Parkland Track & Field Compete at States

Considering how Coral Shivok’s past two track and field seasons had ended, the Parkland senior couldn’t help being elated with her fifth-place finish at last weekend’s pole vault state championship.

A year ago, after winning what would be her first of two consecutive District 11 pole vault titles, Shivok was unable to compete in the state meet when she broke her foot during warm ups. A year before that the season ended before it got started because of the pandemic.

This season, Shivok came close to clearing a career-best height to earn her first state medal last Friday at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium, the site of the annual Memorial Day Weekend PIAA Track and Field Championships.

Shivok cleared 12 feet to take fifth place and came close to setting a new personal best. She did that while having to adjust to the event being moved indoors because of rain after it started outdoors.

“I’ve only jumped 12 [feet] or over twice and the attempts at 12-6 were right there,” she said. “After warm ups weren’t too good and going inside and outside, I’m perfectly fine with 12.”

Shivok was one of a group of Parkland athletes to compete in the state meet last weekend and the only Trojan to bring home a medal.

She started the state meet at 10-6 and cleared it on her first attempt, but her next three heights (11-0, 11-6 and 12-0) she cleared on her third and final tries.

“It’s a little nerve-racking,” she said. “So every time stepping up there I was wondering if it was my last jump or not. I think that motivated me more to make it the best jump I could to get to the next height. It definitely gave me and my coaches quite a bit of a heart attack.”

While the third try wasn’t a charm at 12-6, Shivok secured the top-five finish when she cleared 12 feet.

The two-time East Penn Conference silver medalist and two-time district champ who will compete at Bloomsburg University the next four years ended her career on the medal stand at the most competitive meet of the season.

“I would have liked to jump a little higher, but I can’t complain about the places I came in,” she said. “If I could change anything I would change the silver to gold at EPCs, but that’s about it. I’m excited to go on to the next level and keep going in college.”

Two other Trojan entries in the state meet earned top-10 finishes at states.

Senior Grace Nation placed 10th in triple just at 36 feet, 5 ½ inches. The league and district champ was hoping to get over 38 feet and set a personal-best. She was less than a foot short of making the top eight in preliminaries, which would have earned her three more attempts and a place on the medal stand.

“I did better than last year so I’m satisfied with that,” said Nation, who placed 19th at states as a junior at 37-5 3/4. “I didn’t make it back to finals so I’m disappointed in that fact but I’m really thankful that I was able to make it here.”

Nation ends her high school career after earning consecutive league and district titles in triple jump and making two trips to states. She will continue her career at Lehigh University.

“I think I’ve learned a lot and I have so much room for improvement so I’m excited to see where that takes me in the next four years in my collegiate career,” she said. “The school aspect itself I’m not really sad that that’s coming to an end. But I’ve had a great run with Parkland track so I’m pretty sad about that.

“I thank God and my coaches and everyone that’s helped me come to the point I’m at right now.”

Parkland’s girls 3,200-meter relay team also earned a 10th place finish at states. The foursome of Lana Hurwitz, Lucy Tobia, Gracie Trexler, Madison Seed ran the race in 9:37.81, which was almost 10 seconds faster than the same group ran at the district meet (9:48.72).

Parkland high jumper Madeline Battista just missed a top-10 finish as she took 11th place after clearing 5-2 at states.

Naeema Salau was the busiest Trojan athlete at the meet. The junior sprinter competed in three events.

Salau placed 17th in the 100-meter dash in 12.66 seconds. She finished 19th in the 200 at 25.93. She also helped the girls 400-meter relay team to a 24th place finish, along with teammates Ivy Dias, Hailey Sammarco and Melanie Lowe.

Tobia also competed in more than one event. The freshman finished the 400-meter run in 1:00.01.

Junior Nakhi Bullock was the only Parkland athlete to compete in the boys state meet. The junior finished 24th in the 100-meter dash at 11.38

The state meet ended a successful season for Parkland track and field. Both the girls and boys teams finished the regular season with 8-0 records. The girls squad won the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference championship, while the boys finished the EPC championship in third.

“Success will come as long as the athletes believe in themselves and train hard,” Ott said earlier this season.