The Norwin Indoor Track Team put out an excellent performance in the championship and state meets at the end of their indoor season. On February 21, the team went up to Edinboro University in Edinboro to compete in the TSTCA Indoor Championship Meet.
The Knights did incredibly well in the meet, with the girls’ team winning the meet with a score of 64 points, beating second-place team Hempfield by 2.5 points and beating third-place team Mt Lebanon by 14 points. The boys’ team also did very well by getting third place in the meet with 49 points, only losing to second-place Hempfield by 9 points and first-place Butler by 35 points.
JILLIAN RYBA, ANNA DANSAK EMILY DANSAK, ANNIE CZAJKOWSKI
Some standout performances from the girls team included: junior Myla McCabe who got 4th place in the Women 200 Meters race with a time of 26.41 seconds; senior Annie Czajkowski raced to 2nd place in the mile race; junior Addison Farrah got 4th with a time of 10:37 in the 3000 meter race; junior Jillian Ryba who got 5th with a time of 10:39 in the 3000m race; Myla McCabe raced to 3rd with a time of 59.49 seconds in the 400 Meters race; junior Karina Karadus who ran to 7th place with a time of 9.53 second at the 60m hurdles race; the girls 4×200 team got 3rd place with a time of 1:49.57 in the 4×200 Relay race; the girls 4×400 team got 5th place with a time of 4:34.80 in the 4×400 Relay race; the girls 4×800 team got first place with a time of 9:41.55 in the 4×800 Relay race’ the DMR team got 2nd place with a time of 12:43.94 seconds in the Woen DMR 4000m race; sophomore Claire Sherman, who got 5th place with a height of 10-1 in pole vault; and senior Alex Oestreich got 7th place with a distance of 34-6.50 in the triple jump.
All of these girls medaled in the TSTCA Championship meet, which is like a WPIAL preview.
“I think what helped us win was the positive mindset we all had,” said Norwin unior sprinter Myla McCabe.”We were also there to cheer each other on and pick each other up. From last year’s accomplishment, we had to perform up to that standard.”
On the boys’ side, some standout performances from the boys team included: sophomore Alexander Barrett who raced to 6th place with a time of 4:31.98 seconds in the mile race, while felllow sophomore Benjamin McBride who got 4th place with a time of 4:26.34 seconds in the mile race; freshman Ransom Gaydos got 4th place with a time of 9:03.24 in the 3000 meter race; senior Jeremiah Francis who got 2nd place with a time of 8.19 seconds in the 60m hurdles; the boys 4×200 team who got 8th place with a time of 1:37.03 in the 4×200 Relay race; the boys 4×800 team who got 4th place with a time of 8:27.37 in the 4×800 Relay race; the boys DMR team consisting of senior Joseph Cramer, sophomores Alexander Barrett and Benjamin McBride, and junior Owen Rankin came in 1st place with a time of 10:35.54 seconds in the DMR 4000m race; finally junior Alexander Irwin got second place with a distance of 14-1 in the pole vault.
The boys placing in the Top 8 all earned a TSTCA Medal for their outstanding performances.
“ I definitely wanted to win the mile at Edinboro, but that didn’t happen,” McBride said.“ Luckily, we got the win in the DMR. I also wanted to medal at states, but I know that I have all of outdoor to improve.”
After the TSTCA Indoor Championship Meet, the Knights decided to test their skills in the state meet. On Sunday March 1st, six girls and eight boys from Norwin competed in the PTFCA State Championship at Penn State. There is only ONE classification for the indoor state meet of over 700 schools in the state.
“We are super proud of the ‘indoor’ athletes for qualifying for the state championship and TSTCA,” said distance coach Brian Fleckenstein. “The indoor state meet is so hard to qualify for because they only take 12, 20, or 24 participants per event in the entire state, with ONE classification. Also, additional schools not in the PIAA are at the championship meet as well, even though they will not be eligible for the spring state meet.”
The girls did really well in the state meet, with 2/3 of the girls bringing home a medal. The Distance Medlye Relay team consisting of Jillian Ryba, Myla McCabe, Emily Dansak, and Annie Czajkowski came in 6th place out of 12 teams and medaled in the event with a school record time of 12.13.03. Myla McCabe also medaled in the 400 meters race, where she came in 7th place with a indoor school record time of 57.28.
“I was excited to be chosen to run in the DMR,” said Ryba. “And I had the confidence to lead off in the 1200 and run as fast as I could for my team. I ended up running a huge PR and helped our team, which medaled in 6th place.”
The boys did really well in the state meet as well, with junior Xander Irwin medaling in Pole Vault and getting 6th place with a distance of 14-00.00. Sophomores Ben McBride and Alex Barrett did really well in the mile and came very close to medaling, but just missed the mark by less than a second, with McBride coming in 10th place with a time of 4:25.97 and Barrett coming in 9th place with a time of 4:25.95.
“I was relieved since getting a state medal has been one of my goals since I started high school,” said Irwin. “I’m still pushing towards another medal in spring in the top 3 for the state.”
Overall both championship meets were really great for Knights as they came put this indoor season in the record books. Now that the indoor season is over, the Knights can prepare for their spring season and to defend their WPIAL Championship Title.
