SUNBURY -- The Coaches' Invitational at Shikellamy this past weekend featured all of the Heartland Athletic Conference teams and a parade of outstanding times and performances proved how tough of a girls track league the HAC is.
But it also provided the members of Danville girls track and field team with confidence for Wednesday's District 4 Class AAA meet back at Shikellamy.
With the top distance runners of Class AA out of the way, the Ironmen won the 3,200 relay, the 1,600 and the 3,200 and with Sam Zampetti's victory in the 200, Danville finished second to Selinsgrove in the district with 116 points.
"When you run girls that you know are faster than you are, it pushes you to run that much better," Danville senior Sarah Friday said. "Anything can happen when you run, but the way we ran on Saturday, gave us a lot of confidence (for the district meet)."
Friday joined Chloe Stine, Kelsey Williams and Alison Billas on the winning relay team. Billas came back to win the 1,600 in 5:32.74, while Ashley Daniels won the 3,200 in 12:07.51. The Ironmen also proved their depth in the distances, getting at least two places in each race 800 and above, including a first, a third (Kate Bassett) and a fifth (Rachel Magliane) in the 3,200 and a first and a fourth (Sarah Bassett) in the 1,600.
Billas, the top seed, ran a smart 1,600, staying in second place on a Williamsport runner's shoulder, before running away with the race. She finished 12 seconds ahead of the runnerup.
"I go out too fast sometimes and my coaches wanted me stay behind the leader for the first couple of laps, so I would have something left," Billas said. "I felt some pressure (as the top seed), but I like to run that relay first because it takes the nerves away."
Daniels was also the top seed in the 3,200. She led from the first lap, winning by 22 seconds over Kyria Yanoviak of Selinsgrove.
"It was kind of a lot of pressure," Daniels said. "But Saturday's race helped me run a fast race (today)."
Zampetti had an up-and-down day in the sprints. The down part came early in the meet when she ran a 12.7 in the 100 final, finishing second, but more importantly, missing the state qualfying time by three hundreths of a second.
"I was really upset at myself after that race. I've run under the time plenty of times this season," Zampetti said. "I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I cried, but my teammates really helped. They told me to focus my disappointment on the 200."
That's exactly what she did, dominating the race, leading by the turn, winning in 26.73, over a full-second faster than the runnerup.
"I just had to let go (of the disappointment)," Zampetti said. "I wouldn't have believed you if you would have told me at the beginning of the year, I would make it to states. I thought I would be lucky to get to go to the invitationals."
The Ironmen also finished second in the 400 relay and third in the 1,600 relay. Brooke Pierson finished seventh in the 300 intermediate hurdles. Abbi Woll finished fourth in the shot put. Vada Majors grabbed sixth in the discus. Kaelah Smeltzer finished fourth in the javelin, while Ishani Ekule was fourth in the triple jump. Kristy Oren was fifth in the pole vault.
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Confident Ironmen take second in team race
3,200 relay team, Zampetti, Daniels, Billas win at districts
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