SCHUYLKILL HAVEN
Schuylkill Haven's Jason Wilson has built most of his high school athletic career around soccer. He's one of the best midfielders in the Schuylkill League and plays the sport almost year round.
The exception is the spring when Wilson competes on the Hurricanes' track and field team. With his athletic ability, he's been a solid performer for Schuylkill Haven.
This spring, however, has been different.
Wilson, a senior, is having a breakout season, becoming the top 300 hurdler in the Schuylkill League. He enters today's District 11 Track and Field Championships at East Stroudsburg South High School coming off his first league title in the event and now looks to take the next step: A spot in the PIAA Championships.
Wilson won the 300 hurdles title last Wednesday at the Tamaqua Area Sports Complex in 41.21 seconds. It wasn't his best time of the season, but it was more than enough to beat Mahanoy Area's Larry McNeil (41.62) and Jim Thorpe's Rayan Green (42.14).
Wilson enters districts seeded second in the event behind Palmerton's Austin Shupp (38.01), the defending Class AA champ.
The Class AA 300 hurdles is scheduled for 7 this evening during Day 1 of the two-day championships. Today's field events will begin at 2:30 p.m., while the track events start at 3 p.m.
"Surprised? Yes, because I had no idea what I was capable of until I tried it," Wilson said of the
season he is having. "Practice and work hard and good things will happen."
It's been happening all spring.
Last season was the first year Wilson ran the 300 hurdles. He was fifth at the league meet in 43.14 and took sixth at districts at 43.76. Wilson started this spring running a 43.6 at the Hurricanes' first dual meet March 27 at Hamburg.
The time was an early season boost of confidence for Wilson.
"That made me think that I could drop it, that I could do better and I could compete for the school record if I am already this good," he said. "Imagine what I could be in the future."
The school record is 39.4, held by Pat Dougherty, who was fifth in the event for the Hurricanes at the PIAA Championships in 2007. Dougherty is also Schuylkill Haven's hurdles coach.
Wilson has yet to run a sub-40 this season, but his times have dropped as the spring has progressed. Timewise, Wilson's had the best in the league all spring, with his season best of 41.14 (FAT adjusted) coming during Schuylkill Haven's dual-meet finale May 1 against Marian.
Wilson also competes the 110 hurdles - he was sixth in at leagues last week in 16.98 and is seeded 11th for today's preliminaries - but the 300 hurdles has become his favorite. The event takes advantage of Wilson's speed and athletic ability.
"It is not as demanding as the 110 hurdles so I can use more of my physical ability to power through the 300 rather than the 110," he said.
"I knew I had the stamina and endurance for it, but I knew I needed to work on my form if I needed to get faster, so I did and I got faster."
Unlike most athletes in the 300 hurdles, Wilson doesn't use a starting block. Instead, he prefers to start the race standing up.
"I am not comfortable in them so I start from standing," he said.
Wilson also credits soccer with giving him the stamina necessary to excel in the event. Dougherty believes that's been a tremendous help, too.
"He's a soccer player like most of our team and their work ethic is probably the best I've ever seen of any team ever," Dougherty said. "I think, him along with the other athletes, the work ethic carried over to track. He has that drive that you can't really coach, so that just carries into his hurdles."
One area of weakness for Wilson is his form over the final 100 meters and it showed during leagues. Wilson had stretched his lead, but McNeil started to pull closer over the last 50 meters. Wilson hit the final hurdle hard but pulled away and got over it.
During a race, Wilson will lead with his right leg over a hurdle. But during the final 100 meters, his steps get out of whack and he ends up going over with the left leg instead.
"He tends to float over the hurdle and he doesn't really attack it the way he does in the beginning," Dougherty said. "The last three hurdles really cost him a lot (at the league meet). I think he could have been in the 39s if he didn't hit those the way he did."
Added Wilson: "That's what I need to work on because my coach said my first 150 meters are golden but I am weak on the last 100 meters."
Improving his form was a big part of the work for Wilson in practice this past week. Wilson competed against Shaup at the Jim Thorpe Invitational on April 11 and finished fourth in the event with a 42.67. Shaup (39.22) won, followed by Southern Lehigh's Daniel Fulmer (41.45) and Lansdale Catholic's Dan Miller (41.94).
Wilson's focus today isn't necessarily on winning a championship, but getting to states. He can do that by a first- or second-place finish, or by meeting or beating the state-qualifying time for the event of 40.80.
"Right now my mind is the state-qualifying time so I can go to the next level," Wilson said. "Until then, I am just going to work at it."
Here are some other items to look for from Schuylkill League athletes during the next two days of the district meet:
- There are five returning champs in Pottsville's Paige Stoner (Class AAA girls' 1,600 and 3,200), Tamaqua's Tyler Hope (Class AAA boys' javelin), North Schuylkill's Carter Green (Class AA girls' discus) and Carly Gregas (Class AA girls' high jump) and Mahanoy Area's Tyler Cavenas (Class AA boys' shot put).
Stoner is seeded first in both of her individual events (4:56.90 in 1,600, 10:52.86 in 3,200), while Green is also first in the discus (134-0) and first in the shot put (38-0). Cavenas (48-11) in seeded third, while Gregas (5-2) and Hope (178-8) are both fourth.
- Blue Mountain's Carissa Lorimer has two No. 1 seeds in girls' Class AAA. She is first in the discus at 122-7 and the javelin at 141-3. Lorimer is also fourth in the shot put at 36-0.75.
- Others earning No. 1 seeds include Minesville's Ben Hinkel (Class AA boys' 800, 1:58.76), Pine Grove's Kelli Readinger (Class AA girls' 300 hurdles, 49.14), Tamaqua's Paige Demetriades (Class AA girls' javelin 144-1), Blue Mountain's Tristan Dickey (Class AAA boys' 400, 50.19) and Pottsville's A.J. Stevens (Class AAA boys' triple jump, 48-0). In Class AA, the Minersville boys' 3,200 relay team (8:24.42) and Pine Grove girls' 1,600 relay team (4:11.27) have also earned No. 1 seeds.
- Cavenas, who is also seeded second in Class AA discus at 138-3, and Marian's Nico Agosti both return after missing last week's league meet with injuries. Agosti is seeded third in the boys' Class AA 400 at 51.66. District 11 track
· When: Today and Thursday, field events begin at 2:30 p.m., track at 3 p.m. both days
· Where: East Stroudsburg South High School
· Admission: $6 for adults, $3 for students and senior citizens (age 62 and up)
· Individual returning champs from Schuylkill League: Class AA boys - Mahanoy Area's Tyler Cavenas (shot put); Class AA girls - North Schuylkill's Carter Green (discus) and Carly Gregas (high jump); Class AAA boys - Tamaqua's Tyler Hope (javelin); Class AAA girls - Pottsville's Paige Stoner (1,600, 3,200)
· What's at stake: The top two finishers in each event, plus those who meet or exceed each event's state-qualifying standard, qualify for the PIAA Championships on May 23-24 at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium.