PRHS Junior Ashley West Wins MVP Honors at Track Meet

Pine-Richland junior Ashley West started the day feeling low, but finished on a record high.

After suffering through illness and allergies all day, West got off the deck and set the meet high jump record and won MVP honors for the field events at the Pine-Richland Track & Field Invitational Friday at the high school stadium.

“That was really unexpected,” West said. “I was sick all morning and had all these kind of allergies, but I decided I was going to do it, whatever.”

West set the mark by clearing the bar at five feet and three inches, a personal best which beat her old mark by an inch.

“After I cleared 5-2 easily, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can do this,’ ” she said. “So I got all excited and went for it. When I cleared it, it was just like the biggest relief ever. It was so exciting, because I’ve just started jumping these high heights.”

West said she studied until early Friday morning for her advanced-placement tests at the senior high school, and a combination of nerves and seasonal allergies made her ill and uncomfortable all day.

“I just came here hoping to pick it up and do my best,” she said. “You just have to go in there feeling confident, and you like know, the moment you take off that either you’re going to get this, or you’re not.”

West set the record by defeating runner-up Beatrice Goodyear of Mount Lebanon, who topped out at five feet and two inches.

“It was just a good day, and a good feeling that we’re keeping the (meet) record at Pine-Richland,” West said.

West is a member of the Pine-Richland varsity cheerleaders in the fall and winter. She also coaches the Pine-Richland little cheerleaders and is an avid snowboarder.

West scored 22 team points for Pine-Richland by placing third in the girls long jump at 16-8, and fourth in the triple jump at 34-2.5.

The Rams girls track team placed fifth overall in the meet with 47 points. Hampton won with 82 points.

Pine-Richland’s boys team scored 54 points to finish third behind Greensburg Salem (91) and Canon-McMillan (57).

In other top finishes for Pine-Richland:

• Thomas Reinhart won the boys 1,600-meter run in 4:30.64, missing the meet record by one second.
• Reinhart also placed sixth in the 3,200 in 10:03.87.
• Natalie Regan finished second in the girls 1,600-meter run in 5:23.19.
•  Andy Borgen placed second in javelin at 168 feet, 8 inches, and added a fourth-place finish in shot put at 46 feet, 2.5 inches.
• Isabel Ahrendt took fourth place in the 3,200 in 11:54.30.
• Rebecca Mobley placed fourth in the girls 100 hurdles in 15.87 and sixth in the 300 hurdles in 49.18.
• Chris Leonard captured fifth in the 400 in 52.82.
• Kyle Hafen finished fifth in the 300 hurdles in 42.96.
• Shawn Frankowski placed sixth in the shot put at 43 feet, 2 inches.
• Derek Zynn took eighth in the 1,600 in 4:42.21.
• Zach Fedunok placed fifth and Mitch Meverden took sixth in the pole vault, both clearing the bar at 12 feet.