May 25, 2018 4 min read

SHIPPENSBURG – Casually walking up to the long jump runway, Bentworth’s Brenna Cavanaugh gave no indication this was her last jump of the finals.

Her face was without expression.

She coolly shook her legs to loosen them before her final jump.

It all paid off.

On a difficult day for all jumpers, at least in the Class AA girls long jump competition, Cavanaugh soared to a second place finish with a distance of 17-10 ½ to win her first medal at this PIAA Track & Field Championships Friday at Shippensburg University.

The only other local medalist was California High School’s Marissa Bitonti, who finished fourth in the Class AA javelin and broke a personal record with a distance of 134-04.

“My last jump, I usually try to go all out with everything that I have left,” Cavanaugh said. “Wherever I am in the competition doesn’t really play a factor.”

And despite the last jump being nearly a foot behind the board, it prevented Cavanaugh from finishing in third place for a second straight year. She jumped a little more than 17-8 in her first attempt and faulted in her second try before outlasting Zoe Roush of Forest Hills (17-9 3/4) for silver. Breana Gambrell won gold with a distance of 19-11.

“I didn’t even think I was going to make the finals but it turned out that everyone wasn’t jumping well,” she said. “The sand was hard, the wind was blowing and it was hot. I don’t know if that affected everyone or not.”

A frustrated Cavanaugh finished with a leap last year of 18-03 ½, underwhelming her expectations with a third-place finish.

“I like the pressure,” Cavanaugh said.

“I put even more pressure on myself because I do better. It feels good to be done with one event and have a medal. It gives me a little more motivation to go get the other two (today).”

Cavanaugh will compete in the triple jump and the 100-meter hurdle finals, an event she won here last season.

The pressure overtook Bitonti in her 16th-place finish at the state meet a season ago.

“It was nerves that got me last year,” Bitonti said. “I wasn’t happy with myself. I came in this year with a much more positive attitude.”

Entering the day as the 13th seed – Bitonti threw 123-01 in the WPIAL championships – she embraced the role of a dark horse, knowing she could greatly improve on her distance from one week ago at Baldwin.

“I knew I had better than 123 feet in me,” Bitonti said. “I just said to myself that I was due for a personal record. The last time I set my own record was in the first meet last year. I wasn’t happy with myself after last year. I came in this time believing in myself and with a much more positive mindset.”

• South Fayette’s Rachel Helbling showed why her best event is the 400-meter run. Putting together a solid performance, Helbling dominated her preliminary heat with a time of 57.44, more than one second faster than the next time in her heat.

“I felt really good going down the back stretch,” Helbling said. “I love running here with the atmosphere. It’s hard not to do your best when you are here.”

The Lions’ senior, a Richmond recruit, finished seventh in the event last season and fifth as a sophomore.

The 400 finals are scheduled for today at 1:50 p.m.

“I definitely need to get out hard from the very beginning, making sure my start is very good,” Helbling said. “Hopefully, that will carry through to a hard finish.”

• A record set by Trinity High School’s Elaine Sobanksy has finally been broken.

An eight-time state medalist, Sobansky was ranked as No. 1 in the nation in the shot put several times throughout her Trinity career. Her mark of 50-01 1/4 was the top throw in Class AAA at the state meet for 38 years.

Payden Montana of Berwick High School topped Sobansky’s mark with a throw of 51-00 to break the second-longest record in the classification and third-longest overall.