WHITEHALL Jim Thorpe's Brooke Cope and Marian's Brenna Karnish narrowly missed qualifying for the PIAA Track and Field Championships last year.

Tuesday, the two talented sophomores ensured they would be making the "Trip to Ship" this season by copping gold in their respective events on the first day of competition at the District 11 Track and Field meet.Cope took the top spot in the Class AAA javelin with a throw of 135-5, while Karnish claimed the top spot in the AA discus with a toss of 116-8.Cope will be joined in Shippensburg by teammate and sister, Autumn, who placed third in the javelin and advanced to the state meet by surpassing the qualifying standard with a throw of 128-1.While pleased with her performance and improvement on a fourth place finish in the event a year ago, Brooke admitted she was hoping for a little more after entering as the top seed with a mark of 143-3."I'm OK with it but I'm not exactly satisfied, because I could have done better," she said after also taking third in the shot put. "It got the job done, so I was happy with that."After getting her winning mark on her first throw, Cope acknowledged that not having to worry about whether or not she would go to states made the rest of the event that much easier."I definitely felt more confident after that because I knew I didn't have to think about meeting the state qualifying (standard) or…I just knew that I was at a nice level," she said.It was much of the same for Karnish, who entered the biggest meet of the year so far more at ease than she has at any event all season."In my warm-up throws, everything was just working well together and my throws were nice," she said. "I was just relaxed. Throughout much of the season, I was stressed out about throwing well. But today I was just happy and relaxed and I knew that however I would throw, I would throw."When I went for my first one, my technique was on point, my release was good and I just kinda knew it was going to be a good throw. And from there, it was good."After taking fourth in the event last season and coming in this year as the second overall seed, Karnish was happy to continue her steady progression, something she hopes will keep going heading into the state meet."It's really exciting," she said. "I wanted to take first because it would be a step up from last year, and I broke our school record with that throw, which is something I was trying to do all season. Just to come out and qualify for states is amazing."A pair of 3200-meter relay teams also punched their tickets to the state meet, as Tamaqua took the top spot in the Class AA event while Northwestern finished second in a close race with Easton in AAA competition.The Lady Raiders held the second spot for much of the race before freshman Janette Kabana put in a late surge near the end of her third leg prior to handing off to anchor Monika Shimko, who secured the win in 10:02.31.After qualifying for the state meet last year as a freshman in the 800, Shimko noted that it would be special to enjoy this experience with Kabana, Chelsea Frantz and Victoria Labar."Last year, we were so close and we only last one person," Shimko said of losing Rachael Jones from last year's team that finished fourth in the district meet. "So this year, we all pretty much knew each other and were used to each other."We've really grown a lot. I think we can do great things."Like Tamaqua, Northwestern's race also went down to the wire. The quartet of Sabrina Mertz, Sarah Segan, Carly Pierce and Rachele Cerrone gave a talented Easton team all it could handle for eight laps, but came up short by just over three seconds, finishing with a time of 9:34.38 to the Red Rovers' 9:31.03.Though the result wasn't exactly what the top seeded Tigers were hoping for, the opportunity to compete in Shippensburg is one Pierce in particular is thankful for after missing much of last season with an injury."It feels really good," the senior said. "I'm still very proud to be a part of this team even though we didn't get gold. We're still going to make it to states and I'm still very happy with my team and proud of how we did."Northern Lehigh's Jessica Olewine also qualified for the state meet after taking second in the Class AA long jump with a mark of 17-7.5.Tamaqua's Morgan Boyle advanced to Shippensburg with a second place finish in the AA pole vault (10-0).