RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Williamsport’s Madeline Sanders trails Lewisburg’s Baylee Espinosa during the final stretch of the Class AAA girls 3,200 at the District 4 track and field championships on Saturday at Williamsport. Williamsport saw a top-8 finisher in every single event on Saturday and had two relay teams reach the podium as well as the Millionaires won the first team title since 1998.
The celebration wasn’t the most rambunctious, and the applause from the crowd that remained in the stands may not have been loudest either. But make no mistake, Williamsport’s girls track and field team was more than excited.
Athletes took turns celebrating and taking photos with the plaque, and just about every girl was smiling big.
That includes coach Vicki Eberhart, who won her first team title as the Millionaires girls track and field coach. But she also helped snap one long drought.
The last time Williamsport’s girls team won the team title came in 1998, long before any of the girls on the team were even born.
“It meant a lot actually. First time in my coaching career with Williamsport. We’re excited about that,” a happy Eberhart said. “The girls with their work ethic and determination, them as a team uniting (was nice). “We had a really family-oriented team and with all the talent I had with the personalities and family fee, it just made it even better.”
The Millionaires have a large roster on the girls side, and that depth showed up big time on Saturday. In the 12 total events competed in, Williamsport had at least one girl reach the podium in every single event, including both relay teams.
Coaches and players at Williamsport will often say “It’s a great day to be a Millionaire,” and it sure was on Saturday.
Williamsport senior and Duquesne commit Anyae Grissom won district gold in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, Natalia Mills took silver in the long jump, bronze in the 100 and fifth in the 200, Madeline Sanders took second in the 3,200 and broke the District 4 record to qualify for states. She also took sixth in the 1,600. Isabelle Sanders took second in the 1,600 and broke the district mark to reach states.
Williamsport’s 400 relay team took silver and qualified for states in Class AAA thanks to tie with the team of Makayla Ceramie, Dajea Batchler, Anyae Grissom and Natalia Mills.
Aubrey Phillips-Cobb and Elizabeth Shultz were bronze medalists in the 300 hurdles and 400, respectively, as Shultz reached a qualifying time for states.
Williamsport’s 1,600 relay team of Phillips-Cobb, Geiani Whaley, Anyae Grissom and Isabelle Sanders took fourth and Isabelle Morrow was a fourth-place finisher in the long jump.
Those accolades don’t end there, however.
Cerami was fifth in the 100 and eighth in the 200, Taitum Zarzyczny was fifth in the discus and Clara Wade finished eighth in the 3,200.
Was Eberhart surprised with that showing, however?
“I don’t know if I was surprised, I knew the depth that we had in all the events, but for them to come out and perform to have that happen was really great,” Eberhart said.
Williamsport’s boys team was just as impressive with numerous podium trips as well, winning the program’s first team title since 2017. And, overall, Williamsport saw 28 kids qualify for the state meet.
It’s a testament to the talented athletes that walk Williamsport’s hallways and the depth the Millionaires have to see that many athletes reach the state tournament in Shippensburg.
“I think with the group I have and how they’ve been working, yeah the goals there to do something (at states),” Eberhart said.
“I definitely want to go out there and give it everything I have because it’s a state meet and we want to get as far as we can go,” Madeline Sanders said.
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