Four different Emmaus athletes and one relay team hauled in a total of seven gold medals last week at the East Penn Conference Track and Field Championships, held last Tuesday and Wednesday at Whitehall High School.

Emmaus finished second as a team in the girls meet and third in the boys meet, led by two gold medals each from jumper Kyle Moore and distance runner Mady McCartney. Claudia Walls (high jump) and Tyler Grabinski (pole vault) also made it to the top of the medal stand at the meet, along with the boys 4x800 relay team.

A cross country champion and returning track medalist, McCartney had the top time in both the 1600 and 3200 during this year’s regular season and was clearly the favorite to win both events.

“I feel like having pressure is good because it pushes you and motivates you,” said McCartney. “I feel like without it, it’s hard to do your absolute best.”

She won the 3200 last Tuesday evening by a wide margin, finishing in 10:52.18 while second-place finisher Kaya Meler (Pocono Mountain West) came in 11:26.28.

She returned Wednesday afternoon to run the 1600 in 5:08.30 to beat Easton’s Sidney Hutt (5:17.09).

While some runners have detailed strategies as to how they want to run a race, McCartney, a sophomore, likes to keep her mind uncluttered while she races.

“I just went and ran,” she said. “I didn’t really focus on certain parts. I just think about running because it becomes distracting to think about certain parts.”

Moore, a returning state champ in long jump, also entered the league meet at the favorite and didn’t disappoint.

He won the EPC long jump title at 23-4 and took first place in triple jump at 48-1 1/2.

Moore, who won states at 24-5 1/4 last year, will be the top seed in both events at districts this week as he looks to return to the state meet to defend his title.

Grabinski won his gold medal late Tuesday evening after most other athletes and fans had left the stadium.

He cleared two personal-best heights at leagues to take the title with a meet record height of 15-6.

“It just felt great that all my hard work paid off,” said the senior who is hoping to make his second trip to the state championship meet. “Getting up and seeing the bar still up, it’s unexplainable how it feels.”

Grabinski got into pole vaulting because a friend from his gymnastics team was a pole vaulter and “it looked interesting,” he said. He entered the meet as the top seed at 15-2.

The EHS school record holder cleared 15-3 for a new personal best and the league record, then made 15-6 on his first attempt. That is also the national qualifying mark, which was his goal for the meet.

Walls earned her second league high jump title, clearing 5-3 last week.

“I’m pretty happy with what I did today because 5-3 is my PR,” said the sophomore. “I would have liked to do 5-4. I’m going to try to do that in districts. I’m happy with how I did with the weather.”

The Emmaus 4x800 relay team also earned a gold medal at the league meet. The foursome of Tyler Finck, Miles Cook, Conor Fisher and Jared Petre finished the event in 8:07.54 to beat second-place Parkland (8:19.18) and the rest of the league.

Emmaus hurdler Kayla-Rayne Quinones just missed gold twice, finishing second to Easton’s Maggie Scalzo in both hurdle events.

The Hornet junior ran the 100-meter hurdles in 15.17, with Scalzo finishing in 14.58. In the 300-meter hurdles, Quinones ran a 47.61 for second place as Scalzo turned in a 44.06.

The Emmaus girls 4x800 relay team took second place at the meet with a time of 9:33.92. That team included Payton Campbell, McCartney, Sophia Kovalski and Addison Kleinle.

Three Hornets ran to third-place finishes at leagues as Petre took third place in the 800, while Gabby DeVita (100) and Campbell (3200) also finished third in one event each.

The boys 4x400 relay and girls 4x100 relay teams were also third-place finishers at the EPC meet. Members of the girls 4x100 were Morgan Tandy, DeVita, Mya Cooper and Quinones. The boys 4x400 team was Petre, Cook, Rien George and Lane Bassett.

Kleinle took fourth place in the 1600 to earn a medal, which went to the top four finishers in each event.

The Hornets will compete this week at the District 11 Championships at Blue Mountain High School Tuesday and Wednesday.