Next year, Susquenita relocates its athletic programs from the Mid-Penn Conference to the Tri-Valley League.
No Blackhawk program figures to benefit more than track and field.
That’s not to say Susquenita suddenly becomes a prohibitive favorite for TVL dual-meet and league-meet championships. The ‘Hawks aren’t. There’s simply not enough depth to spread over 15 open events and three relays.
It does mean, however, Blackhawk athletes will be far more competitive with kids from Millersburg, Upper Dauphin, and the two Juniata County TVL members than they were with the likes of Bishop McDevitt, Trinity, Northern and East Pennsboro.
They’ll also have the opportunity to compete in the league championship meet, something few Blackhawk athletes could say when it came to the Mid-Penn meet, where qualifying standards had to met to gain entry.
The move comes at a fortuitous time for the program.
The Blackhawks will be starting year two of the coaching tenure of Janelle Young, a young, energetic addition to the staff.
A Cedar Cliff grad who competed in college, Young signed on as the Blackhawks’ fourth girls’ coach in as many years. She made a profound impact, taking over most of the bookkeeping responsibilities, making sure media outlets were kept informed of meet results and pushing for a more disciplined approach to training and meet preparation.
“I have been around (track and field) for many years. It’s in my blood and I just love it,” Young wrote in an e-mail after the season concluded. “We are working on building a team atmosphere here at Susquenita. In the past, the teams have been more like a club. We are trying to change that mentality. We want them to work hard in achieving not only personal goals, but team goals, as well.
“I had a great experience this year, and I look forward to coming back.”
Band of brothers
Over the years, Susquenita has had some great throwers.
Jason Sload, who set the school records for the shot and discus in the early 90s, and Tyler Harrison, who broke both of Sload’s records in 2010, come immediately to mind.
A succession of skilled javelin throwers like Bob Hippman, Jeremy Whitmer and Ethan Reichert won multiple county titles and earned district medals, but have only challenged the school mark held since 1966 by Dick Richardson.
That said, the Blackhawks have never had a deeper, more versatile group than the one assembled this year by throwing coach Andy Zeigler.
Seniors Josh Mann and Dalton Jones were the only returning members of the cast of talents Zeigler had available. Classmates Andrew Martz, back after a year off, and Kyle Blose, a first-time field athlete, were added to the mix.
The foursome’s results were remarkable.
In 10 dual meets against some of the top programs in the midstate, the Blackhawks outscored their opponents eight times, losing only to Camp Hill and McDevitt by 15-12 counts.
The Blackhawks also outscored Greenwood and West Perry 20-7-6 in the Perry County championships.
Blose emerged as the star.
A top athlete with good size, Blose spent his first three years avoiding pressure from Zeigler to come out in favor of lifting weights in preparation for football.
With some prodding from Jones and Mann, Blose signed up for his final year.
Blose won his first shot put competition with a throw of 37-9.5, then kept improving. Over the final three weeks of the season, he was second at White Rose, first at PECO and second at the MPC meet. Blose then jacked a PR 48-7 that won him a district championship and sent him off to states. Blose, who will compete in track and field in college, also scored regularly in the discus and javelin. He led the Blackhawks with 138 points and was named team MVP.
Martz who specialized in the discus, capped his season with a 126-1 PR throw that was good for sixth at the conference meet. He also made finals at districts, but had to settle for ninth.
Jones and Mann, who also ran sprints and relays, finished in the top 10 in points. Jones went on an end-of-season run where he improved his javelin PR six straight meets, eventually reaching 150-9. He also won the discus at the county meet.
“This is a good group of kids, very coachable, the best group I’ve had since I’ve been here,” Zeigler said. “They wanted to win so they pushed each other and helped each other to get better. Blose set the bar and they all worked to keep up.
“It was a fun group to be around.”
Chapter two
Brooke Hargenrader had a wildly successful freshman season as the best Lady Blackhawk field athlete. Her second year was even better.
Hargenrader, who scored a team-best 135 points a year ago, jumped that total to 148 this season. In dual meet competition, she won seven-of-10 long jumps, six-of-10 triple jumps and nine-of-14 high jumps. Hargenrader improved her PR in the triple jump to 33-3.5 and her high jump to 5-0 with the winning height at the county meet. She also won the PECO long jump title.
At districts, Hargenrader competed in all three events and collected her first postseason medal with an eighth in the triple jump.
Hargenrader’s classmate Amber Seigfried had a breakout sophomore campaign. She scored 82 points in a diverse set of events — javelin, discus and 100 hurdles. Seigfried established PRs in each event. She went 17.53 in the hurdles, 101-4 in the javelin and 86-6 in the discus and had top-four finishes in all three events at the PECO meet, including a second in the javelin.
Travis Keefe, another sophomore, also made solid improvement. He contributed 62 points, sixth on the team, establishing PRs in the 300 hurdles (51.51), 800 (2:13.95), 1600 (5:12.34) and 3200 (12:00).
Top shelf
Juniors Tyler Stephenson (114) and George Beaver (113) ranked 2-3 on the team’s points list. Stephenson was the top long jumper and high jumper. He took second in both events at the PECO, qualified for districts and medaled in both, finishing sixth in the high jump and eighth in the long jump.
Beaver scored his points in the hurdle races, high jump and triple jump.
Senior leaders
Luther Snell (75 points), Will Shader (54), Emily Matia (46), Abbey Kemble (32), Katelyn Barrick (30), Sarah Callaghan (25) all completed distinguished careers with the program.
Kemble, who ran the 100 hurdles, 200-meter dash and legs on two relay teams, was named the girls’ team’s MVP.
Coming attractions
Taevon Miller, a sprinter-jumper, led all Blackhawk freshmen with 57 points. Juniors Noah Buck (44 points) and Corey Sheibley (42) each contributed top-10 points.