SHIPPENSBURG - A state medalist a year ago, Monika Shimko left Shippensburg University wanting more.

On Saturday, expectation became reality for the Tamaqua senior.In the final race of a decorated high school career, Shimko ran to a fourth-place finish in the Class 2A 800 in her fourth appearance at the PIAA Championships."It feels great," said Shimko, who was eighth in the event last season. "From freshman year, and missing medals to medaling, and sophomore year not making finals, it just feels great to medal two years in a row. That was my expectation. Coming in, I wanted to be in the top five, and that was my goal all season, so it feels good."I wanted to try to not go crazy my first lap and see how much I had for the finish, and see what would happen if I could stay close to any of the top girls, and just see what would happen."Shimko did it with a blistering time of 2:16.43, a personal best. Shimko was seeded second at 2:17.56, a time she earned with a second-place finish at last week's District 11 championships."Just the postseason," Shimko said when asked of what has helped her lower her time. "Everything starts dropping. My freshman year, I think I cut off, like, seven seconds or something in the two weeks from leagues, districts and then states."It's kinda like when you get to the postseason, everything starts dropping."Now a two-time state medalist, Shimko will continue her academic and athletic career at the United States Military Academy at West Point next fall."It was a great experience," Shimko said of her high school career. "I'm so excited for next year. And it provided me so many opportunities. I'm just so happy with my track career."While Shimko has been focused on dropping time, Lehighton's Aaron Bowman has been concentrating on going up.The Lehighton senior set a personal best - and tied the school record - clearing 14-0 in the Class 2A pole vault on Saturday. The mark helped the senior place fifth in his first trip to states."Pole vaulting is my favorite sport," said Bowman. "I compete well because I enjoy it. I enjoy what I do. I like doing it."Under pressure, it's difficult, yes. But because it's a sport that I enjoy, I can push through it and I know I can block everything out and focus on what I'm doing."Bowman entered the competition with a previous best height of 13-6, and acknowledged he was hoping for a little more Saturday, though he certainly wasn't disappointed with his performance."My goal was 14-1 to get the school record. I didn't get it," Bowman said. "But 14-0, that's what I needed, that's what I got, and I like that. I'm very content with that."Bowman relished his first trip to Shippensburg, one he wishes he could have experienced sooner - and one he won't soon forget."It really blew me away. I love it here," Bowman said with a smile. "I wish I could have got here sooner."Marian's Tina Capparell achieved a goal Saturday she has been working toward since she was a freshman.Capparell placed sixth in the Class 2A 1600 at the PIAA Championships to earn her first state medal."It was my goal for the last three years," she said. "And I finally got it."The junior had to work for it. Capparell (5:05.94) used a late surge to edge Oley Valley's Rebecca Snyder (5:05.95) at the line."I just kept thinking, 'Lean. Lean as far as you can,'" Capparell said. "And I wasn't sure. Then I looked at the board, and I saw that I got her."Capparell started strong, sitting in fourth place for much of the race."I knew they were going to be a lot quicker going (out) today so I just wanted to stay up with them, not fall too far behind, and just stick with them," she said."I wasn't expecting the pace to be as quick as it was. But I just wanted them to pull me with them, and they did. Just sticking with them helped me get my PR by four seconds."Now a state medalist in cross country and track, Capparell is ready to take another step forward as a senior."I just definitely need to train harder than I did this year, start doing some more speed workouts," Capparell said. "And work on that last kick. Some little stuff I can fix. The end of the race is definitely my weak spot."Capparell wasn't the only Marian athlete to medal Saturday. Jarrin Geisinger placed seventh in the Class 2A 100 after advancing to the final earlier in the day."(My goal was to) just to place in states, and I got that," Geisinger said.After placing third in the semifinals with a time of 11.29 earlier in the day, Geisinger returned for the final with an even better run, finishing in 11.14."Running against the top in the state definitely pushes you," he said. "It feels amazing. To run against all this good competition, it's just great."Weatherly's Emily Zoscin and Jim Thorpe's Joseph Schwartz saw their state meets come to an end in their respective semifinals Saturday.Zoscin failed to move on to the finals after placing sixth in her Class 2A 100 semi with a time of 12.97.Zoscin, who won the event at last week's District 11 meet and the week prior at the Schuylkill League championships, couldn't help but smile when thinking about her season."It was truly an honor to be here. I'm happy I've gotten here," the sophomore said.Zoscin plans to use the experience she's gained next year to come back even stronger next season."I just learned that if you have the motivation, and you have the push, it can take you anywhere," she said. "You can do whatever you need to do as long as you have that motivation, and you want to work at it. It's not handed to you."I just have to keep pushing myself. That's all I can ask of myself. Practice going out of the blocks a little bit more. Practice my finish. But it was just a great experience."Schwartz ran a 15.09 and placed sixth in his 300 hurdle semifinal heat."It has been an amazing experience, I have to say that," Schwartz said. "I'm a little upset it's over, but I'm sure glad I made it here."Schwartz almost didn't make it to the semifinals."I rolled my ankle yesterday before the race," said Schwartz, who placed third in Friday's prelim to advance to the semis. "So I had to wrap it, but I still made the semis. After I did that, I thought I wouldn't make it here. I still made it here."Seth Slavin placed 10th in the Class 3A 3200 with a time of 9:16.52, a personal best."There was no point where I was like, 'I got this,'" Slavin said. "The whole time, I was like, 'Go, go. Come on, let's fight. My mom's out there, I can see her. My dad's (here), my coaches. I was like, just catch-up.' There wasn't ever a point where I was like, 'I got this.' So that kinda stunk."Maybe if I would have got out a little bit harder it would have been a little bit different, but who knows how the race would have turned out. I came out with a nine-second PR today, which I think is pretty good."The senior isn't done yet. Slavin will continue his career at Lehigh University."It's ending, but it's just beginning," Slavin said. "I'm going to be the same person. I'm going to have the same weird things that I do before races. I'm gonna do the same things during my races."But I'm going to improve. I'm going to learn new things. I'm going to be with new people. But I know the same type of guys I'm racing with here, and even some of the guys I'll be racing against in college and beyond. And I think developing as a person, I think these experiences of being under pressure, kinda representing your school, shows you how to act the right way, how to act as the best person that you can be."After placing fifth in the Class 3A triple jump Friday, Pleasant Valley's Michael Mitchell ended his high school career with a 12th-place finish in the long jump (21-2) Saturday."It was a heck of a ride. This was my last high school event ever in my career. It felt really good to rock the blue and white," Mitchell said. "I'll always remember my student section, my fans, my coaches. It was a heck of a ride. I look forward to the journey in college and getting a whole new start."TEAM SCORES … Neumann Goretti won the Class 2A girls team title with 56 points. North Penn (51) edged Cheltenham (50.5) for the 3A girls crown. Hickory rolled to the Class 2A boys title with 56 points. Carlisle (26) won a tightly-contested race for the 3A boys championship. Milton Hershey (23), North Allegheny (22), Coatsville (21), Knoch (20) and La Salle College (20) all were within striking distance.