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Hughesville boys win gold, Williamsport’s Cameron Sims breaks school record at PIAA state track and field championships

Hughesville's Morgan Gavitt, Logan Long, Hunter Foust and Shea McCusker are awarded gold medals for a first-place finish in the boys Class AA 3,200-meter relay during the state track and field championships at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium Saturday. EVAN WHEATON/Sun-Gazette

SHIPPENSBURG — Morgan Gavitt, Logan Long, Hunter Foust and Shea McCusker knew they had one last ride.

The Hughesville boys had just one event left together before the seniors called their careers. In the 3,200-meter relay, the Spartans woke up ready to ride off into the sunset in style.

“We’ve talked about it this whole week. Just knowing this is gonna be our last race as a squad. We wanted it that bad,” Gavitt said. “We knew if this was our last race as a squad, we have to go out with a bang. And we ended it with a fairy tale ending.”

That storybook finish came in the form of four gold medals at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium. Hughsville placed first after clocking in at 8:04.31.

Fresh off a missed COVID-19 season, the Spartans took third in the state for the 3,200-meter last year. Hughesville’s seniors knew they’d make another trip back to the big stage, but finishing atop the podium was a long time coming.

Jersey Shore's Peter Bellomo stands fifth on the podium for the boys Class AAA javelin during the state track and field championships at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium Saturday. EVAN WHEATON/Sun-Gazette

“We knew we’d be up here. We got third last year at states, so we’ve just been hungry ever since,” Gavitt said. “It was just in our hearts and in our minds that we wanted it.”

Williamson’s crew (Nathaniel Welch, Duncan Kerr, Kristian Mizdail and Owen Cummings) was the runner-up at 8:10.86. With over six seconds of cushion between gold and silver medals, the Spartans felt a massive payoff down the stretch.

“It was a lot of mentally preparing. Getting a lot of water, rest and we just had it in our minds,” Gavitt said. “We were hungry, we wanted it like a lion.”

Gavitt also medaled in the Class AA 1,600-meter run with a sixth-place time of 4:17.15. This comes off the heels of a district-winning time of 4:25.23 to be seeded fifth at states. With a 1:56.53-second mark in the 800-meter, Gavitt took another sixth-place medal home.

In his first season competing in track and field, Williamsport’s Cameron Sims found himself holding the No. 1 seed heading into the Class AAA boys 200-meter dash.

Milton's Cole Goodwin dons his sixth-place medal for the Class AA boys shot put during the state track and field championships at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium Saturday. EVAN WHEATON/Sun-Gazette

The senior woke up Saturday, and after some yoga and two hash browns, casually broke a 22-year long school record set by Alton Richards with a 21.35-second mark in the event.

“It’s a blessing being out here. This is my first year coming out here. Just being out here is a blessing, being here with all these athletic people,” Sims said. “I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m just having fun. These kids have been practicing for years and it’s just a blessing I got to run with them.”

Sims’ time was enough to capture silver. Pennridge’s Joey Gant placed first at 21.15. With his newfound love of the track, Sims plans to pursue the sport at Slippery Rock University.

“I’m just getting started,” Sims said. “This ain’t the end just yet.”

Having set a new Milton school record a week prior at the District 4 meet, Cole Goodwin took sixth in the state for the Class AA shot put with a 66-foot, 7¾-inch heave.

Montoursville’s Brayden McKibben took a three-way tie for fifth in the Class AA pole vault with Wilmington’s Solomon Glavach and Richie Reed with a 13-foot-6 mark.

Jersey Shore’s Peter Bellomo placed fifth in the Class AAA javelin with a 176-foot, 10-inch throw. Montgomery’s Ben Robinson took eighth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.97 seconds.

BOYS CLASS AAA

TEAM SCORES (top 15): 1. Butler 47; 2. Cumberland Valley 33; 3. Saint Joseph’s Prep 28; 4. Wilson 27; t-5. Harrisburg 21; t-5. North Penn 21; t-7. Coatesville 20; t-7. Archbishop Wood 20; 8. Pennridge 20; 9. Shippensburg 20; 11. Haverford Township 19; 12. Milton Hershey 17; 13. Central Bucks West 16; t-14. Penncrest 14; t-14. State College 14.

3,200: 1. CJ Singleton, Butler, 8:57.73; 2. Rory Lieberman, Danville, 9:02.88; 3. Brian DiCola, Hatboro Horsham, 9:02.97; 4. Drew Griffith, Butler, 9:04.37; 5. Ryan Pajak, Ringgold, 9:06.35; 6. Jake Borgesi, South Fayette, 9:07.99; 7. Matthew O’Brien, Susquehannock, 9:14.13; 8. Weber Long, Greencastle-Antrim, 9:16.01.

110 hurdles: 1. Demaris Waters, Harrisburg, 13.86; 2. Dekai Averett, Souderton, 14.39; 3. Daniel Munro, Penncrest, 14.61; 4. Tyrese Washington, Pottstown, 14.63; 5. Hayden Skinner, Fort Leboeuf, 14.84; 6. Ethan Conrad, Bishop MCDevitt, 15.05; 7. Jermere Jones, Chambersburg, 15.07; 8. Bernard Bell, South Western, 15.07.

100: 1. Joey Gant, Pennridge, 10.74; 2. Damon Simpson, Wilson, 10.74; 2. Abraham Sloboh, Milton Hershey, 10.86; 4. Damian Simpson, Wilson, 10.91; 5. Justin Cook, Harrisburg, 10.96; 6. Tyler Yurich, Seneca Valley, 11.05; 7. Gabe Lewis, Cedar Crest, 11.20.

