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She closed her eyes, drew her breath, and took a strong run at a height she had hit a few times before.
Then it actually happened.
The prestigious Penn Relays crowned a champion from the Wyoming Valley Conference.
Coughlin senior Madisyn Hawkins won the pole vault in the high school girls division Penn Relays, hitting a height of 12-7.5 Thursday to best second-place finishers Abby Norwillo of Pittston Area and State College’s Lyndsey Reed at the famed Philadelphia track.
“This is awesome,” Hawkins said. “I think it was just that I really wanted to get it.
“This is a big accomplishment for me.”
For the WVC, too.
Hawkins and Norwillo, who have squared off in league meets during the past couple of seasons and at last year’s PIAA Class 3A championship vaults — where Norwillo medaled with a sixth-place finish — gave the conference a 1-2 finish at one of the country’s most anticipated track and field events.
“As soon as they both cleared (preliminary jumps), me and Paul (Coughlin coach McGrane) were saying it’s really nice to watch,” Pittston Area coach Joe Struckus said. “It’s great to have two girls from the same conference in it.”
There were a few more WVC standouts among top finishers in other events.
Berwick thrower Payden Montana placed third in girls pole vault, setting personal and school records in the process with a throw of 45-1.5. And Lake-Lehman’s Emily Johns finished 12th in the discus throw by hitting 134-4 and moving up six spots from her seeding.
Those two star throwers will meet Wednesday when Berwick and Lake-Lehman square off in a battle of unbeatens at Berwick’s track in a meet that will likely decide the WVC Division 2 race.
It was the second time this season Montana broke the school record in shot put, in her first trip to the Penn Relays.
“I think she’s been preparing for this kind of event for a long time,” Berwick coach Bob Calarco said. “She’s one of the most dedicated athletes I’ve ever seen in my 30-plus years in sports. She was very excited. But she’s been trying to place herself in environments like that. When there are athletes who are better than her, I think she steps up her game a little bit.”
Hawkins stepped to the top of the podium through mental resolve, and in the process, checked a big achievement off her bucket list.
“It was definitely a goal of mine,” said Hawkins, who has cleared 13 feet in the past. “The bar was at 12-7 and a half. I knew on that last jump I had to make it to win. I just envisioned myself going over the bar. And I made it. It feels really good, especially because for about the last week, I haven’t jumped so well.”
In her first Penn Relays, Norwillo nearly jumped out of her shoes.
“I applied last year and was denied. This is my first year competing at this,” Norwillo, a junior, said. “It was incredible, even just going into the city, seeing the athletes, entering the stadium. Everyone who is there is just so talented, athletes from Jamaica. South Africa. Having the opportunity to jump there was just incredible.”
Norwillo was on the verge of challenging Hawkins for victory, but just nicked the bar at 12-7.5 on her final attempt at the height to wind up in s second-place tie.
“She jumped really well today,” Struckus said. “She was hitting her marks. She had a couple really good jumps, and if things fell her way, she would have been right there with Madisyn. Her last attempt, she nicked it on the way down. That’s how it goes sometimes. She did a great job in that big stadium.”
Montana was focused on getting the job done.
Also making her first appearance at the Penn Relays, Montana finished well behind the distance of 53-7 of event champion Alyssa Wilson of Donovan Catholic in Toms River, N.J., but was honored to place in the top three.
“It was an awesome event, a lot of fun,” said Montana, a returning state shot put medalist. “The number one seed, she’s really good, the best in the country. But I knew I had a high finish in me.”
In the college women’s division, King’s College sophomore thrower Jill Korgeski from Dunmore finished 39th in the shot put.
And Wyoming Area senior Marc Minichello, currently rated 19th in the country, will compete in the boys javelin as the Penn Relays continue Friday. He’s slotted at sixth in the event.
