Penncrest’s Higgins settles for hard-earned silver in javelin

CALN TWP. >> The difference between a gold and silver medal for Penncrest’s Tara Higgins in the javelin Friday was two inches.

The Cornell-bound senior threw the javelin 130 feet, 7 inches on a windy day at Coatesville. It was her fifth throw over 130 feet for the second and the seventh of her career, yet that was only good enough for second place in Class 3A at the District 1 Track & Field Championships Friday.

Rene Shultz of Bishop Shanahan threw 130-9 to take the gold.

“I’m a little disappointed because it was so close and I was the No. 1 seed,” Higgins said.

All the throwers had to deal with a tough diagonal head wind, as Higgins called it.

“It made 130-foot throwers throw 110, and 120s throw 100,” Higgins said. “It was really tough to get a handle on it.

The second-place finish earned Higgins a trip to PIAA Championships for the second year in a row. She won’t be going to Shippensburg alone. Garnet Valley’s Riley Beebe took third in the javelin with a throw of 124-9 to earn her first trip to the state meet.

“It took the entire season, but I’m finally getting consistent,” Beebe said. “It’s been such a tough spring. We haven’t been able to get outside and practice as much as we would like. We haven’t had a lot of spring weather.”

Beebe and Higgins may not have a pack thing going like Strath Haven’s Jordan Brown, Haverford’s Cecilia Katcavage and Springfield’s Symphonie Blalock in the shot put, but they have definitely developed a bond.

“We see each other all the time,” Beebe said. “We go to the same meets.”

“We got close to each other at the start of the season, and it’s progressed from there,” Higgins said.