Sports

h.s. track and field

TOM ROBINSON For The Times Leader

Almost a month has passed since Shelley Black stole the show at the PIAA Track and Field Championships, but the awards are still rolling in for the Coughlin rising senior.

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Coughlin’s Shelley Black clears the final hurdle on her way to winning a PIAA Championship in the 100 hurdles. The junior also won a gold medal in the 300 hurdles.

Fred Adams/For The Times Leader

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Black

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Coughlin coach Paul McGrane received word Thursday morning that Gatorade and ESPN Rise magazine had selected Black as the Pennsylvania Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year. With the state award, Black becomes a nominee for Gatorade’s national award.

The Gatorade award recognizes athletic excellence, along with high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character on and off the track.

In addition to winning the Class 3A state titles in the 100-meter hurdles and 300 hurdles, Black was seventh in the state in the triple jump. She is an A student at Coughlin and she has also volunteered on behalf of a soup kitchen, a community clean-up initiative and blood-donation drives.

McGrane commended Black for not only winning two state championships, but doing it in two different races. She led from the start as the favorite in the 100, winning in 13.79 seconds. She beat out Leah Nugent, an All-American from the Philadelphia suburb of Abington, on a lean at the finish in 43.23 seconds in the 300.

“In the second race, she knew she had to go out faster than she ever did before,” McGrane said. “She needed to be close enough on the home stretch to win at the end, which she did with heart.

“When you throw in that between the two races she made the final of the triple jump, it was a real impressive effort.”

Black had already left a lasting impression on District 2 before heading to the state meet in Shippensburg. At the District 2 Championships, she set Class 3A records in each event while winning both hurdles, the long jump and the triple jump.

“Right now, the big thing is to enjoy this,” McGrane said. “She worked so hard that she’s on some down time right now.

“She’ll start playing with the hurdles again soon and she’s going to get ready for field hockey season. She loves the team concept and playing with those girls.”

Black has one more year to add to her list of high school accomplishments.

“Next year, I know I have to work real hard to live up to it,” she said.

Black was earlier recognized by the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association as the state’s top female athlete and first-team all-state in both hurdles events.