BY JEFF FALK

LEBANON – Sturdy. Durable. Adaptable. Balanced. Versatile. Which word best describes Hannah Woelfling?

Actually you can call her whichever one you want. She’s flexible.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Lebanon High School, during the annual Lebanon County Track and Field Championships, Woelfling put forth an overwhelming effort in the field, to lead Cedar Crest to the team title.  The junior thrower-turned-jumper was named the Outstanding Female Athlete and amassed 38 team points on her own, by winning the discus, long jump and triple jump, and by finishing as the runner-up in the shot put.

With the Falcons also receiving strong showings from sprinter Shayla Bonzelet and freshman distance runner Gwyneth Young, they piled up 199 team points to best Palmyra’s score by 42 points. Elco was a solid third, followed by Lebanon High, Annville-Cleona and Northern Lebanon.

“Here’s the thing I love about Hannah,” said Cedar Crest head coach Rob Bare. “She’s a three-sport athlete. She does track and field for 12 weeks a year, and she’s just going to continue to get better and better. She’s such a great student-athlete. She’s so coachable.

“If she has a rough day, you know the next day she’s going to bring it,” added Bare. “We knew she was going to have a big one today.”

“I have no words,” said Woelfling. “After seeing (former Annville-Cleona star) Regan Hess getting it (the OA award) every year and following after her, it’s really awesome. I was just trying to do my events and and not think about the outcomes. Obvioulsy I wanted to do it for the team. But I just try to go out there and PR (personal record).

“I was a thrower specifically, and then I was a high jumper,” continued Woelfling. “Coach came up to me and said to me, ‘You look like you could handle the long jump’. I’ve definitely been doing discuss and high jump the longest. That’s where I’m more comfortable. With the shot and triple jump, I started liking them more.”

Woelfling probably received the OA award as much for her ability to manage her time and energy as anything.

She won the high jump and discuss almost simulataneously, while bouncing back and forth between events. Woelfling copped the discus by almost 30 feet, with a new meet record of 134-10, and she was the only competitor to clear 5-2 in the high jump.

“I was seeded second in the high jump,” said Woelfling. “In the discus, I was thinking I was OK. The shot just came out of nowhere. I’m just really grateful.

“I was worried because I had an hour-and-a-half to do nothing,” Woelfling continued. “I thought I might come out slow (in the afternoon events). My coach came over to me and said, ‘Do you want to win this (the high jump)?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I definitely want to win this.'”

Earlier in the day, Woelfing had captured the triple jump with a 34-4.5 effort that was nearly two feet longer than runner-up Julia Nelson from Elco. Her heave in the shot put was a mere three-quarters of an inch off gold medalist ShanAnn Simmons of Lebanon’s 35-7.5.

“I felt a lot of pressure because people were expecting a lot out of me,” said Woelfling. “I was trying to calm down and just do my thing. Jump and throw.”

“After 12 events, the (team) score was tied 118-118,” said Bare. “Yeah, but Hannah Woelfling’s events really hadn’t begun yet. Second entries really help us in events like this. Depth wins championships.”

And so does talent.

Bonzalet did her part in the speed events on the track. She garnered first place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.15, grabbed gold in the 200-meter dash with a 26.99 and ran the second leg of Cedar Crest’s victory in the 400-meter relay event. She was joined on that team by Hannah McCurdy, Gabby Warfield and DeAsia Holloman.

Young was even more dominant in the distance events. She triumphed in the 1600-meter run with a 5:18.53 and won the 3200-meters by a whopping 1:06. Yikes!

“We knew it was going to be a dogfight with Palmyra,” said Bare. “And Elco was undefeated in their section. But we have some big-time front-runners. These girls go out and can score some points. We had tons of great peformances.

“On paper, it looked good,” contined Bare. “But we knew Palmyra was going to throw the kitchen sink at us. We knew it was going to be a great battle.”

Individually, Holloman captured the long jump for the Falcons.

The Cougars made it competitive thanks to outstanding outings from Ellie Keck, Kirsttin West, Mia Julian and Maliya Stough. Stough took top honors in the 100 high hurdles with a time of 15.54, Julian emerged as the winner of the 400-meter dash – in 59.60 – Keck hit the tape first in the 800-meter run and West tied the Lebanon County record with a winning throw of 133-9 in the javelin.

Palmyra’s Keck, Julian, Sarah Hollen and Jess St. Clair collaborated on gold in the 3200-meter relay. Then Keck, Hollen and Julian combined their talents with those of Megan Bucher for first place in the afternoon’s 1600-meter relay.

For Elco, Natalie Swingholm ran to a county championship in the 300-meter hurdles, and senior teammate Emily Bidelspach was the only competitor to clear 10-0 in the pole vault.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annual Lebanon County Track and Field Championships

 (at Lebanon High School)

Girls’ Results

Team Scores: Cedar Crest (CC) 199, Palmyra (P) 163, Elco (E) 121, Lebanon (L) 36, Annville-Cleona (AC) 19, Northern Lebanon (NL) 13.

100: 1. Shayla Bonzelet, CC, 13.15; 2. Maliyah Stough, P, 13.36; 3. Kaitlyn Rueppel, E, 13.58; 4. Hannah McCurdy, CC, 13.66; 5. Elizabeth Wenger, P, 13.69; 6. Sydney Mengel, NL, 13.89.

