May 19, 2016 4 min read

BALDWIN -The challenge was made to Hannah Falcione three years ago in her freshman year at Peters Township.

Earn a trip to the PIAA track championships at Shippensburg and assistant coach Kaye Gasper will let you cut her hair.

Falcione is now determining whether she wants to do it with a razor, a pair of scissors and garden shears.

Falcione, who is headed to Miami (Ohio), broke her own school record when she landed a 37-0 ¾ triple jump to take third place in Class AAA and earn a trip to states.

“I’ve been waiting for this for four years,” Falcione said with a laugh. “She said if I got to states, I get to cut off her hair. She hasn’t set a date yet but it will probably be at practice.”

Gasper did have one condition. The hair cut can’t go shorter than shoulder length.

“At first, I said how about if she doesn’t make it to states, I get to cut her hair, but she didn’t want to do that,” said Gasper with a smile. “I had the same bet with Demetrius Louis in my last year coaching at Ringgold. He made it in the 100. “

Snip.

Falcione also won a bet for dinner with Gasper for breaking the school record in the triple jump. She is still deciding which restaurant to cash that IOU. But the latest one was the most meaningful, even if it means the possibility of split ends.

“That was the bet I was waiting for,” said Falcione.

Burgettstown senior Jacob Shipley crossed his fingers and watched as Lamont Wade prepared for his final attempt in the long jump.

He needed Wade, a junior at Clairton and one of the nation’s top football recruits, to fall short of Shipley’s personal-best of 22-3 to capture the WPIAL Class AA title.

Instead, Wade leapt 22-5 to grab the championship and left Shipley shaking his head in disbelief.

“Next week is what matters,” Shipley said. “I’ll just have to beat him in Shippensburg.”

Even with a silver medal, Shipley, who plans to play football at Washington & Jefferson but is keeping his options open for track and field, wonders what could be possible at the PIAA championships.

“I don’t know what happened, but I’ll make sure I’m ready for next week,” Shipley said. “I want to make sure next week I get him.”

Fort Cherry junior Devon Brown wondered all season where he would stack among the WPIAL’s best if he could get one big javelin throw when it mattered.

The big throw never came Thursday, but Brown still took second in the Class AA javelin with a throw of 155-11 – finishing second behind Laurel’s Jake Wilson, who threw more than 21 feet further.

“I did the discus first and I spent six throws on that, so my arm was a little tired,” Brown said. “During my warmups, even when I picked, I knew it wasn’t going to be my day. I was nervous because I didn’t think I’d throw well.”

Washington junior Ben Heim took second in the 800-meter run and Isaiah Robinson, the Prexies’ junior jumper who broke the county coaches’ meet record last month, finished second in the triple jump.

Both are headed to Shippensburg, but Robinson was interested in settling for second. Belle Vernon’s 400-meter relay team also took second in Class AA.

“I really wish I was first,” Robinson said. “To qualify, I scrached my first jump and my last two were mainly to get a mark. I kept panicking. I just have to work harder now.”