Freedom Track WPIAL individual qualifiers competed May 8 at Mars High School in order to determine if they made it to the WPIAL individual championships May 17 at Baldwin High School. All qualifiers had high hopes of doing well at both WPIAL events. Many members may have felt a bit anxious and overwhelmed with these competitions, but Junior DeeDee Adams had some encouraging words she obtained from her sister. “Pressure is a privilege,” Adams said. For an athlete to go to WPIAL championships, they had to place in the top eight at WPIAL qualifi-ers in his or her particular events. In order to get to States, which is the ultimate goal for the track team, members had to place at least top five in the WPIAL championships. Those who qualified will compete at States at Shippensburg University May 25 and 26. Jumping Sophomore Niki Vargo was the only female pole vaulter that competed at WPIAL qualifiers. She cleared a height of 8 feet 6 inches. With that height, she also made it to WPIAL championships, pole vaulted a height of 10 feet and took fourth place. Her 10 foot vault allowed her to qualify for the state competitions. Even though it is Vargo’s second year pole vaulting, she always had a desire to do it since the time she was in middle school track. She was in-spired by high school pole vaulters, and she was really excited and motivated when she got her first shot at it. “I just really liked it when I first started,” Vargo said. ”And every time I set a new personal record, it makes me want to keep going and try to keep getting better.” Throwing Many track members are confident due to the fact that they’ve made big improvements from the beginning of the season. “I’ve improved my throwing quite a bit. I was throwing 42 [feet], but now I’m throwing 48 [feet],” Junior Branden Heckman, shot put thrower, said. There also were some members who were new to this competition. “It was my first year going to qualifiers, and I thought it was cool to see some of the best athletes around here competing,” Junior Adam Shawger said. Shawger threw discus 138 feet 5 inches and placed third overall at qualifiers. Shawger threw 135 feet and missed States by one place by throwing two inches short. Even though he didn’t make it, Shawger said that “those two inches will just remind me of how close I was to States and that’ll push me harder in prac-tice and workouts.” On the other hand, there are some who have been involved with this competition for numerous years. Senior Kyeem Moon has qualified for both discus and shot put since his freshman year. He has done well and made some im-provements at WPIALs throughout the years, receiving fifth place his freshman year, third place his sophomore year, fourth place his junior year and third his senior year. “I’m real confident. I’ve put in the time, and the hype of being a senior has helped me hit my farthest mark,” Moon said. Moon’s farthest for shot put was 51 feet 10 inches and for discus was 140 feet 11 inches. Moon also qualified for States and was “even more excited than usual” because it is his senior year. Running High aspirations were also within the minds of the runners. “To make it to States would be the ultimate goal for the year. I feel like I’ve improved and have been more consistent,” Senior Lexi Crossland said. Crossland qualified for the one and two hundred sprints at the WPIAL qualifiers. In addition, the 4 by 800 meter relay team had high hopes of making it to States. With determina-tion, they achieved their goal and made it to States by placing fifth. Also, the team accomplished a great deal by breaking the school record from the 1970s. “We wanted to go, but it still was bit of a sur-prise to break the school record,” Junior Noah Marks said, “I’m really excited to go and I hope we do well at States; I think it’ll be fun. We hope and kind of expect to place 20th out the 30 teams that compete.”