SHIPPENSBURG — At Saturday's PIAATrack and Field Championship, it was a matter of what was for Grove City's Kristy Woods.

For Seneca Valley, it was more like what might have been.

Woods, a senior for the Eagles, captured her second Class AA girls gold medal of the championship meet, winning the shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 11 inches at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium.

Woods had won the discus crown Friday with a personal-best throw of 138-3.

Seneca Valley had a third-place finish by Conor Barrett in the boys Class AAA high jump (a school-record 6-9), which was the same as runner-up Spring Grove's Purnell Richardson.

The Raiders also had a pair of ninth-place performances, as well as an 11th and 12th place finisher. The top eight placewinners received medals.

Woods won the discus last year and was second in the shot put, so she was definitely motivated to keep things going.

"I was even more determined Saturday to win another gold," said Woods, who will attend the University of Buffalo next fall. "My goal was 53 feet (the state record), but I'll take a gold medal any day."

"I definitely thought it was possible for her to win both medals," said Grove City coach Mickey Hardenburg. "You can't count on anything because anything can happen, but I thought she had an excellent chance."

Woods won by more than three feet ahead of runner-up Ashley Adams of Freedom. She carried a throw of 42 feet into the final, which would have held up, but again, Woods continued to add on to each of her final three throws to clinch the title.

"The last throw was my big throw," said Woods. "I had a big throw before that, but I went over the toebar. I stayed consistent throughout the event and that's a very good thing."

"Once she got to the finals, I really thought it was over," said Hardenburg. "No one was close to her. She was focused. It seemed it was like 'Let's pump these out and get the medal.'"

As a senior who has earned seven state medals in the two events, Woods wanted to make sure she left her high school career on top.

"I told myself, 'This is your last chance ever at states so let's go out with a bang,'" Woods said. "I knew Saturday would be competitive. I just wanted to do my absolute best."

Woods' best distance in the event was 45-0, just one inch from her state-winning throw. Her throw was also good enough to place her on the national honor roll.

"When I look back at it, I'm really happy,"said Woods of her two golds this year. "I think it's one of the best ways to end your high school career and when I look back, I just beam.

"I did my best and that's all you can do and with these winning throws, I feel like a champion,"Woods added.

Barrett, who received a track and field scholarship from Penn State University, has wrapped up an interesting career, having competed in the high jump only two years.

He won a pair of WPIALchampionships in the event as well while also playing on the Raiders' volleyball team.

With Richardson grabbing the second spot because he cleared 6-9 on an earlier attempt, both athletes were just one inch behind champion Terrell Rickard of Waynesboro.

"It was a good jumping day and it came down to the last jump," said Seneca Valley coach Ray Peaco. "The kid who won it just cleared it and the bar didn't go down."

Speaking of just coming up short, Barrett's teammates were on the outside looking in as Cam Stauffer placed ninth in the boys' 1,600 (4:21.45) and the girls' 3,200 relay (Erin Lopresti, Kate Kelly, Megan Powell and Emily Wolfarth) was clocked at 9:22.59, which was more than seven seconds off the squad's best time of the year.

Powell was 11th in the 1,600 (5:15.24) and Lopresti 12th in the 800 (2:18.48).

"I was talking with (former coach) Wayne Roccia) and (coach) Dan Sample and we couldn't remember when we had so many athletes reach the finals," said Peaco.

"Last year we had about 20 athletes go to states but not that many reached the finals. We joked that there wasn't enough time to get something to eat. It was like every 45, 50 minutes we had another kid in the finals.

"I'm sure the kids are disappointed with the medals, but when you're setting a lot of school records in the state finals, you have to be thrilled. You want to run your best times in the biggest meet of the year,"Peaco added.

Another near miss was Butler's Skye Sankey, who was 12th in the Class AAA pole vault with a jump of 10-6.

There were, however, three other medalists from Saturday's meet.

Justin Piocquidio of Mars placed fourth in the Class AA boys long jump (21-11.5); Freeport's Miles Smolic was sixth in the Class AA boys discus (148-2), a personal best by more than nine feet; and Grove City sophomore Hana Casalnova was sixth in the Class AA girls 800 run (2:16.99).

The following are the results of Butler County area athletes who competed in Saturday’s portion of the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. The top eight placewinners earned medals.<B>Class AAA Boys1,600-meter run: </B>9-Cam Stauffer (Seneca Valley) 4:21.45<B>High jump: </B>3-Conor Barrett (Seneca Valley) 6-9; 20-Ian Campbell (Slippery Rock) 6-2<B>Class AAA Girls3,200-meter relay: </B>9-Seneca Valley (Erin Lopresti, Kate Kelly, Megan Powell and Emily Wolfarth) 9:22.59<B>1,600-meter run: </B>11-Megan Powell (Seneca Valley) 5:15.24<B>800-meter run: </B>12-Erin Lopresti (Seneca Valley) 2:18.48Pole vault: 12t-Skye Sankey (Butler) 10-6<B>Class AA BoysLong jump: </B>4-Justin Piocquidio (Mars) 21-11Z\x<B>Discus: </B>6-Miles Smolic (Freeport) 148-2<B>Class AA Girls800-meter run: </B>6-Hana Casalnova (Grove City) 2:16.99<B>Triple jump: </B>27-Harley Westerman (Freeport) 33-5Z\x<B>Shot put: </B>1-Kristy Woods (Grove City) 44-11<B>Javelin: </B>19-Melanie Prelec (Slippery Rock) 111-9