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Friday's YAIAA track and field championships were barely an hour old when Renee Arey put York County Tech on the winners' stand for the first time in recent memory.
The junior won the girls' javelin with a toss of 123 feet, 7 inches and followed that by winning the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 111/2 inches in the first two events completed at Dallastown High School.
It was an incredible start for Arey, who entered the day seeded second in both events.
Amazingly, she did all of this while battling an sore right hip that kept her out of the shot put -- where she was the third seed -- and the triple jump (sixth seed).
She admitted to catching a break when the javelin's top seed, Red Lion's Brittany Harlacker,
"I thought I had a chance at second until the girl who beat me (at the Dallastown Invitational) dropped out," Arey said. "I just hoped for the best."
Although Arey said it is her first year in a school sport, Spartans' throwing coach Shawn Brady knew what he had when she showed up at practice.
"She is a natural athlete," Brady said. "It is easy to coach somebody that has the ability. It is just a little fine-tuning in her events. The hip is inhibiting now, but come next weekend we will see what she can do."
Arey looks ahead to next weekend's District 3 championships at Shippensburg University.
Of course, she was ready to continue on Friday, but was under trainer's orders not to. That thinking made perfect sense, since she won a pair of golds before most of the spectators even arrived.
Big night for Dover: The Dover girls impressively swept the 100- through 800-meter running events.
Hornock, a junior, won the 100 (12.75), freshman Kaila Funk won the 200 (26.29), senior Eryn Spangler won the 400 (58.71) and senior Wendy Hutchinson won the 800 (2:18.48).
But they weren't done there as the foursome combined to win the final girls' event of the night, and their time of 3:58.97 in the 1,600 relay broke a league record.
"I was so excited that we won," Funk said.
"We made some sacrifices running just one individual event," Hutchinson said. "It was a tough decision and I am glad we did it."
Spangler and Hornock were just as thrilled, especially when discussing Dover sophomore Laura Rowlands, who won the high jump (5-foot-4).
It was a dream night.
Sexton stellar in high jump: York Suburban's Austin Sexton knows how good the competition is in the YAIAA high jump.
He doesn't have to go far to find it, especially with teammate
"Dan and I have this connection," Sexton said. "Every single time I will clear something, he will want to clear something. That chemistry when we go to jump together makes us go higher and higher."
The senior felt the push on Friday, leaping 6-4 to capture the gold medal in front of Dohm, who was second and Johnson, who placed third.
"The competition this year is really crazy, and to win it really builds my confidence level," Sexton said.
All in the family: Twenty five years after her mom won the league championship in the 300 hurdles, Spring Grove sophomore Maxine Bentzel did the same thing.
Bentzel clocked in at a personal best 48.48 to win gold. Her mom, Kimberly (Lamar) Bentzel earned the crown in 1983 as a senior for the Rockets.
Obviously, hurdling is in her blood as Maxine entered the day as the fourth seed. She placed third at her first league meet one year ago.
"I wasn't really expecting to win. I am so thrilled," she said. "I got my arms going good. Having a fast start is really important."
The amazing Jenkins: New Oxford junior Jordan Jenkins broke the only other meet record of the night, however, it was how impressive she did it that raised the most eyebrows.
Jenkins ran the girls' 3,200 in 10:52.73, not only finishing nearly 54 seconds ahead of Dallastown's Emily Ballantyne, but besting Lisa Nagorny of York Suburban's eight-year-old YAIAA mark by more than 27 seconds.
The boys' 3,200 went to Spring Grove's Ben Thomas, who finished in 9:49.40.
Obviously, the cold, damp night was a distance runner's delight.
"It is perfect," Thomas said. "It's not so good for standing around, but once you get moving it is good. I felt pretty relaxed. I felt better than expected."
Pole vault runs smoothly: Despite early rain and cold temperatures, the pole vault went off as planned, and Central York's Seth Shoemaker won the boys' event by going 13 feet.
The senior defended his YAIAA title from last season, although his personal best is 13-7 and is hoping for 14 feet at districts.
"It could have been worse. It could have been like (Thursday) where there were crazy downpours," he said. "It actually cleared up pretty nice. I wanted to defend it. It was pretty important to me."
The bigger challenge was likely faced by the girls who went first, but favorite Krystal Baker of Bermudian Springs still managed a solid 10-feet-9 for the win.
Double winners: Red Lion's Greg Kareis topped the field as expected in the boys' 800 and 1,600 runs with times of 1:55.57 and 4:24.65, respectively.
William Penn's Robert Richardson handled the sprints, winning the 100 (11.24) and the 200 (22.65). Damion Myers and Ian Melhorn of Eastern were second and third, respectively, in both.
South Western senior Corwyn Gordon commanded the throwing events, bringing home gold in the shot put (48-5) and the discuss (141-0). He also took bronze in the javelin, won by Kevin Quirk of Kennard-Dale.
Also visiting the top of the podium twice was New Oxford's Erik Harris, who won both the long (22-4) and triple jumps (42-51/2).
