Taylor, Rolek set records for C-M at Washington-Greene meet
CANONSBURG – Aaron Taylor knew he had a good run in the 300-meter hurdles, but he had to go to the scorer’s tent to realize how strong it was.
That’s where he learned it was a historic run.
Meanwhile, one of his Canon-McMillan teammates, Connor Rolek, set new heights in the pole vault, eclipsing 15 feet for the first time.
Their performances helped two records fall, a school record for Canon-McMillan in the 300 hurdles, and a Washington-Greene County meet record in the pole vault.
It made for a memorable afternoon for the duo Friday at Canon-McMillan’s AHN Field.
Taylor finished at 38.18, in the 300 hurdles, breaking the old Canon-McMillan record of 38.51. It was one of four events he won Friday. He won the 100 hurdles, 200 dash and was the anchor on Canon-McMillan’s 1,600 relay team that won a title.
He was named the boys MVP for track.
Winning four events and breaking a school record has Taylor excited for the upcoming WPIAL meet.
“It’s a big boost of confidence,” Taylor said. “My biggest thing (with the 300 hurdles) was stuttering through the last two or three hurdles and I did not stutter through them today, which was great. To work on it, we did a bunch of 400 runs and put hurdles on the last three. We did a lot of them, so I was tired and learned how to get through it. You learn how you can fix it when you’re tired.”
Rolek is a newcomer to the WPIAL after moving from Georgia to Canonsburg.
He hit 15 feett, 1 inch on his last vault of the day, giving himself a personal best and a Washington-Greene meet record. The previous record was 14-8 held by Waynesburg’s Will Behm.
“The first step felt great and the second I hit that box, I just knew it…I knew I had it,” Rolek said. “It wasn’t even my best jump of the day in my opinion, but it was a special jump.”
Rolek said his best jump was the attempt before his record-setting jump, but he just missed clearing.
“It was a lot cleaner, probably, but my standards were just a little too far back,” Rolek said. “The second one wasn’t as clean, but it still got the job done.”
Clearing 15 feet puts Rolek as one of the favorites in the WPIAL.
Another WPIAL favorite is Fort Cherry’s Jonah Pfender in the shot put and though he went through some adversity, he ended up winning. He had a couple of fouls in his first two attempts, but found it on his third try and launched a throw of 50 feet, 10 inches, a little over five feet farther than second place Franco Muscatello of Peters Township.
“It wasn’t the day I was hoping for in shot put with the first two fouls, but that happens sometimes,” Pfender said. “I fought through it and got to 50 feet. I was hoping for a little more, but I’ll try to get some redemption (Saturday) at South Fayette.”
Pfender also won in discus, with a throw of 154 feet, four inches. The discus competition was held during a rain shower in the early portion of the meet. It didn’t seem to affect Pfender, who topped all throws by nearly 17 feet.
“It wasn’t too bad, because I’ve trained in all kinds of weather,” Pfender said. “Training in the snow and ice in the winter has really helped me a lot. It allows me to be comfortable in conditions that maybe aren’t so comfortable for other people.”
Trinity’s Devin Junko and McGuffey’s Aidan Cunningham were also winners in multiple events. Junko won the 1,600 and 3,200 runs. Cunningham won the high jump and triple jump and took home field MVP honors.
Fort Cherry’s Shane Cornali won overall MVP.
California’s Lee Qualk won the long jump. Canon-McMillan’s Tyler Marciak took javelin with a throw of 148 feet, three inches.
Beth-Center’s Deakyn DeHoet won a hotly contested 100 dash, edging out Trinity’s Jake Phillips by .3 of a second.
Phillips took the 400 dash and California’s Carter Kent won the 800 run.
McGuffey’s Brady Haerman, Ben Piatt, Moshe Dale and Elihu Dale won the 3200 relay at 8:34.14, which was nearly 10 seconds faster than the field.