SHIPPENSBURG — In the 14.39 seconds it took from the start of the Class AAA 110-meter hurdle race to the end of it for Ori Rinaman, the Mars senior thought of all the hard work that went into that fraction of a minute.

The long practices.

The weight lifting.

The running during indoor season with no teammates.

The grueling spring season of meets in 30-degree weather and in scorching hot temps toward the end.

In that 14.39 seconds at the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University Saturday afternoon, Rinaman put his name in Mars track and field lore.

Rinaman, a senior, became the first Mars boys track athlete since Brad Mueller in 2003 to win a gold medal and the first Planet to do so in Class AAA.

“It was just the best experience of my life so far,” Rinaman said. “It's something I've worked so hard for, worked for a long time for. It's a great accomplishment and I still have the smile on my face.”

Rinaman got off to a fast start in the race and had to hold on at the end after clipping the final two hurdles.

“I saw them gaining on me,” Rinaman said. “I was getting a little nervous and excited, but I pushed through. It was a relief.”

Mars track and field coach Larry Young said Rinaman, who also finished eighth to medal in the 300-meter hurdles, had a singular focus since the winter to come home with a gold.

“I couldn't be happier for him,” Young said. “It couldn't happen to a better kid. He works and works and works. Most days he was the first one to practice and the last one to leave. He worked all winter on his own, competing in the indoor state meet on his own.”

Rinaman said that experience during the indoor season when he was a one-man team helped him for the spring season.

“It was kind of rough having no teammates and running on my own, but the competition there was what I was going to face (in the spring season),” Rinaman said. “I placed fifth in indoor and I knew I had a lot of hard work ahead of me.”

It was also fitting that Rinaman capped his high school career on the same track at Shippensburg University where he will run in college.

“It was kind of a good way to finish my high school career and open a new book,” Rinaman said.

Rinaman wasn't the only Butler County gold medal winner at the state meet Saturday.

Knoch sophomore Jordan Geist followed up his gold medal performance in the discus Friday with a winning effort in the shot put Saturday.

Geist threw 65 feet, 9¾ inches to claim the Class AAA shot put title.

Geist, though, had bigger things in mind — namely cracking 70 feet in the event.

“I'm definitely my harshest critic,” Geist said. “I have to learn to be more relaxed and live in the moment.”

His mother and throwing coach, Judy Geist, said Jordan is starting to grasp the fact that he can't always throw a personal best each time out.

“He was a little disappointed he didn't get to 70 feet,” Coach Geist said. “But he's just a sophomore. He'll do it. It's just a matter of time.”

Time is something Jordan Geist doesn't have much of. Most of it is consumed by throwing.

Geist said he won't have a break until late summer as he intends on practicing and competing the next few months.

“My season is not even over,” Geist said. “Maybe when it is, it will sink in.”

Karns City senior Logan Moroney also had a good Saturday, coming home with three state medals.

Moroney was fifth in the Class AA 100-meter dash, eighth in the 200 and ran a leg of the Gremlins' 400-meter relay that placed fourth.

“It's pretty nice coming home with three medals,” Moroney said. “But I was kind of disappointed I didn't finish higher.”

Other items of note from the state meet Saturday:

Butler County was well represented on the medal stand in the Class AAA shot put.

In addition to Geist's victory, Mars' Gabe Spurlock finished sixth and Geist's Knoch teammate, Brennan McTighe, was eighth.

Freeport twins Dylan Hochbein and Brandon Hochbein placed fifth and sixth respectively in the Class AA 300 hurdles.

Seneca Valley's Mike Kolor was fourth in the 1,600-meter run.

Freeport's Zoe Pawlak was seventh in the Class AA javelin — the only Butler County girl to medal at the state meet Saturday.

Following are the Butler County area medalists at the PIAA Track and Field Championships Saturday:

Class AAA

Boys

110-meter hurdles: 1-Ori Rinaman (Mars) 14.39

300-meter hurdles: 8-Ori Rinaman (Mars) 41.44

1,600-meter run: 4-Mike Kolor (Seneca Valley) 4:13.48

Shot put: 1-Jordan Geist (Knoch) 65-9¾, 6-Gabe Spurlock (Mars) 53-4¾; 8-Brendan McTighe (Knoch) 52-10

Class AA

Boys

100-meter dash: 5-Logan Moroney (Karns City) 11.26

200-meter dash: 8-Logan Moroney (Karns City) 22.62

300-meter hurdles: 5-Dylan Hochbein (Freeport) 40.31, 6-Brandon Hochbein (Freeport) 40.46

400-meter relay: 4-Karns City (Tristan Rhoades, Logan Moroney, Tyler Dunn, Alessandro Marotto) 43.70

Girls

Javelin: 7-Zoe Pawlak (Freeport) 131-02