River Valley's McConnell, Penns Manor's Polenik earn medals at state meet

She won the indoor state title in high jump in February, and the event has become her top priority. McConnell jumped 5 feet, 4 inches on Friday and claimed third place in the Class 2A girls’ high jump competition at the state meet to earn her first career medal. Even so, she wasn’t thrilled with her placement.

After winning the indoor state title in the event in February, she thought she could do better than third place Friday. Such is the mindset of an elite athlete.

“It’s not what I wanted, but I’m just blessed to be here, so it’s OK,” a teary-eyed McConnell said. “I mean, not many people would be sad with a third place at states, but it’s not originally what I wanted. I wanted to try and go for both titles, but it just wasn’t in the cards this year, so I’ll be back next year ready in indoor and outdoor.”

McConnell was one four area athletes to earn a medal Friday on the first day of the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. Homer-Center senior Justley Sharp won her second outdoor Class 2A girls’ discus title with a throw of 148-5, while McConnell and two others posted top-five finishes.

Penns Manor sophomore Alex Polenik placed fifth in the Class 2A boys’ discus with a throw of 165-3, and Ligonier Valley sophomore John Jablunovsky finished in a tie for fourth in the 2A boys’ high jump (6-2).

“It’s impressive, especially since I’m only a sophomore,” Jablunovsky said of his first career medal.

Jablunovsky has been dealing with shin splints in recent weeks, which had tempered his expectations at the state meet and then left him pleasantly surprised when he landed on the podium.

“I wasn’t expecting to do as well as I did,” Jablunovsky said.

A two-time state qualifier in the discus, Polenik not only medaled, he also broke his personal best by nearly 7 feet. He entered the state meet with a personal-best of 158-7. On Friday, he had three throws of 163 feet or better after never having broke the 160-foot barrier in his career.

“The best part is I broke my PR by 7 seven feet,” a smiling Polenik said. “I feel so happy. I got the goals that I hoped for. … Every one of the 160-foot throws today, they all felt so good. It just feels so satisfying to finally reach that 160 mark.”

Polenik enters today’s shot put competition seeded fourth in the Class 2A field after unleashing a throw of 51-11¾ last week at the District 6 meet.

“We’re not done yet with the (state) meet,” he said. “Right now we’re on track with discus, and we’ve got to try to get better (Saturday) with shot put.”

As a freshman two years ago, McConnell “dabbled” in the high jump during the indoor track season. She didn’t do that as a sophomore last year but decided to try it again this winter. Her coaches at River Valley — Melissa Milanak and Geoff Dixon — supported her passion.

“We moved the high jump mats into our gym, and I was lifting, and doing speed and agility, and jumping all the same time, and it just all started to click,” McConnell said. “I started clearing 5-2 on the gym floor in sneakers, and they were like, ‘OK, you didn’t hit that at all last year.’ And that’s kind of when it clicked for us. Like, you have potential to do well. … So that’s kind of how that happened. Very unexpected, though.”