Northwestern’s Grace Yost among record setters at Zephyr Invitational track

Grace Yost is pretty darn good at several track and field events, but the Northwestern senior had one noticeable shortcoming.

Well, it was noticeable to everyone — but Yost.

“You realize you are running crooked as you’re running crooked,” she said. “But then you think you fix it and you’re still running crooked.

“At practice, they had to videotape me, then told me I was still running crooked. I was like, ‘What? I was straight.’ But I wasn’t straight.”

Yost was diligent in trying to run straight down the runway to the pole vault pit. She broke a pole vaulting cardinal sin by staring at the pit from the runway during Saturday’s Zephyr Invite at Whitehall’s Zephyr Sports Complex.

The Tiger ran as straight as she ever has. It’s hard to argue with her results.

Yost cleared a school-record 10 feet, 7 inches to win the event.

“My PR jump was one of my straightest runs,” she said. “The one after that was a little crooked.”

Yost also throws the discus and javelin, completing three challenging events. She tried others, but found one common problem.

“I kind of have the Yost name,” she said, “and my sister [Faith] was in all those events. Before she graduated [last year], she was schooling me. I was like, ‘This is not helping my confidence.’ And I was freshman and not good at them.

“So I just drifted toward pole vault and other events she didn’t do.”

Yost wasn’t the only one on Saturday celebrating a special performance.

Palmerton’s Emma Snyder bounced up from the high jump crash mat and set the 15-yard dash record to the fence because she completed a mission two years in the making by clearing 5 feet, 3 inches, a personal best.

“I’ve been struggling at 5-1 this season,” the senior said. “I jumped 5-2 as a sophomore. This is the first time I PR’d since my sophomore year, so it was big.

“I was having a problem with my head going back far enough. I saw that last week, and today I made the adjustment and it worked.”

Snyder cleared 5-3 on her first attempt.

Northwestern’s Gavin Nelson established a new personal record clearing 6-7 in the boys high jump. The junior just nipped the bar with his heal while attempting to clear 6-8.5. The school record is 6-8.25, set by Mike Wertman in 1991.

“My legs just felt great today,” Nelson said. “I felt great jumping. I took a couple days off after a meet on Tuesday and went to training with Jack [Reichenbach, a former Salisbury jumping standout]. On Thursday and Friday, I just rested, relaxed and stretched.”

Northwestern teammate Sadie Fenstermaker also had a banner day. She improved her area-best throw in the shot put with a 37-9 on her second attempt to win that event. The senior also won the discus with a personal-best and new area-best throw of 119-4.

Palmerton’s Nataly Walters extended her area-best long jump to 18-1.5. She also added 1 foot, 4.75 inches to her area-best jump in the triple jump. Her jump of 38-10 came on her fourth attempt.

Fellow Blue Bomber Palmerton’s Connor Hibell shaved nearly 18 seconds off his season-best mark to win the 3,200 in a Colonial League-best 10:04.61.

Other winners: (BOYS) Whitehall’s Ian Thomas (21-10 in the long jump); Northampton’s Andrew Szeplaki (12-6 in the pole vault); Lehigh Valley Academy’s Marcus Morales (159-11 in the javelin); Dieruff’s Jorge Santana (40.12 in the 300 hurdles); Northampton’s Andrew Whitman (51.34 in the 400); Freedom’s Brooks Britt (45-11 in the triple jump); Central Catholic’s Clark Gulycz (57-5 in the shot put); Parkland’s 400 relay (area-best 42.52) and 3,200 relay (8:14.98); Central Catholic’s Duke Ebert (4:31.37 in the 1,600); Notre Dame-GP’s Joseph Phillips (15.28 in the 110 hurdles); Freedom’s Aaron Beete (11.17 in the 100); Northampton’s Andrew Whitman (51.34 in the 400) ; Dieruff’s 1,600 relay team of Chris Lebron, Laquaye Hamilton, Jorge Santana and Delferson Contreras (3:30.34); Palmerton’s Ryan Burkett (144-8 in the discus)

(GIRLS) Dieruff’s 1,600 relay (4:10.17); Liberty freshman Katie Drabouski (11:38.42 in the 3,200); Bethlehem Catholic’s Daviana Jones and Lehigh Valley Academy’s Natalia Smith tied at 104 feet in the javelin; Notre Dame-GP’s Ella Schweitzer (2:23.00 in the 800), Brenna Hammerstone (5:23.74 in the 1,600) and Savina Steele (15.85 in the 100 hurdles); Parkland’s 400 relay (49.71) and 3,200 relay team (9:48.34); Catasauqua’s Hailey Jenkins (12.76 in the 100)

Palmerton girls and Northampton boys won the team titles.

Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com