3,200 relay: 1. State College (Matthew Staniar, Trent DInant, Nick Sloff, Sean Adams), 7:45.36; 2. Haverford Township, 7:45.59; 3. Butler, 7:49.02; 4. Moon, 7:55.38; 5. Taylor Allderdice, 7:55.39; 6. Twin Valley, 7:57.43; 7. LaSalle College, 7:57.59; 8. Lower Merion, 7:58.98.

400 relay: 1. Wilson (Zackary Gillen, Damian SImpson, Zakai Hendricks, Damon Simpson), 41.49; 2. Downingtown West, 41.84; 3. Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 42.10; 4. North Penn, 42.76; 5. Pine-Richland, 42.86; 6. Spring Ford, 43.00; 7. Cedar Crest, 43.26; 8. Cheltenham, 43.33.

400: 1. Lebron Bessick, Coatesville, 46.91; 2. Luke Noss, Cumberland Valley, 47.73; 3. Darren Cammauf, Manheim Township, 48.01; 4. Colton Lynch, Shamokin, 48.10; 5. Preston Lubeski, West Chester Henderson, 48.19; 6. Guinness Brown, Butler, 48.53; 7. Colin Kravitz, North Pocono, 49.09; 8. Ethan Cunningham, Central Bucks South, 49.27.

300 hurdles: 1. Devin Nugent, North Penn, 37.65; 2. Brad Cantoral, Archbishop Ryan, 38.15; 3. Demaris Waters, Harrisburg, 38.63; 4. Enrico Faccio, Ephrata, 38.69; 5. Anthony Collins, Harry S. Truman, 38.98; 6. Christopher Davis, Canon-McMillan, 39.16; 7. Bernard Bell, South Western, 39.75; 8. Matt DeMatteo, Hampton, 40.03.

800: 1. Gary Martin, Archbishop Wood, 1:51.24; 2. Carter Fitzgerald, Central Bucks West, 1:51.97; 3. Quinn Worrell, Saint Joseph’s Prep, 1:52.78; 4. Jacob Puhalla, Moon, 1:53.05; 5. Jacob Smith, Warwick, 1:53.78; 6. Alex Heidemann, Freedom, 1:54.06; 7. Stefon Dodoo, Central Bucks South, 1:54.48; 8. Luke Simpson, Seneca Valley, 1:54.50.

200: 1. Joey Gant, Pennridge, 21.15; 2. Cam Sims, Williamsport, 21.35; 3. Abraham Sloboh, Milton Hershey, 21.57; 4. Kristian Phennicie, Dallastown, 21.65; 5. Sahfi Reed, Martin Luther King, 21.87; 6. Benjamin Henry, Northampton, 21.99; 7. Donovan Jones, 8. Justin Cook, Harrisburg, 22.13.

1,600 relay: 1. Coatesville (Dave Kelly, Jabarri Stocke, Tommy Silvester, Lebron Bessick), 3:16.13; 2. Central Bucks West, 3:16.38; 3. North penn, 3:17.76; 4. Cumberland Valley, 3:18.22; 5. Butler, 3:18.67; 6. Palmyra, 3:20.03; 7. Central Bucks South, 3:20.57; 8. Wilson, 3:21.31.

Long jump: 1 Brendan Leneghan, Saint Joseph’s Prep, 22-8 3/4; 2. Jake Adams, Altoona, 22-2 3/4; 3. Khalon Simmons, Meadville, 22-1 1/2; 4. Tyler Rekich, Butler, 21-11; 5. Nasim Moody, Martin Luther King, 21-10; 6. Logan Henry, Northampton, 21-9; 7. Ryan Criste, Hepfield, 21-8 3/4; 8. Jonathan Price, Seneca Valley, 21-5 3/4.

Javelin: 1. Josiah Sechler, Mifflin County, 184-9; 2. Brandon Hile, Selinsrove, 184-3; 3. Brady Diller, Greencastle-Antrim, 180-5; 4. Ahren Stauffer, Central Dauphin, 180-2; 5. Peter Bellomo, Jersey Shore, 176-10; 6. Bobby McCloskey, East Stroudsburg South, 175-3; 7. Thomas Flud Jr., Upper Perkiomen, 172-7; 8. Aarn Schmook, Norwin, 171-11.

High jump: 1. Dakota Arana, Shippensburg, 6-10; 2. Brock Harris, Saint Joseph’s, 6-5; 3. Jace Walls, General McLane, 6-4; 4. Aryan Sandhu, Milton Hershey, 6-4; 5. Tyrone Chambers, North Schuylkill, 6-2; 6. Andrew Shaffer-Doan, DuBois, 6-2; 7. Dayshawn Jacobs, West Chester Rustin, 6-2; 8. Jewleus Benner, J.P. McCaskey, 6-2.

Discus: 1. Wade Shomper, Cumberland Valley, 172-8; 2. Anthony Smith, Shippensburg, 165-1; 3. Peyton Murray, Hempfield, 161-8; 4. Angelo Allen, Penn Hills, 15-9-3; 5. Max Mueller, Wilson, 158-10; 6. James Richie, William Tennent, 157-0; 7. Aiden Raub, Stroudsburg, 154-4; 8. Max Maurer, Selinsrove, 154-1.

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