SHIPPENSBURG - Sometimes, it’s mind over matter.

Or, minding what matters.

Faith Yost has been reflective in her senior year at Northwestern, understanding that there is life beyond track and field.

But Yost’s accomplishments and abilities have placed her in rarefied air during her high school career.

She joined a select group on Friday.

One that now includes a state champion.

Yost took flight in the Class 2A high jump at the PIAA Championships, winning the event before returning later in the day to medal in the long jump.

Both Yost and Neshannock’s Ava Koski cleared 5-5 on their second try in the high jump and neither could clear 5-6.

But Yost cleared 5-4 on her first try, while Koski made it on her third, giving Yost the victory.

Yost entered the competition seeded third at 5-4.

“I don’t really have the time to process it,” said Yost. ”I’m really happy. I still have long jump, so I’m not going to get, like, high on emotion or anything, because you have to keep a level head when you have multiple events. So I’m super happy, super excited. But also super sad.

“I don’t know, something just clicked at the end of the season. I had been pretty bad in regards (to what I had been jumping earlier in the year). But at districts I was able to clear 5-4, and here I got 5-4 on my first attempt ... I wasn’t expecting it.”

That she wasn’t.

“My goal this year was to go to states. That’s all I had hoped for. I didn’t have any other expectations. I wanted to get back here. I wanted to have my last season here and truly soak it up.

She cleared 5-4 to tie for sixth place in the event in Class 3A last year.

“It’s something that I never really expected. I have worked really hard for Colonial League and District 11 championship titles,” said Yost. “I was never really expecting the state title. Because you see that as the best of the best. It’s not usual for an athlete to think that they’re the best of the best.

“You have to have a really positive mindset. Even when I missed height, I was still smiling. It didn’t really faze me that much. Like I said, I was here to have fun. So I was just like, ‘You can get this. You’ve done this before.’”

Yost made a quick transition to long jump, where she placed eighth for her second state medal with a jump of 16-10.

“It all comes down to your mindset. Every single competition,” she said. “I’ve always had more than one event during a meet, so it’s never been like, ‘Oh, I can feel that emotion I have.’ It’s a few seconds before you have to move on. You can’t let it consume you. You can’t get too wrapped up in the fact that you have competition. Everyone wants to beat someone, it is what it is. It’s just natural. But you can’t let it consume you.”

Yost has embraced the competition. This season, she set the Colonial League and school record in the long jump.

Despite battling shin splints throughout the season and balancing multiple events, Yost has always found a way to make it work.

“It’s a lot but I’m grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had to be able to compete,” she said.

Yost cleared her opening height at 4-8 on her first try, then got 4-10, 5-0, 5-2 on her second attempt, before clearing 5-4 on her first and 5-5 on her second.

“The adrenaline, the rush of it and everything else,” said Northwestern track and field head coach Chuck Groller. “It was just a moment that you will have memories of for the rest of your life. It’s just that moment we talked about with the adrenaline. Once she hit that 5-4, we were in the game. She made it on her first jump. And from there, she knew it and then it just took over.”

Yost won’t continue her track and field career in college, choosing instead to focus on academics and joining the Army ROTC program at Villanova.

Her legacy at Northwestern will be unforgettable.

It started in seventh grade at a middle school track and field clinic run by Groller. It continued through last weekend when she became the first girls track and field athlete to bring a PIAA gold medal back to New Tripoli in the 50-year history of the team.

Over four years she accumulated 32 medals in all, including invitationals and postseason meets. She accomplished that in three seasons as her class was in its freshman year when the pandemic wiped out the 2202 spring season.

“She’s the type of athlete that comes once in a lifetime,” said Groller. “She’ll be one of the best track and field athletes to come out of Northwestern. Our program is 50 years old, and she’s one of the best. She has two records, one in long jump and one in the hurdles, and she’s tied for another (in high jump) with her aunt Kathy at 5-5. So with everything being said, it’s just been an awesome year.

“There was a lot of emotion today with all the texts and all the messages I received ... from the guys I coach football with now ... people I’ve coached with in the past ... so many people in the school district ... our AD. It’s just awesome.”

Yost was one of several Tiger athletes to compete at states last weekend.

Sadie Fenstermaker finished 13th in shot put at 34-9 1/4. Gavin Nelson tied for 16th place in boys high jump by clearing 6-0. Angelina Klein took 22nd place overall in the 3,200 in 12:36.21. Matthew Santana finished 24th in the 3,200 in 9:54.49.