Norwin’s Kolesar qualifies for PIAA championships in 3 events

By: Paul Schofield
Friday, May 17, 2019 | 8:03 PM

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Norwin senior Jessica Kolesar will be busy Friday at the PIAA Class AAA track and field championships at Shippensburg.

That’s because the Cornell commit will be competing in three events after earning four medals at the WPIAL meet last Thursday at Slippery Rock.

Kolesar finished second in the 200-meter dash, fourth in the long jump and was a member of the 400-meter relay team that finished fifth and hit the state qualifying mark. The 1,600-meter relay team finished sixth but did not hit the state qualifying mark.

Kolesar finished in 25.57 seconds in the 200, just behind Avonworth/Northgate senior Hayden Robinson.

In the long jump, she leaped 17 feet, 8 inches, finishing behind North Allegheny senior Casey Burton (18-9), Oakland Catholic senior Jayla Ellis (18-7) and Mt. Lebanon’s Patrice Smith (17-11).

“I have some work to do,” Kolesar said. “In the 200, I still haven’t reached my personal record. So I’m not where I want to be. I was happy how it turned out. The long jump I didn’t jump my PR.

“So I have a lot of work to do before (the state) meet. I’ll do some conditioning for the 200 and drill on my technique and landing.”

The other three members of the 400 relay are Emily Brozeski, Kayla Singer and Katelyn Kauffman.

“I have one more chance to win a gold medal,” Kolesar said. “That’s my goal, to give it my best.”

Brozeski will be running the 100 hurdles at the state meet after she placed fifth and hit the state qualifying mark. She also placed eighth in the high jump with a leap of 5-1. She needed to clear 5-3 to qualify.

The other Norwin athlete to qualify for states was freshman Bernadette Zukina, who placed fourth in the 400. Her time was 1:00.32.

Layla Robertson earned a medal by finishing eighth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.21. She needed to run 46.25 to qualify for states. Senior Lexi Gray came up just short of advancing to the state meet in the triple jump. She placed fifth with a leap of 35-9 ¼. She needed to jump 36-6 to advance.

Three Norwin boys earned medals for the Knights, but they didn’t hit the state qualifying standards.

Anthony Hayok placed fifth in the triple jump, leaping 43-8. Cody Scherle placed eighth in the javelin with a throw of 148-10, and William Baglio tied for eighth in the pole vault, clearing 12-9.

“Late season, injuries hurt the boys’ performance,” Norwin coach Brian Fleckenstein said. “Some of our top runners sustained injuries. The girls performed OK. Hopefully they’ll perform better next week.”

The state meet begins Friday and continues Saturday at Shippensburg.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin