May 25, 2013 3 min read

SHIPPENSBURG – Jenna Lucas and Jessie Merckle used to warm up by picking out a shadow in the grass and trying to hit it with a javelin.

Closest, though the wagers were never much, wins.

Perhaps Merckle and Lucas have found a particular spot in the grass at Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium to their liking.

You know, the one far enough away that nobody else can hit it.

Lucas succeeded Merckle, her good friend and former teammate, by capturing the Class AA girls javelin title at the PIAA Track and Field Championships here Saturday morning. Her winning throw was 147-1 – obtained in the semifinals – and she beat Tamaqua’s Christine Streisel, who threw 144-11.

After walking from the javelin area to the infield, Lucas stepped on the awards stand, received her medal, then was swarmed by reporters, a scene she watched Merckle go through last year in envy after finishing sixth.

“I would look at Jessie and there would be 10 people around her, asking her questions,” Lucas said. “Then I get sixth and people say, ‘Oh, congrats.’ I hoped that could be me maybe my senior year. It happened now, and I’m ecstatic.”

Lucas and Merckle have remained in constant contact, the latter sending encouraging messages Friday night and Saturday before Lucas’ first throw. Merckle was actually supposed to attend the meet, but hernia surgery scuttled those plans.

“I’m sure she already knows,” Lucas said roughly 15 minutes after her win. “I’m sure my coach (Ben Maxin) already texted her. He probably texted her during.”

Outgoing, honest and funny, Lucas laughed when comparing how she fared this year to last year’s sixth-place finish.

In 2012, she attended Fort Cherry’s prom on Friday night, slept in the car for the middle-of-the-night drive, then came out and competed. This year, despite urgings — “Someone was going to ask me, but I said, ‘You probably shouldn’t because I think I’m going to states and won’t be able to,'” Lucas said — she skipped prom, asking her friends to send pictures and keep her apprised via Twitter.

Wise move.

Heavy winds, especially toward the end of the morning event, made throwing conditions slightly less than ideal, and Lucas needed to use one of her semifinal throws to win it; she didn’t eclipse 126 feet in the finals.

“This wind was a killer today,” Lucas said. “It affected a lot of us.”

Lucas tried to wait it out, often using 45 or 50 seconds of the minute-long clock, but most of the time to no avail.

Not that it mattered.

After receiving her medal and the crowd she so anxiously had awaited disappeared, Lucas looked down at her medal, examined it closely and smiled.

“I’m just mind-blown,” Lucas said. “It hasn’t even hit me yet that I’m the state champion. I love gold. It’s a nice color. I like it.”