SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — Samantha Montgomery was taking nothing for granted entering the District 10 Track and Field Championships.

After turning in an effort of 17 feet, 10 inches in the Class 3A girls long jump, however, she allowed herself to start thinking about a district title.

“I was really confident after that,” the Slippery Rock junior said. “Honestly, I’m surprised I jumped that far.”

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The distance held up as the nearest competitor was Franklin’s Lilyan Miller with her 17-6.25.

It was the first of four titles won by Slippery Rock’s girls, who also claimed the high jump (Lydia Springirth), pole vault (Natalie Wilson) and javelin (Lyla Runtas).

Slippery Rock finished in second place in the team standings with 111 points. McDowell won the championship with 113.5.

The Rockets were a Class 2A program during Montgomery’s freshman season in 2024. District 10 sends its top two from each event in that classification to the state meet. But Slippery Rock is now Class 3A, meaning only the district champion is guaranteed a spot at PIAAs.

That fact was a key motivator in Montgomery’s desire to improve. She placed third here last year at 17-2.

Her effort Saturday was 1.25 inches better than her previous best and is an inch shy of Pam Gearing’s school record from the 1970s.

Montgomery entered the meet ranked No. 1 in the district.

“You can’t just expect to win,” she said. “You never know how far other girls are going to jump. I will have to work hard and jump even further to do well at states.”

Springirth’s No. 2 seed in the high jump came from an effort of 5-1 in what she referred to as “a dual-meet with no pressure earlier this season.”

With much more on the line, she topped the field Saturday at 4-11. Top seed Lilly Newton from Warren finished third at 4-9.

“I was hoping to win and make states but didn’t know if I could do it,” said Springirth, a freshman. “When (Newton) missed her attempts at 4-11, I thought, ‘I can win this.’”

Springirth, who took on the high jump two years ago, experimented with a nine-step run-up but has returned to seven steps, with which she is more comfortable.

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The weather conditions during the girls javelin event were far from optimal.

“It was a downpour, windy and cold. Yeah, so fun,” Runtas said. “I just wanted to get it out there.”

The junior’s heave of 96-11, a personal record, turned out to be the day’s best.

“I threw the javelin last year but did not qualify for districts,” she said. “Since then, I got a lot of help from my coaches.”

Wilson said the most challenging aspect of competing in the pole vault, which she picked up last year, has been staying confident.

Her district title with a height of 10-6 should help in that regard.

Titusville’s Willa Kirvan was the only other vaulter to reach 10 feet, settling for runner-up at that height.

“I was hoping for 10-10, but am happy with how I did,” Wilson said. “I’m so excited to be going to states. I want to make my family and coaches proud.”

Slippery Rock senior middle distance runner Hunter Doerflinger had previously just missed making states in both track and cross country.

“I always came up short, but this was my last chance,” he said. “It was personal today.”

He placed fourth in the Class 2A boys 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.15, meeting the state qualifying standard by over a second.

“I did everything I could leading up to today. Ate well, slept well. … I felt amazing in practices this week and was very confident I could get it done.”

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It was the fourth time this season Doerflinger had run a 1:58 in the event.

“My goal at states is to go 1:55,” he said. “It’s a big jump, but I can do it.”

A total of five 800 runners from District 10 will compete at the Class 2A state meet.

“I knew there were four or five of us who are really good,” Doerflinger said. “Today, it was us and everybody else.”

Following are the Slippery Rock athletes who earned a medal by placing in the top eight at Saturday’s District 10 Track and Field Championships, held at Slippery Rock University.

Boys

800: 4-Hunter Doerflinger 1:58.15

Girls

4x800 relay: 3-Slippery Rock (Springirth, Robare, Perez, Yeager) 10:06.14

100 hurdles: 4-Rhenna Humphery 16.86, 5-Camryn Gercken 17.62

1,600: 7-Kasey Yeager 5:39.34, 8-Leah Perez 5:50.22

4x100 relay: 6-Slippery Rock (Gearhart, S.Thangiah, Montgomery, D.Thangiah) 51.96

300 hurdles: 3-Camryn Gercken 50.04, 5-Rhenna Humphery 51.27

800: 4-Kasey Yeager 2:31.53, 8-London Galino 2:33.9

3,200: 8-Kasey Yeager 12:37.04

4x400 relay: 6-Slippery Rock (Gercken, Pardoe, Robare, Workman) 4:25.96

Shot put: 7-Leah Hardesty 30-11.5

Discus: 7-Jolin Lin 91-8

Javelin: 1-Lyla Runtas 96-11, 4-Joann Lin 94-3, 5-Autumn Christie 92-1

High jump: 1-Lydia Springirth 4-11, 4-Gwendolyn Kuciak 4-9, 5-Camryn Gercken 4-9

Long jump: 1-Samantha Montgomery 17-10

Triple jump: 2-Samantha Montgomery 35-5.5

Pole vault: 1-Natalie Wilson 10-6