WHITEHALL — The breakout season for Jim Thorpe’s Rayan Green took another jump forward Tuesday, no pun intended.
Green, a junior, not only grabbed his first two district titles, but he also won them competing in the events at the same time.
Green won the Class AAA triple jump at 47 feet, 9 inches and followed by clearing 6-3 in the high jump to win that event, too, at the District 11 Track and Field Championships at Whitehall High School’s Zephyr Complex.
Green qualified for the PIAA Championships in both events with his wins. It is the second time Green is headed to states in the high jump after he qualified by finishing second in the event in 2014. It will be Green’s first trip to states in the triple jump.
East Stroudsburg North’s Anthony Cruz was second in both the triple jump and high jump. Cruz finished with a 45-4 in the triple jump and 6-3 in the high jump.
“I am really happy and I am really happy with how I performed today,” Green said. “I just want to keep up this momentum and get ready for states. I want to thank my coaches and my teammates for the support they gave me today. I have to give a special thanks to YouTube videos again. I was watching them all last night and picturing myself doing well.”
Green certainly did Tuesday. He also qualified
for today’s finals of the 110 hurdles, finishing with the sixth best time overall in the preliminaries in 15.47 seconds.
Green’s two titles were part of the four won by athletes from the Schuylkill League on Tuesday.
Schuylkill Haven’s Noah Fritz won his first district championship in Class AA shot put, finishing with a final distance of 48 feet, 7.75 inches. Pine Grove’s Scott Werner (46-2) was second. It is the first time Fritz has qualified for the state meet.
Minersville’s 3,200 boys’ relay team claimed the day’s first title as Wesley Yutko, Clement Rushanan, Colton Fox and Ben Hinkel won the Class AA title in 8:18.35, beating Marian (8:22.85) and Northern Lehigh (8:28.99).
Hinkel is headed to states for the third time and will defend his 800 championship today. Yutko, Rushanan and Fox are going to Shippensburg for the first time.
Also making his first trip to states is Lehighton’s Joe Blauch in Class AAA discus after he came in second to Bangor’s Cam Strohe (141-7). Blauch finished with a 138-0.
Green was coming off a three-victory performance at the Schuylkill League meet last Wednesday, winning the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and triple jump. His only blemish was the high jump where he came into the event at 5-10 but failed to clear the height on his three attempts. Blue Mountain’s Dakota Roberts (5-6) won the event.
“I was just have to say my legs were tired and I wasn’t as mentally focused as I should have been,” Green said. “But I came to districts with a different attitude and ready to go.”
Indeed he was.
Green was seeded fourth in both events Tuesday. His triple jump distance was a season high, which he got on his second attempt of the preliminaries and it stood up the rest of the competition. Green, Cruz and Parkland’s Devanta Cross all reached 6-3 in the high jump but Green took first when he cleared the height on his first attempt.
Green is used to competing in multiple events during the season and said he had no trouble keeping focused as both the triple and high jumps were going on the same time.
“I really don’t know,” Green said. “It was in the same spot so it really wasn’t hard to stay loose. I just had to listen to what the announcer (at each event) was saying and I was fine.
“It is very satisfying. I just came in with a positive attitude like I said before. Got my technique down, YouTube videos and I was good.”
Watching YouTube videos has been a part of Green’s training all season. He said he watched Olympic athletes compete in both events Monday night and pictured himself copying their technique.
Fritz competed Tuesday with “53s” written on the back of his calves. It’s the number Fritz wants to hit to break the Schuylkill Haven school record in the boys’ shot put. It’s a number Fritz has been trying to reach all season.
He wasn’t pleased he didn’t hit the number again at districts. Still, it didn’t spoil what he accomplished Tuesday and what he’s done all season.
“I am glad I took a gold but I am disappointed,” Fritz said. “I didn’t live up to my seed and I didn’t live up to over my seed. I couldn’t throw far today. I put in a lot of hard work and it just didn’t happen.
“I just came out wanting to throw my best. I wasn’t thinking about anybody else. I was just here to throw 53 and it didn’t happen.”
Fritz came in seeded first at 51-1, a distance he hit at the Pine Grove Invitational on April 24. Fritz threw a 49-5 at the league meet last Wednesday at Blue Mountain said he didn’t feel nervous about coming in as the top seed. Fritz finished fifth in the event last year.
Fritz was happy with the fact that he was around the 48-foot mark with all of his throws.
“That was encouraging because I was consistent when I was fatigued,” Fritz said. “I think at this point I’ve developed a good technique as my throws go on but I am not fresh. What I need to do is throw harder in practice and get the technique down in practice more. Hit a bunch with the good technique so I am ready to go for states.”
The strategy for Minersville in its race was to stay close with Marian, which came in as the top seed and defending district champ.
That’s what happened as the race came down to the Miners and Colts.
Hinkel was about 15 meters behind Marian’s Zaccary Roberts as the two began the final leg. Hinkel finally passed him with about 250 meters left and pulled away over the last 100 meters to hold on for the win.
Hinkel was a part of the team that won the event in 2013.
“I knew I needed to stay with him because if he got too far ahead of me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch him,”Hinkel said. “I knew he was a really good competitor. My mindset was to just stick with him and hopefully my kick at the end would be good enough to get him.”
It was the first time in about three weeks that the Miners’ foursome that competed Tuesday ran the event together. Hinkel and Fox are from Tri-Valley, part of the co-op the Bulldogs have with Minersville for track and field.
“We were all just really pumped about coming into it today,” Hinkel said. “We were like, first time we were together in like three weeks, we were like we have to do this. We did all we could, run at least a 2:05 and we did.”
State qualifiers
CLASS AA
BOYS
Minersville
Wesley Yutko (3,200 relay)#, Clement Rushanan (3,200 relay)#, Colton Fox (3,200 relay)#, Ben Hinkel (3,200 relay)#
Schuylkill Haven
Noah Fritz (shot put)#
GIRLS
Marian
Brenna Karnish (discus)#
Pine Grove
McKayala Lally (300 hurdles)#, Maddie Frew (300 hurdles)
Tamaqua
Chelsea Frantz (3,200 relay)#, Victoria LaBar (3,200 relay)#, Janette Kabana (3,200 relay)#, Monika Shimko (3,200 relay)#, Morgan Boyle (pole vault)
CLASS AAA
BOYS
Jim Thorpe
Rayan Green (high jump)#, (triple jump)#
Lehighton
Joe Blauch (discus)
GIRLS
Jim Thorpe
Brooke Cope (javelin)#, Autumn Cope (javelin)
# District champ