TerryLee Talasky had a day for the record books on the girls side, winning district championships in the 200 and 400, breaking her own school marks in both events.

On the boys side, Jonah Samuelson won a district championship in the 110 hurdles and also qualified for states in the 300 hurdles with a second place finish.

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2A Girls

Talasky, a junior, qualified for states for the third consecutive year. As a freshman, she went in the 100 and 200 and last year she went in the 200. She will be making her third trip in the 200 and first in the 400, which may be her best race.

In the 400, she ran a time of 57.92, besting her previous mark of 58.48 set at the Mars Invitational. It was a loaded field , as the two girls who finished behind Talasky – Morgan Donatelli of Hickory (58.48) and Hayley Fenton of Reynolds (59.78) both ran under the state qualifying standard and will join her at states.

“She had a really good day,” said Eisenhower coach Mike Logue. “We had been talking about her having the possibility of winning the 400. She was able to pull away and led almost the entire race.”

The 200 was an event Logue thought she could qualify in again, but wasn’t sure she would win. Win she did in 25.84, breaking her school mark of 25.99 she set at the state prelims last year.

“There were a couple of girls from Mercer County that we knew she would have some good competition,” Logue said. Both of those girls – Farrell’s Shaleea King (26.04) and Lakeview’s Michaela Rose (26.09) will be making the trip to states as well.

Talasky added a fifth in the 100 and will go into states as the No. 6 seed in the 400 and No. 11 in the 200.

“She works very hard and has that inner drive,” Logue said. ” She even went on her own and ran some indoor meets during the winter. She works really well with coach Sharon Harris, they work really well together. She’s one of the nicest girls around and very humble.”

Elsewhere for Ike, Delaney Nizzi also put her name in the record books, running 300 hurdles in a time of 47.68, breaking the school record that was set by Julie Firth of 47.79 set in 1986 and then tied in 2002 by Robin Faulkner. The record is the third oldest on file.

The time was good for fourth place, but disappointing in the fact that she missed states by the slimmest of margins, with qualifying time set at 47.68.

Heather Grober of Hickory won the event in 43.77 and she is seeded third going into states.

“We knew the Grober girl from Hickory is an amazing hurdler,” noted Logue. “The two girls from Harbor Creek and Lakeview and Delaney all knew each other from last year. She was happy but a little disappointed she missed going to states. One of the things we tried to tell her was that’s a race you get better at the older you get, with learning technique and learning how to run the race. The fact that she was able to break that school record as a sophomore speaks volumes.”

For the Youngsville Lady Eagles, it was the end of a brilliant career for senior distance runner Brooke Messinger.

Messinger finished fourth in the 1600 in 5:25.05. The winner, Sharon’s Jordan Williams is the top seed at states, winning with a blistering time of 5:04.03.

Messinger followed that up with a time of 12:05.62 to take third in the 3200. Lilly Myers of Fairview took the gold with a time of 11:36.38.

In addition to Messinger, Youngsville’s Jocelyn Taydus finished fourth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.22, where Ike’s Tiffany Work finished eighth in 18.08.

“She (Work) qualified last year but was unable to run and I told her how nice it was to see her medal after she had to sit out last year,” Logue said.

Three of the top eight finishers in the 300 hurdles actually came from Warren County, as Taydus finished seventh in 49.86, right behind teammate Naomi Swartzbaugh (49.80).

The Eisenhower 4×400 relay team of Talasky, Nizzi and freshmen Hope Hefright and Caroline Smelko took seventh in 4:22.07, their fastest time of the year. All four will be back next season.

“We really didn’t know what to expect with two new legs, but only two groups have run faster, the group two years ago that broke the school record and the group last year that beat that record,” Logue said.

Kirsten Baran took 10th in the shot put for Ike, Nizzi 13th in the long jump, the 4×100 relay team of Patricia Bortz, Emily Wheeler, Cameran Edwards and Work 14th and the Hultman sisters (Madi and Currie) 22nd and 23rd in the javelin.

“I told them to enjoy the day and take advantage of the opportunity,” Logue said.

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2A Boys

Samuelson went in seeded second in the 110s behind Hickory’s Caleb Gagliardi, who fell in the prelims and was knocked out of the finals.

In the grand scheme of things, that turned out not to matter much, as Samuelson’s winning time of 15.93 easily outdistanced second place finisher Peyson Weekley of Hickory (16.48).

Youngsville’s Aaron Morris finished sixth with a time of 16.95.

“We all thought about him (Samuelson) making it to states, but didn’t talk about it,” said Eisenhower assistant coach Ryan Hoffman. “Jonah made a statement in the 110s, finishing half a second before second place. He ran those hurdles like he owned them. In his prelim the top seed was with him and hit a hurdle and fell. That seemed to get Jonah primed for the final.

In the 300 hurdles, Samuelson finished second in 41.07, behind only winner Brady Corklin of Titusville (40.03).

“Jonah had me worried, he was in fifth in the final turn as soon as he hit the 100 mark he knew,” Hoffman said. “He hammered those last hurdles to come in second.”

Elsewhere, it was a great end for Youngsville’s Owen Engstrom in the triple jump, even if he just barley missed out on a trip to states. The senior posted his best jump of the season of 43-7 1/4. That was bested, and just barley by Wilmington’s Jeremy Clark (43-10 3/4) and his teammate Isaac Stevenson (43-9 3/4).

For Eisenhower, Willy Hoffman saved his best for last, clearing 12-0 in the pole vault to take fifth.

“This was under the radar,” coach Hoffman said. “He came in at 10-6 to play it safe. The wind was a factor – they moved the pits because of wind. We laughed and told them come vault at EHS, there’s always wind issues. In the end the open farm field practices, dealing with wind paid off. He gutted it out and cleared 12-0 on his last attempt.”

Ike’s Owen Nizzi was on pace for PR in his last 300 hurdle race before clipping a hurdle in the final 100.

“But true Nizzi style, just gutted it out to the end,” Hoffman said. “I will truly miss this young man. He never gives up.”

The Ike 3200 relay took 11th out of 13 time of 9:23.5 (Hunter, Anthony, Baran, Head ).

“Hunter and Head had probably the best race of season,” Hoffman said. “It’s a young relay – they will get better.”

The 1600 relay (Lundmark, Nizzi, Myer, Samuelson) took 14th and the 400 relay got DQ’d in the last time zone.

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