LANDISVILLE – He puts a pretty mean shot. Yeah, and he ain’t too shabby with a discus either.
So, exactly what is it with Dylan Lambrecht and throwing around heavy objects?
On a mostly sunny Saturday at Hempfield High School, during the second and final day of the annual Lancaster-Lebanon Track and Field Championships, Lambrecht continued to grow as a thrower, and that maturity and refined technique produced a pair of gold medals. The Northern Lebanon senior took home top honors in both the shot put and the discus, in fairly dominant fashion.
Lambrecht repeated the L-L League discus championship he won in 2019 as a sophomore, and improved on the third-place showing he accomplished in the shot put during the same pre-COVID-19 spring. He entered the competition as the top seed in each event this year.
Lambrecht’s were the only golden ones among a plethora of medals mined by Lebanon County student-athletes at the L-L League meet over the weekend.
“When I was younger, I always loved the discus more,” said Lambrecht. “I was better at it. It was easier to throw and I liked to watch it fly. Now that I’ve gotten older and stronger, I feel like I’m definitely better in the shot. I guess now, the shot put is my best event. If you would’ve asked me two years ago, I would’ve said the discus.”
Lambrecht won the shot put by almost six feet. Still, his winning heave of 58-2.5 was more than a foot short of the regular-season effort that had him seeded first.
Confident and relaxed, there were times during the shot-put competition when Lambrecht looked to his audience to help elevate his adrenaline.
“I was feeling a little more comfortable in the shot put,” said Lambrecht. “I was playing to the crowd a little bit. It was fun. It’s nice having a good seeding. I’m really trying to beat myself here. I was pretty confident coming in. I figured I’d probably win.”
Following a 30-minute intermission between events, Lambrecht went out and won the discus in a similar style. He was the leader after the preliminary round, before uncorking a 165-10 on his first attempt in the finals.
That long throw was 14 feet farther than runner-up Ethan Mylin of Manheim Township’s best attempt. Jaden Deitzler of Lebanon finished third in the discus.
“It’s fine with me. I do it in practice almost every day,” said Lambrecht of competing in back-to-back events. “I spent some time waiting for the medal (for shot put). I just tried to sit down and take as much of a break as I could.
“I’m a little behind of where I thought I’d be in the shot put,” added Lambrecht. “At the beginning of the season, I really didn’t know where I’d be in the discus. I qualified for districts in my first meet of the season, so this was just a chance to make the district marks bigger. I want to break 60 (feet) in the shot, and in the discus, I’d love to touch 180.”
While Lambrecht was having his way with the league throwing competition, a trio of Lebanon County student-athletes were leaving their marks in the boys’ pole vault. Zach Bender of Elco, Daquee Williamson of Lebanon and Brandon Shunk of Northern Lebanon finished second, third and fourth, respectively, behind pole vault champion Nate Good of Warwick.
In the 1600-meter relay race, the Cedar Crest quartet of Kyle Rauchut, Ryan Wolfe, Dylan Stiver and Tommy Bildheiser copped a silver medal. Another Falcon foursome – Luke Hinegardner, Jayden Heagele, Caleb Peters and Bildheiser – ran to a bronze in the 3200-meter relay.
Individually, Bildheiser finished as the runner-up in the 400-meter dash, and Wolfe was third in the 1600-meter run.
“We had a great day. I’m thrilled with the effort,” said Cedar Crest head coach Rob Bare. “We always tell the kids, ‘It’s not what you do, but how you do it.’
“The approach we took with our middle distance and distance runners was to run them in off-events, rather than the events they’ve been running all year,” Bare continued. “It’s great physiological training. I was proud of their approach. They might have sacrificed individually to get better for next week (the District Three Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University). These guys are going to be hungry for next week.”
During the girls’ portion of the meet, contested on Saturday morning, the Cedar Crest team of Juliana Donley, Lizzie Lowe, Emilee Walborn and Grace Tadajweski captured a silver medal in the 3200-meter relay competition.
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