2012 PIAA State Track & Field – Day One Recap

By: Bruce Markey
Friday, May 25, 2012 | 9:23 PM

The first day of the PIAA track and field championships is complete, and only one WPIAL athlete stepped up to the very top of the winners stand.

Waynesburg’s Marissa Kalsey won the Class AA pole vault championship at Shippensburg University Friday. She was the only WPIAL athlete to win a gold medal on the first day of the two-day meet.

The first day includes finals in only half of the field events. Running events have only preliminary heats. The rest of the field event finals and all running event finals will be tomorrow.

For Kalsey, this was her fourth appearance at the state meet, and the third time she received a medal. But this was the first time she finished first. She was third last year as a junior and second as a sophomore.

Kalsey seemed to be on a roll at the meet, clearing her first four heights on her first try at 11-0, 11-6, 12-0 and 12-6. The 12-6 tied her personal best.

Kalsey tried to clear 12-8, but failed on three attempts. That would have set a PIAA championship record.

“I was pretty positive about getting 12-8,” Kalsey said. “I thought I could it. … On the first one at 12-8, I felt like I was pretty close to making it over, but …”

Two other WPIAL athletes won silver medals Friday. Canon-McMillan’s Mira Carrozza was second in the javelin with a throw of 32-6. Hazleton’s Julia Franzosa won with 135-9.

Quaker Valley’s Joe Rakowski placed second in the Class AA pole vault by clearing 14-6. The first-place finisher was Kane Area’s Patrick Anderson, who set a PIAA Class AA record at 15-11. The old record was 15-10 by Hickory’s Eric Sparks in 2005.

Another Canon-McMillan athlete came close to winning a title, but Shawn Johnson settled for third in the Class AAA triple jump with a leap of 49-5. Johnson was leading the competition after the preliminary round. Strath Haven’s Wellington Zaza won with 50-0 ½.

Looking ahead to the final day of the meet, Washington’s Dustin Fuller is one to watch, at least in terms of versatility. Fuller won three events at the WPIAL championships last week, and he moved on in all three events today at the PIAA meet. He had the best preliminary heat time in the 300 hurdles, was third in the 400 and eighth in the 110 hurdles.

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Waynesburg Central