RIMERSBURG — What a difference a co-op can make.

Just ask Evie Bliss.

The 2023 Union High School graduate was throwing the javelin in the low 90’s (feet) at the beginning of her junior track and field season — the first year Union and A-C Valley merged their programs.

Prior to the two high school programs merging, Bliss was part of a Union girls track team consisting of approximately 15 athletes. The Union/A-C Valley team had nearly 30.

“It was awesome,” Bliss said of the co-op. “We wound up with such a competitive group of athletes. We all rooted for each other and helped each other.”

And her distances in the javelin took off.

Bliss was throwing 140 feet by the end of her junior season. She set the District 9 record with a toss of 155 feet, 9 inches, this year. She set the state record with a throw of 170 feet, 2 inches at the PIAA Championships in Shippensburg.

Last weekend, Bliss won the USA Track and Field U20 javelin championship in Eugene, Ore., with a throw of 169 feet, 11 inches. She will be competing for Team USA at the Pan-Am National U20 Championships in Puerto Rico Aug. 4-6.

“Never, ever, did I think anything like this would ever happen to me,” Bliss said. “I hit that (169-11) on my first throw and watched everyone else come after me. When that throw stood up, it was so surreal ... I didn’t have words.”

Bliss received her first javelin coaching from her father, Casey Bliss, who competed in the event at Clarion University. She admitted she decided to throw the javelin “because I didn’t want to run the 400 meters.”

When the co-op arrived her junior season, Lexis Twentier became her coach.

“I threw the javelin like a baseball, because I played baseball for years,” Bliss said. “Coach Twentier showed me the basics. She got me going.

“When I started improving my distances, I got into it. I took it more seriously, started watching videos and pushing myself.”

Twentier said Bliss used to throw “with all muscle. Once she got the mechanics down, she just took off. She’s improved her distance 80 feet in less than two years. That’s crazy.”

Bliss also credits Ryan Bell, who threw 240 feet while competing for Westminster College and was her private coach over the past year, for her improvement.

“He helped add another 20 feet to her distance,” Twentier said.

Bell began working with Bliss in December. They did a session once a week until Apruil, when he began working with her four days a week.

A former volunteer coach at Youngstown State University, Bell began giving private lessons and has worked with numerous top-level javelin throwers, including U.S. Olympian Maggie Malone.

“I saw Evelyn throw 145 feet at Slippery Rock, throw in the 140’s at SPIRE ... She had a very short approach and was just muscling,” Bell said. “ I thought she was the best thrower in the state by far. She was just raw.

“Her form was wild, sort of all over the place. We broke it down and rebuilt it from scratch. I know she has high-level ability.”

Bliss will attend Bucknell University in the fall, where she will compete in the javelin and major in biology.

But she has the trip to Puerto Rico coming up first.

“It’s a world event and I’m going to competing there,” Bliss said. “I still can’t believe it.”’