Busy weekend for Slippery Rock duo
When the PIAA Track and Field Championships begin Friday morning, no two people will be busier at Shippensburg University than Slippery Rock's Emma McDermott and Anna Kadlubek.
Both athletes qualified for the state meet in four events.
And both wouldn't have it any other way.
“Honestly, I can't believe it happened,” Kadlubek said. “I'm super excited.”
So is McDermott. The senior qualified for the state meet as a freshman in the long jump and triple jump, but a knee injury wiped out her sophomore year and hindered her during her junior campaign.
This year, McDermott is healthy and qualified in the long jump and triple jump again. She will also run legs on the Rockets' 400- and 1,600-meter relays in Class AA.
For McDermott, the more events she can do at the state meet the better.
“I'm not too worried about it,” said McDermott, a senior. “My events are pretty spread out. I'm looking forward to running on that track. I've never run on that track before.”
McDermott is seeded eighth in both jumps — a fact that caught her a bit by surprise.
“I didn't think I would be that high up on the list,” McDermott said. “The top two places have crazy jumps, but the rest of us are pretty close. I just need to execute and go all out. This is it for me, not just this year but for my life. I will never do this again.”
McDermott will play basketball at Mercyhurst University next season.
Kadlubek isn't going anywhere next year.
Only a sophomore, Kadlubek qualified for the state meet this season in the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter run and in the same relays as McDermott.
Kadlubek had run the 400 sparingly this season, but won the district title in that event.
She's seeded 15th in the 200 and 20th in the 400.
“I was surprised about the 400,” said Kadlubek, who admitted she is not fond of that grueling race. “It's not my favorite, but I'll give it my best.”
The 200 is in her wheelhouse, though. Despite struggling getting out to fast starts in the event, Kadlubek broke her own school record in the event this season with a time of 25.79 seconds.
“I'm really just going to run hard in practice and work on my starts to get ready,” Kadlubek said. “I'm going to try to work on exploding out of the blocks. I'm not the best at that.”
McDermott is simply going to enjoy the experience.
And the company.
There is no shortage of Slippery Rock athletes making the trip to Ship.Maryann Ackerman is seeded second in the javelin — but her best throw of the season is several feet better than anyone in the state.Gianna Bedel is seeded sixth in the high jump and Emily Sarver 20th in the triple jump.“I'm going to the state meet doing all the events I love with my closest friends,” McDermott said. “And it happens to be my senior year. I feel super blessed.”Other things to look for on the girls side at the PIAA Track and Field Championships:Liz Simms gets a chance at a bit of redemption.After collapsing mere meters away from the finish line while running the anchor leg of the 3,200-meter relay last season, felled by the heat, Simms has taken a new approach on this trip in Shippensburg.Simms is seeded seventh in the Class AAA 800-meter run and will also run a leg of the 1,600-meter relay, which is seeded 25th.“Not running the (3,200 relay) will be new for me,” Simms said. “We didn't get through. It's kind of disappointing.“But then there are people who are striving to make it in just one, so you have to put it in perspective. My last few races I'm just going to try to enjoy and embrace.”Simms' teammate, Anna Baxter, is also looking for big performances at the state meet.She's seeded 11th in the 300 hurdles and will also run with Simms on the 1,600 relay.She ran the best time of her career at 45.50 seconds at the WPIAL championships last week.“I know I definitely haven't run my fastest yet,” Baxter said.Baxter takes an aggressive approach in hurdles that straddles the line between clearing a hurdle and falling.“I try not to worry about falling,” Baxter said. “My coach (Jeff Renwick), his famous last words before we run is, 'You need to run like a maniac. You need to run on the edge of disaster.'” Baxter paused to chuckle. “That's usually quite intimidating to hear.”The aforementioned Ackerman has had a rise in the sport much like the rise in one of her javelin throws.It was just a little more than a year ago when Ackerman broke 100 feet in the javelin for the first time.Now she has a school-record throw of 147 feet, 5 inches to her credit.“I was thinking about it, how crazy everything is,” Ackerman said. “I can't scale it down to one thing that helped me. I think I learned how my body works and how I should be throwing it.“It was a lot of watching video,” she added. “I think one of the things I enjoy the most is watching myself do it better.”
Following are the Butler County area qualifiers for the PIAA Track and Field Championships, which begin Friday at Shippensburg University.Note: Seed times and distances are based on district championship performances.GirlsClass AAA3,200-meter relay: 11-Seneca Valley 9:28.49100-meter hurdles: 11-Lauren Chappell (Seneca Valley) 14.90300-meter hurdles: 11-Anna Baxter (Butler) 45.50800-meter run: 7-Liz Simms (Butler) 2:16.151,600-meter relay: 17-Butler 4:00.80Pole Vault: 12-Samantha Penrod (Butler) 11-0, 19-Katelyn Caccamo (Seneca Valley) 10-6Triple jump: 26-Carsyn Hetzler (Mars) 35-3.75GirlsClass AA100-meter hurdles: 26-Tayinna Johnson (Moniteau) 16.40400-meter relay: 6-Slippery Rock 50.06400-meter run: 20-Anna Kadlubek (Slippery Rock) 1:00.62800-meter run: 9-Sidney Shemanski (Freeport) 2:19.67200-meter dash: 15-Anna Kadlubek (Slippery Rock) 26.273,200-meter run: 12-Emma MacDonald (North Catholic) 11:50.041,600-meter relay: 16-Slippery Rock 4:10.25High jump: 6-Gianna Bedel (Slippery Rock) 5-2Pole vault: 4-Kendall Grossman (Moniteau) 11-6Long jump: 8-Emma McDermott (Slippery Rock) 17-0.5, 11-Baylee Blauser (A-C Valley) 16-9Triple jump: 8-Emma McDermott (Slippery Rock) 36-5.25, 20-Emily Sarver (Slippery Rock) 34-8Shot put: 17-Kylee Eaton (A-C Valley) 35-4Discus: 15-Maryann Ackerman (Slippery Rock) 116-0Javelin: 2-Maryann Ackerman (Slippery Rock) 142-4
