PIAA Track and Field Championships: Fortunate move-up in relay helps earn team silver for Haverford girls
SHIPPENSBURG — Before stepping on the track for the Class 3A 4 x 400-meter relay, the final girls event of the day at the PIAA Track and Field Championships, Haverford’s Erin Olsavsky, Olivia Cieslak, Aubrey Leneweaver and Morgan Elliott already knew what the Fords had to accumulate in order to come home from Seth Grove Stadium with some team competition hardware to go with the individual medals dangling from their necks.
“We had to finish fourth or better to finish second overall,” Olsavsky said without hesitation.
The Fords did place fourth, with a little bit of help. Cumberland Valley won the event but was disqualified afterward for a lane violation on the first exchange. That elevated State College to champion and the Fords from fifth place to fourth.
It also created a tie for second between the Fords and the Little Lions in the team race. Haverford got to take the second-place trophy home. State College will get its team trophy in the mail.
“This means everything to us,” Olsavsky said.
The fourth-place finish in the 4 x 400 capped a big day for the Fords. Leneweaver was second in the 300 hurdles, third in the 100 hurdles and earned a medal in the relay.
“The fact that I even got to finals was amazing,” Leneweaver said. “I was satisfied with that. To do what I did was extra special.”
Cieslak came away with two medals in her first PIAA Championships. She was fourth in the 800 and helped the Fords slowly move from last place to fifth in the 4 x 400, and then fourth, thanks to the disqualification.
Cieslak did her best to track Mia Cochran, who won the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 to lead Moon to the Class 3A team title.
“I tried to stay with her as much as possible,” Cieslak said. “I knew it was going to be a close race. I was hoping for a better place but it came out good in the end.”
The victory in the 4 x 400 was a little bit of redemption for Olsavsky and Elliott. Olsavsky was part of the 4 x 100-meter relay team that was disqualified in the final last year.
“I’ve had my sights set on this the whole year,” Olsavsky said. “It’s really great to get it.”
Elliott came into the meet seeded ninth in the 400 with the hopes of making the final, but she came up short in that bid.
“Obviously, I wanted to qualify in the open 400 but it was super stacked this year,” Elliott said. “Everyone ran so well in the open four and this allowed me to concentrate on the 4 x 4.”
Elliott and her teammates knew what they had to do to grab some team hardware and they went out and got the job done.
“We knew what we were racing for,” Leneweaver said.
