Apr 25, 2015 4 min read

McMURRAY – Koryn Jozwiakowski battles more than the competition in her performances in track and field.

There also is an internal struggle, the fire that rages in her belly when things don’t go as planned.

One can imagine the turmoil when on the second to last hurdle, she snagged her foot and came down face-first on the track in the finals of the 100-meter hurdles.

What was impressive was that the spill didn’t cause her to lose focus in her other events, which went a lot better. The junior from Fort Cherry won the triple jump and long jump and took eighth in the high jump to win the Field MVP at the Washington-Greene County Coaches Track & Field Championships at Peters Township Saturday afternoon.

Laura Ehrenberger of Peters Township was the Track MVP after winning the 800 and 3,200 runs and finishing second in the 1,600 run. Ehrenberger also was part of the Indians’ 3,200 relay team that took first place.

And Aliyah Moye of Washington was Combination MVP after finishing second in the 200 dash and long jump, fourth in the 100 and fifth in the triple jump.

Peters Township won the Class AAA team title with 173 1/2 points, 24 1/2 more than second-place Canon-McMillan. McGuffey won the Class AA team title with 69 1/2 points and Fort Cherry was second with 50.

Jozwiakowski entered the meet with the best Class AA triple jump (37-3) in the WPIAL. Her winning effort of 36-4 was off that mark, but it came in the last event of a long day.

Jozwiakowski had a personal record of 37-3 in a meet against Chartiers-Houston last week.

“I like this meet,” Jozwiakowski said. “It’s fun to come here because there are a lot of athletes to compete against. When I fell in the hurdles, I got bruise marks all over my hands and legs.”

Jozwiakowski hit a season-best 16-8 in the long jump, three inches off her PR but three inches longer than Moye’s second-place finish.

Ehrenberger was added to the 3,200 run at the last moment and ended up winning it with a time of 11:46.87. The sophomore turned in a 2:21.75 in the 800, her strongest event, and finished second to teammate Chloe Grzyb in the 1,600 with a PR of 5:18.52, just .32 off the pace.

“I wasn’t expecting to run the 3,200,” said Ehrenberger. “But someone got pulled from the 3,200, and they put me in to have another (Peters Township) person run it.”

Ehrenberger just edged Riley Leisman of Canon-McMillan for the Track MVP. Leisman, a sophomore, won the 100 in 12.55, and the 200 in 26.05. She helped the Canon-McMillan 400-meter relay team take first in 50.49.

“My strongest event is the 100,” said Leisman. “I need to build my conditioning for the 200.”

Leisman has battled a hamstring injury that shelved her for the postseason. She reinjured it two weeks ago in a match against South Fayette. Now, she carries a plastic roller to help stretch it out before events.

“I try to loosen the hamstring with it,” she said. “It has special ridges that can get deep into the muscle.”

McGuffey’s Rachel Czulewicz came into this event with the fourth best javelin throw in the WPIAL at 120-8. The senior beat that mark by 3-1 in winning the event. She bested teammate Katie Demi, who has the top javelin throw this season in Class AA of 127-10, by 10 feet.

“I was a little surprised,” said Czulewicz. “The way I was warming up, I just did OK. My follow through was good; I just need to keep my speed up.”

Czulewicz finished second in the 400 (1:04.43), sixth in the discus (94-10) and was part of the Highlanders’ 400 relay team that finished fifth (54.47).

Trinity’s Liz Fleming was a double-winner, putting the shot 36-0 1/2 and throwing the discus 107-7. Teammate Jaime Handra won the high jump with a 5-2 effort.