Apr 20, 2013 4 min read

MCMURRAY – There is something missing for Jenna Lucas this year in the javelin.

Jessie Merckle.

Merckle, a WPIAL and PIAA champion last year, mentored Lucas on throwing and the results this season have been remarkable. Lucas uncorked a 143-2 effort to win the event in Saturday’s Washington-Greene County Coaches Track Meet at Peters Township High School.

The junior from Fort Cherry High School has the top two throws in the WPIAL this season, reaching 146-1 at the South Hills Classic at Baldwin earlier this month.

“I miss her,” said Lucas.

The two will get together next week when Lucas makes an unofficial recruiting visit to Wake Forest University. Lucas is getting interest from a number of schools, including Harvard, Princeton, LSU and Illinois.

“Alabama was the first letter I got, and that was when I was a freshman,” said Lucas.

Lucas is a multi-talented athlete. Not only is she proficient in track, she played basketball, volleyball and summer league softball. She is the No. 2 player on the golf team – her brother Jeremy is No. 1 – and she shot a 39 over the rugged course at Quicksilver Golf Club.

Lucas is concentrating on the javelin now.

“My goal is to reach 150 this year,” she said, “and 160 as a senior.”

No one should bet against her.

Trinity’s Mitchell Kendra eyed the pole vault pit yesterday at Peters Township and felt confident. Even after he started his run-up, no problems there either. But right about when he was ready to plant …

“It was pretty tough because I would stand there on the runway, I’d look down, put the pole in the air, get ready to go, and the bar would be off,” Kendra said. “They’d put it back up, and I’d have to wait.”

The waiting might have been the hardest part, but Kendra didn’t break down, clearing 11-6 to take top honors.

His mark was still a half-foot less than his personal-best, a testament to the blustery conditions, though he wasn’t about to complain about the gold medal hanging from his neck.

“The wind was messing me up a little today,” Kendra said. “I’m not used to jumping in the wind. Otherwise it was a pretty good day.”

Alyssa Wise does not like to run in the cold, but you could not tell that from the outcome of her three sprints. She captured the 100, 200 and 400 dashes to finish second to Peters Township’s Kylie Knavish for MVP of the track events.

Crossing the finish line in the 400, Wise was hobbling. But it turned out that her muscles were tightening in the cold weather.

“It was nothing serious,” she said. “It was just tight.”

Wise came back in the 200, showing how healthy she was, winning the race by nearly two seconds over Christina Willis of Ringgold.

Chartiers-Houston senior Amanda Balzer clipped a hurdle during the 100-meter race, but the reigning champion had the wherewithal to adjust her steps and escaped with a narrow win over Ringgold’s Bailey Cooper. Her time of 16.40 seconds was seventh-hundredths better than Cooper’s.

“I was lucky I won that one,” Balzer said. “That’s where I think my experience came in, just being able to alternate legs.”

Make no mistake: Balzer did not nick a hurdle.

“I hit it hard,” she added. “My knee’s still bothering me from that.

“Those hurdles are unforgiving, too; they’re the weighted ones.”

Though Balzer didn’t use it as an excuse, she faltered in the 300 hurdles, running a 48.21 to finish three-quarters of a second behind Cooper.

When Cydney Comfort cleared 4-10 in the high jump, she not only won the gold medal in the event, she showed again what determination she has as an athlete.

The senior from McGuffey suffered a severe ankle sprain a few years back during gymnastics that ended that career and put her other athletic activities in danger. Her doctors told her she would probably never be able to compete at a high level in varsity sports.

But they were wrong.

“It was stiff,” said Comfort of her ankle. “I run a lot more (to loosen it up) when it’s cold. I have to push through the cold weather.”

Not only was it her best effort of the season, it put her in the top 10 of the WPIAL.