SOMERSET —
The Forest Hills girls’ track and field team finished unbeaten during the regular season, winning the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference crown.
The Rangers added the LHAC Championship Meet to their list of achievements, topping the field on Wednesday at Somerset High School.
The Rangers won six of the 18 events, including sweeping all three relays.
Junior Casey Gallaher won the 800 and was part of the Rangers winning 3200 and 1600 relays.
“It felt good to win the 800,” said Gallaher, who finished in 2:24.81. “Carrie Baker (of Bedford) is really tough competition so it’s always good to win against her and I thank her for pushing me because without her I would have run really slowly. I’m still a little bit out of shape and I want to train really hard this week so I can hopefully get my best time next week (at districts).”
Forest Hills’ quartet of Brooke Smay, Becky Bard, Marlee Schrift and Megan Gould won the 400 relay in 51.21.
“Every leg of the race is nerve wracking,” Bard said. “You feel pressure, but I have three other strong teammates that I can rely on to get me the lead so I don’t have all the pressure of bringing it home. I feel like our times are still coming down as we get around stronger teams so we know mentally and physically, we’re going have to continue to be at our best.”
The Rangers foursome of Briana Kostan, Chelsea Chizmar, Kasie Erb and Gallaher won the 3200 relay in 9:45.87.
“That was our best time by like 20 seconds and everyone just ran their hardest,” Gallaher said. “Central Cambria was right there with us. That was like their best time by 40 seconds. Both teams ran really well. All of our legs are fresh in that race because it’s the first event of the day.”
Added Kostan: “We were only a few seconds off the school record that we set when we were freshmen.”
Kostan, Gould, Gallaher and Bard also won the 1600 relay.
“We know that we can still run faster,” Gould said. “I guess you run your fastest when you have someone running with you.”
The other winners for the Rangers were Samantha Deitle in the high jump (5 feet) and Schrift in the 200 (27.02).
Paige Lumley of Richland won three events on Wednesday.
She claimed the victory in the 100 hurdles in 15.37 then established a meet record in the 300 hurdles, winning in 46.43.
The talented senior athlete also set a meet record in the triple jump with a winning leap of 38-4.
The fastest girl in the conference at the meet was Johnstown’s Victoria Smothers, who won the 100 in 13.21. Somerset’s Caroline Heckman captured the 400 in 1:01.36.
Central Cambria’s Alyssa Brandis won the 1600 in 5:26.48 then turned around and won the 3200 run in 12:00.49.
Westmont’s Christine Connors was victorious in the pole vault competition (10-7) and Somerset’s Janna Coyle claimed the long jump title (17-3).
Cambria Heights’ Sonya McConnell won the shot put (29-9½) while Richland’s Marina Pecora was the discus champ with a throw of 98-2 and Kelly Beegle of Bedford claimed the javelin title (106-3).
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