SHIPPENSBURG — Emily Schumacher gets nervous before each and every race, no matter how routine it may seem.

Her stomach is in knots. Her heart beats faster.

“She puts a lot of pressure on herself,” said Karns City girls track and field coach Roger King of Schumacher. “Once she starts running, she’s OK.”

Schumacher ran into the record books at the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University over the Memorial Day weekend, shattering her school record in the girls Class AA 800-meter run to place eighth and also earned a medal in the 400-meter run with a sixth-place finish.

Schumacher broke her own record in the 800 by nearly three seconds, running a time of 2 minutes, 18.57 seconds.

The junior, who also runs cross country and plays soccer and basketball at Karns City, said she tried to have a pressure-free mentality at the state meet this year.

“I didn’t go in with any specific goal,” Schumacher said. “Winning two medals was definitely in the back of my mind.”

Schumacher went to the state meet as a freshman and a sophomore, but each time came home empty handed.

She wasn’t going to let that happen this year.

“She works extremely hard,” King said. “Her work ethic is awesome. I can’t say enough about her. Going to the state meet and getting two medals, that there is just unbelievable.”

It is thought that Schumacher is the only Karns City female track athlete to place in two events in the same year at the state meet.

“It definitely means a lot,” Schumacher said. “I put Karns City on the scoreboard. It wasn’t a lot of points, but it was a little bit. That was pretty special.”

Schumacher wasn’t the only local athlete to find redemption at the state meet.

Last year as a sophomore, Slippery Rock’s Heather Urbaniak advanced in the 100-meter hurdles.

Urbaniak, though, took a nasty spill in the preliminaries and was disqualified.

This year, Urbaniak set a personal best with a time of 15.16 seconds to place seventh in the Class AA 100 hurdles.

“Last year definitely gave me a lot more motivation to work on my technique,” Urbaniak said. “Technique was the reason that happened to me last year. I really wanted to make the state meet a positive memory instead of a negative one.”

Urbaniak’s time has put her in rare company in the 100 hurdles with the likes of Slippery Rock High athletic hall of famer Melissa Sopher.

“She’s in rarefied air,” said Slippery Rock track and field coach Tony Consbruck.

Seneca Valley senior Jonathan Dorogy is also in rarefied air.

Dorogy finished second in the Class AAA 100-meter dash with a time of 10.83 — a mere 0.09 seconds behind winner Julius Rivera of Gateway.

Dorogy also teamed with Jordan Brown, Bradley Banks and Forrest Barnes for a third-place finish in the 400-meter relay.

Grove City senior Dan Jaskowak placed third in the Class AAA 1,600-meter run. Jaskowak, who was second in the 3,200-meter run at the state meet last season, finished with a season-best time of 4:19.53.

PIAA Track and Field

Championships

Following are Butler County athletes who finished in the top eight over the weekend at Shippensburg University:

Boys

Class AAA

100 dash: 2-Jonathan Dorogy (Seneca Valley) 10.83; 1,600 run: 3-Dan Jaskowak (Grove City) 4:19.53; 400 relay: 3-Seneca Valley (Jonathan Dorogy, Jordan Brown, Bradley Banks, Forrest Barnes) 42.69; 300 hurdles: 6-Kyle Trinch (Grove City) 39.57; Discus: 6-Travis Reed (Butler) 160-2

Girls

Class AAA

Discus: 7-Emily Thomas (Mars) 119-3; Long jump: 8-Lydia Dennis (Mars) 17-11

Class AA

100 hurdles: 7-Heather Urbaniak (Slippery Rock) 15.16; 6-Emily Schumacher (Karns City) 1:00.92; 800 run: 8-Schumacher (KC) 2:18.57