A pony tail too much for FC’s Jozwiakowski
Koryn Jozwiakowski of Fort Cherry lands her triple jump during the WPIAL Class AA track and field championships. She won the event and heads to Shippensburg this weekend to battle for a PIAA championship.
SHIPPENSBURG – One inch and the length of a ponytail. That’s what may have prevented Fort Cherry junior Koryn Jozwiakowski from winning the PIAA Class AA championship in the triple jump.
On her final jump of the preliminary round, Jozwiakowski landed a jump that could have won her the gold medal. Her hair had a different idea. As she landed in the sand pit, her ponytail swung back and made an impression almost two feet behind in the sand, where the officials marked her initial landing.
On the final jump of the finals, Jozwiakowski’s foot landed one inch over the yellow board for a foul – negating a jump that many believed was the winner. The junior settled for the first jump of 36-10 3/4 to finish fourth in the event at Shippensburg University. It is the sixth consecutive year Fort Cherry left the meet with a medalist.
“I had no idea at first,” Jozwiakowski said of her hair. “I thought maybe I did land back there, but my coach said it was my ponytail. I said, ‘Oh, no.’ I was so upset, but it’s my hair. I really don’t know what to do about that.”
Her coaches had an idea.
After her big jump was wiped out by the uncooperative ponytail, Jozwiakowski took the five-minute break to talk to Fort Cherry head coach Ben Maxin and jumps coach Kevin Center. Another assistant had a friend braid Jozwiakowski’s hair, but it was too late.
The junior fouled on all three of her attempts in the finals, including the final jump with one inch over the board. She fouled four of her six to jumps in both rounds – the first time this season.
“They told me I fouled by an inch maybe. I was so upset because my coach said move back, but not too much because we wanted to use the head board, so I could get a big jump,” Jozwiakowski said. “I just kept fouling and the last one they said it was an inch. It was a big one too.”
The fourth-place finish was a vast improvement from last year, when Jozwiakowski finished 14th with a jump of 34-9 1/2.
Jozwiakowski increased her personal best by almost four feet from a year ago. She captured the WPIAL Class AA triple jump title last week with a distance of 37-9, but she wanted to call herself the best in the state.
“We’ve been working on her landing, keeping her legs up,” Center said. “The triple jump is about angles and velocity. If you can figure that out, you can jump pretty far and she’s figured that out. Now, she just has to be more consistent on the runway.”
Her struggles on the runway cost her Saturday. Hannah Drake of Wilmingto captured first place with a jump of 38-0 1/4. Kia Clayton of Saltsburg and Jada Jackson took second and third, respectively.
Bentworth freshman Brenna Cavanaugh created a goal for herself to reach the finals of the Class AA 100 hurdles and accomplished that Saturday morning with a personal best of 15.45 in the semifinals.
It only took her a few hours to break that mark. Cavanaugh finished sixth in the finals with a new personal best of 15.34 – just 0.01 seconds behind fifth-place Bradi Osborne of Greenville.
The five medalists ahead of Cavanaugh are all seniors.
“I’m so excited. I think I did really good,” Cavanaugh said. “It was my personal best, so I’m pretty proud of myself. For a freshman, I think that’s pretty good. I’ll definitely want to get to first one year.”
Monessen junior Raymond Sitton overcame a tough first day in Shippensburg to capture fifth place in the Class AA 110-meter hurdles with a personal best of 14.95. He crossed the finish line at the same time as fourth-place Ian Nieves of Milton Area, but had a slower semifinal time of 15.32.
“I’m excited because I was 16th going into the semifinals,” Sitton said. “I made myself mad after what happened yesterday. I thought if I ran my hardest, my dreams would come true.”
Canon-McMillan senior Haley Yenchik spent 15 years competing in gymnastics, but a fifth-place finish at the WPIAL Championships last year steered her to focusing on the pole vault.
It paid off when she earned a trip to Shippensburg, where she finished 10th Saturday with a personal best of 11-6.
As a freshman, she only cleared eight feet. Now, Yenchik will compete on Penn State Behrend’s track team after becoming the first Canon-McMillan pole vaulter to reach the state meet.
“I did really good clearing each one the first time, which is what I was looking for,” Yenchik said. “I had never cleared 11-6 before and I did today, which made me really happy. I’m making some history. This is one of the best moments of my life. This is so awesome.”
Two other local athletes competed in field events Saturday. McGuffey senior Rachel Czulewicz finished 11th in the Class AA javelin with a throw of 118-, and Fort Cherry senior Brelan Skinner took 10th in the Class AA long jump with a distance of 20-4.
Waynesburg senior Sean Hilverding, who entered the state championships as the second seed in the Class AA 3,200-meter run, was in ninth place after four laps, but 200 meters into the fifth lap, Hilverding grabbed his hamstring and fell to the ground, forcing him to pull out of the event.
It was a crushing moment for the Point Park recruit, who finished fourth in the event last year and missed part of this season with a sinus infection. He attributes the speed of the competition through four laps for the injury.
“I didn’t want to go that fast, by any means,” Hilverding said. “The field was going fast, so I just tried to go with them. That was a big mistake and that may have been what caused that unlucky break.”
Canon-McMillan senior Ethan Linderman took 19th in the 3200 with a time of 9:33.11.