; 110 hurdles: Moore (SA) 16:16; 100 dash: Tedys (R) 11.49; 1,600 run: ColinMeehan (F) 5:15; 400 run: Tedys (R) 52.36; 400 relay: Freeport 45.12; 300 hurdles: Cleckey (R) 40.64; 800 run: Tedys (R) 2:14; 200 dash: Igles (SA) 22.5; 3,200 run: Meehan (F) 11:21; 1,600 relay: Riverside 3:33.93

Shot put: Sheridan (R) 45-4¾; Discus: Sheridan (R) 154-1½; Javelin: Hepler (F) 164-0; High jump: Shendon (R) 6-0; Long jump: Tedys (R) 21-3¾; Triple jump: Sheridan (R) 41-5; Pole vault: Hubert (PV) 11-6

Girls

Freeport 110, OLSH 39

Freeport 135, Trinity Christian 14

Freeport 120, Keystone Oaks 30

OLSH 76, Keystone Oaks 70

Keystone Oaks 104, Trinity Christian 37

OLSH 105, Trinity Christian 35

3,200 relay: Freeport 10:45; 100 hurdles: Dava Jack (F) 16.28; 100 dash: Dava Jack (F) 13.45; 1,600 run: Richardson (OLSH) 5:52; 400 run: Shiring (F) 1:05.65; 400 relay: Freeport 51.85; 300 hurdles: Grace Ward (F) 50.21; 800 run: Richardson (OLSH) 2:34; 200 dash: Dava Jack (F) 27.48; 3,200 run: Cejer (OLSH) 13.26; 1,600 relay: OLSH 4:29.54

Shot put: Zoe Pawlak (F) 36-11½; Discus: Pawlak (F) 96-8; Javelin: Pawlak (F) 109-10; High jump: Super (KO) 4-10; Long jump: Michaela Bowser (F) 16-6; Triple jump: Bowser (F) 34-6; Pole vault: Solander (F) 7-6