200: 1. Shayla Bonzelet, CC, 26.99; 2. DeAsia Holloman, CC, 28.00; 3. Mia Julian, P, 28.01; 4. Kaitlyn Rueppel, E, 28.26; 5. Maliyah Stough, P, 28.75; 6. Sydney Mengel, NL, 29.18.

400: 1. Mia Julian, P, 59.60; 2. Shayla Bonzelet, CC, 1:00.29; 3. Dezaree Balthaser, E, 1:02.38; 4. Cassiah Ray, NL, 1:03.65; 5. Allie Freshley, CC, 1:04.76; 6. Giahnny Corea, L, 1:04.84.

800: 1. Ellie Keck, P, 2:25.97; 2. Abby Keath, E, 2:29.19; 3. Megan Heagy, CC, 2:31.26; 4. Den Colon Olivencia, L, 2:37.56; 5. Jess St. Clair, P, 2:39.92; 6. Cate Strunk, CC, 2:44.90.

1600: 1. Gwyneth Young, CC, 5:18.53; 2. Sarah Hollen, P, 5:38.53; 3. Jess St. Clair, P, 5:46.92; 4. Cate Strunk, CC, 5:47.65. 5. Emily Williams, E, 5:54.72; Olivia Cheslock, NL, 6:06.64.

3200: 1. Gwyneth Young, CC, 11:34.93; 2. Taylor Laliberte, CC, 12:41.37; 3. Lily Brubaker, E, 12:49.12; 4. Sarah Hollen, P, 13:28.92; 5. Claire Keck, P, 13:49.47; 6. Bethany Snyder, NL, 16:40.40.

100 hurdles: 1. Maliyah Stough, P, 15.54; 2. DeAsia Holloman, CC, 16:35; 3. Jalissa Nolt, E, 16.56; 4. Madyson Brown, CC, 17:45; 5. Jannae Bonds, P, 17.59; 6. Neesha Pierre, AC, 19.79.

300 hurdles: 1. Natalie Swingholm, E, 48.51; 2. Jannae Bonds, P, 51.36; Gabby Warfield, CC, 52.10; 4. Courtney Smith, P, 52.39; 5. Ilena Faiola, CC, 52.40; 6. Gracen Kreider, AC, 53.23.

4×100: 1. Cedar Crest (Hannah McCurdy, Shayla Benzelet, Gabby Warfield, DeAsia Holloman) 51.19; 2. Palmyra, 51.89; 3. Elco, 52.64; 4. Northern Lebanon, 56.56; 5. Lebanon, 1:00.90.

4×400: 1. Palmyra (Ellie Keck, Sarah Hollen, Meagan Bucher, Mia Julian) 4:18.04; 2. Elco, 4:22.04; 3. Cedar Crest, 4:24.24; 4. Lebanon, 5:00.57.

4×800: 1. Palmyra (Sarah Hollen, Mia Julian, Jess St. Clair, Ellie Keck) 10:24.20; 2. Elco, 10:34.51; 3. Cedar Crest, 11:10.22; 4. Lebanon, 14:20≥48.

Pole vault: 1. Emily Bidelspach, E, 10-0; 2. Kayla Long, AC, 9-6; 3. Sidney Wike, L, 8-6; 4. Morgan Mesner, CC, 7-6; 5. Kelsey McConaghy, P, 7-6; 6. Amber Levengood, CC, 7-6.

High jump: 1. Hannah Woelfling, CC, 5-2; 2. Emily Bidelspach, E, 5-0; 3. (tie) Amber Levengood, CC and Jannae Bonds, P, 4-10; 5. Giahnny Correa, L, 4-10; 6. Kaylisa Montijo, E, 4-8.

Long jump: 1. DeAsia Holloman, CC, 16-3; 2. Camryn Simpson, P, 15-9½; 3. Elizabeth Wenger, P, 15-7¾; 4. Julia Nelson, E, 15-7; 5. Kaitlyn Rueppel, E, 15-2½; 6. Gracen Kreider, AC, 14-4¾.

Triple jump: 1. Hannah Woefling, CC, 34-4½; 2. Julia Nelson, E, 32-7; 3. Camryn Simpson, P, 31-6¾; 4. Jannae Bonds, P, 31-4¾; 5. Hannah McCurdy, CC, 31-3½; 6. Kaylisa Montijo, E, 30-10.

Shot: 1. ShanAnn Simmons, L, 35-7½; 2. Hannah Woelfling, CC, 35-6¾; 3. Hannah Weddle, CC, 34-9½; 4. Ryelle Shuey, E, 34-5½; 5. Olivia Sforza, L, 31-7; 6. Haley Sherk, E, 31-4¼.

Discus: 1. Hannah Woelfling, CC, 134-10 (meet record. Old: Rachel Bryce, AC 125-½, 1993); 2. Mackenzie Drane, AC, 105-3; 3. Olivia Devine, P, 100-0; 4. Kaylynn Keppley, E, 93-8; 5. Hannah Weddle, CC, 90-7; Olivia Sforza, L, 89-8.

Javelin: 1. Kirstin West, P, 133-9 (Ties meet record, Meghan Briggs, P, 2006); 2. Ryelle Shuey, E, 111-0; 3. Grace Miller, CC, 101-6; 4. Genieva Martin, P, 101-2; 5. Madyson Brown, CC, 96-5; 6. Sara Zinsky, NL, 95-1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lebanon County Track and Field Championship Records

LEBANON COUNTY MEET RECORDS