PIAA TRACK & FIELD: Carbondale Area's Korty wins two medals in girls Class 2A; Miller, Badner secure medals in 3A javelin
SHIPPENSBURG — Kate Korty asked a lot of herself while running two mid-distance races at the state level.
She responded to the challenge.
A junior at Carbondale Area, who attends Forest City, earned a pair of medals in the girls Class 2A meet at the PIAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday afternoon at Shippensburg’s University’s Seth Grove Stadium.
She won a silver in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 15.82 seconds after she won a seventh-place medal in the 400 with a school-record time of 58.12.
“If I don’t do a hard event before I do another event, I don’t usually do as well,” Korty said. “It makes me a little tired, but I just do better.
“I feel really good. I haven’t done well the last two years, so I think I am back where I want to be.”
Korty had the top individual medal performance on the second day of the meet.
Valley View’s Emma Miller and Wallenpaupack’s Erika Badner shined in the field events in the girls Class 3A meet. Miller won a fifth-place medal with a distance of 132 feet, 2 inches, and Badner won a seventh-place medal in the javelin with a distance of 125-5, with both athletes hitting their best distances on their first throws of the competition.
“This feels so good,” Miller said. “I have been working forever for this. I always wanted a state medal coming in. I told my coach that I was going to hit 130, and I did it.”
On the track, Korty turned in a memorable effort.
First, in the 400, while fighting the heat and blazing sun, she got out quickly and powered her way to a personal-best time of 58.12 that put her in seventh place.
Laurel junior Tori Atkins won gold in 55.49.
“It was really hot out there today, and I usually don’t do well in the heat,” Korty said. “It was the state final, so I just ran as fast as I could.”
With only around 20 minutes of rest, Korty got back on the track for the 800. She battled early on the first lap, but was in fourth place. In the final 100 meters, she picked up her pace and stride and made a mad dash to the finish that earned her silver in 2:15.82.
Southern Columbia’s Kate Moncavage won gold in 2:13.25. Holy Redeemer’s Avery Kozerski finished fourth in 2:16.06.
“I was a little tired after the 400, but the heat did not help,” Korty said. “I just tried to stick with the leader. At the 200, I started to get tired. But then I really started to sprint, and it worked out.”
Outside of Seth Grove Stadium, Miller got off to a great start in the second flight of the javelin preliminary throws.
She launched a personal-best and school-record distance of 132-2. She had two other throws farther than 120 feet.
“I saw Erika put one out there, and I said it was my turn,” said Miller, who is committed to the United States Military Academy. “I focused on getting my foot down, and I bombed one out there.”
Badner also had her best throw on the first run-through, sending the javelin 125-5. The competition between the two athletes from the Lackawanna Track Conference pushed each other to strong results at the state meet.
“I just got pretty pumped and wasn’t overthinking,” Badner said. “I knew what I had to do. It was a good first throw with the adrenaline flowing, and I let it fly.
“It was a lot of fun having someone you knew to fall back on, to push you, and to offer support. It’s been great, and going to the states was great, and I am really happy to have been here.”
