North Hills Adds to Collection of Track and Field Medals at State Championship

Five members of the track team took home medals in their events last weekend at the 2011 PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University, bringing the total amount of medals North Hills has earned at state championships to 53.

The highlight of the championship was Margo Malone’s gold-medal effort in the 1600M race. With times of 5:03.14 Friday and 4:55.72 Saturday, Malone also set a new school record.

“I think both of us thought that it would be a two-girl race between her and Chloe Schmidt of State College, and that’s exactly the way it turned out,” said head coach John Wilkie regarding Malone’s competition. “After going through 800 meters at a rather slow 2:32, Margo took it over and did what she needed to do to put Schmidt away in the last two laps.

"She won by over 4 seconds, which is pretty dominant in a race of 1600 meters.”

Also of note were the performances of Zach Hebda, Joe Kush, and Juris Silenieks, who placed respectively second, fifth, and sixth in the 3200M race. The three seniors built off the success they had last year in becoming the first threesome from any one school to break 9:20 in the same race at the state championship meet.

“There was a lot of pressure on my three senior boys as well because they’ve had a lot of hype built up around them ever since they were freshmen,” Wilkie said. “They’ve been pretty sensational for four years. They improved on their places from a year ago.

"They didn’t run as fast because of the conditions, but competitively speaking they did much better.”

“We all get kind of nervous,” Kush said. “Our coach always tells us that we’ve put in the work, so to be nervous doesn’t really help you. There’s no need to be, you should be ready and confident. “

This is the fourth state championship medal for Kush, who received two for his efforts in cross country and track last year as well as two this year.

“I just wanted to stay strong and continue what I’ve been doing,” Kush said. “I thought all three of us had a shot [at winning]. [Fifth place] is I guess around where I should have fallen. I was hoping for a little better. But I’m not dissatisfied. I think we all ran pretty good races.”

Kush is attending Syracuse University in the fall, where he will run cross country.

Abby O’Connell also medaled in the championship, coming in third place in the 400M race with times of 55.59 on Friday and 55.88 on Saturday, according to the results posted by the North Hills School District. She set a new school record as well as beat her own personal record.

Overall, Coach Wilkie said he was happy with the performance of his team, especially because .

“It’s a great feeling,” Wilkie said. “I’m retiring after 38 years, so that was a nice retirement gift for me. Especially since the last race of the day for me was the girls 1600 and Margo won a gold medal, so that was a great way to send me off into the sunset.”