Competition with teammate leads to WPIAL javelin gold for Norwin’s Cody Scherle

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, May 28, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Norwin senior Cody Scherle had been nipping at teammate Aaron Schmook’s heels all season.

When Schmook won a javelin title, Scherle was consistently close behind, often as the runner-up.

The competition was healthy, but also frustrating at times for Scherle.

But the momentum shifted at the WPIAL Class 3A championships as Scherle out-threw Schmook — and all comers from the district — to win a title.

The runner-up? You guessed it: Schmook.

“It was awesome to see the two of them competing with each other all year, but being able to maintain a healthy friendship,” Norwin coach Tim Van Horn said. “They would continually help each other during competitions as well. All season we could essentially count on them to go 1-2, and it was awesome that they did it the WPIAL meet, too.”

Scherle’s winning throw was 174 feet, 4 inches, while Schmook, the top seed, threw 167-1.

“This was a big surprise for me,” Scherle said. “I managed to pull it off with really high consistency.”

Norwin had a number of other strong finishers who also qualified for the PIAA championships, which were set for May 27-28 at Shippensburg University.

• Ashley Laukus tied for second in the high jump (5-3).

• Bernadette Zukina finished second in the 400-meter run for the second year in a row and anchored the silver-winning 1,600-meter relay that also included Bella Brozeski, Alex Walton and Layla Robertson.

• The girls’ 3,200-meter relay of Rosemary Gaydos, Bella Furno, Julia Walko and Emma Jiancristoforo took fifth (9:47.44).

• Brozeski was fifth in the 300-meter hurdles.

Van Horn said the 1,600 relay win was rewarding to see.

“All four of them had to battle and overcome some ailments, but it was awesome to see them punch their ticket to the state meet,” the coach said.

Hannah Shaw and Nicholas Puskar tied for eighth in the pole vault, while Anthony Petrulo was eighth in the shot put.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin