EAST STROUDSBURG - Before the District 11 Track and Field Championships, Austin Shupp had a choice.

The Palmerton senior could have entered the triple jump, an event he won last week at the Colonial League Championships. Or, he could have joined the Bombers' 1600-meter relay team.For Shupp, the decision was easy."I wanted to get another team to states," he said. "The more people at states the better."And that's exactly what he got.The Palmerton team of Nate Eckhart, Gerald Pereira, Shaun Seiler and Shupp won the event with a time of 3:26.93, ahead of the previous District 11 AA record of 3:27.14."It felt really good to accomplish that and help everyone else get to states," Shupp said afterwards.The Northwestern squad of Jihad Hereba, Cam Richardson, Alec Fixl and Ryan Cerrone wasn't far behind, taking second in 3:30.62 and also qualifying for next week's PIAA Championships.The final event of the evening wrapped up a highly successful two days for TIMES NEWS area athletes that featured several record-breaking performances.Shupp started the afternoon by claiming his second individual gold medal of the meet in the 110 hurdles, winning the event in 14.91, a bit slower than his 14.34 from Wednesday's prelims, which was a new District 11 AA record.Northwestern's Austin Weiss finished second in the event in 15:30 and will also be going to Shippensburg.Shupp then went on to help the 400-meter relay team of Pereira, Harley Appelbaum and Tre Nelson take second with a time of 43:26, bringing his final medal count to three gold and one silver."I think I've accomplished everything I possibly could have here," said Shupp. "It's just overwhelming."But Shupp wasn't the only one to go home with a handful of medals and a few new district records.The Northwestern team of Richardson, Weiss, Hereba and Cole Miller won the 400-relay with a time of 43.04, tying the District 11 AA record set by Bethlehem Catholic in 2002.And Richardson, in particular, had a banner day individually for the Tigers, winning the AA 100 (11.51) and 200 (22.72), respectively.As the top seed in both events and with high expectations in each relay, Richardson admitted it was critical to keep a level-head with so much going on."I try not to think about anything during or before any of my races," he said. "I just try to go out there any run, try hard and see what I can do."With so many events on the horizon, Richardson is going to take the same approach with him to Shippensburg next week."We're going to see how the day goes and decide at the end of the day what I'm going to run and what I'm not," he said. "We're just going to wait and see how it plays out."Marian' Sam Tomlin, Chris Bruno, Dom Mussoline and Nick Sully took third in the AA 400-relay with a state qualifying time of 44.20."It means everything, because all year we just wanted to take the relay to states," said Tomlin, the group's lone senior. "I was never there, and it's just great that we all get to go as a team. It should be a great experience."Mussoline, who was also on the 3200-relay team that qualified for states on Wednesday, echoed that sentiment."As a sophomore, I really look up to these guys," said Mussoline. "And Sam (Tomlin) really wanted this, so I'm happy that we were able to get it for him."Bruno also took second in the AA 100 in 11.60 to advance individually.Entering as the eighth seed, the junior confessed that he had a little extra drive coming into the event."I wanted to place in the top three and I wanted to prove everyone wrong," said Bruno. "I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get first, but it's motivation for next year. I just have to keep working at it."Despite entering the AA javelin as the second seed, Palmerton's Charles Debski also might have been a bit overlooked coming into the event.He was, after all, behind teammate and school record holder Pereira.But it was Debski that claimed gold with a toss of 164-6, while Pereira took third."Coming into this, I was totally fine with taking second," said Debski. "I knew it was a possibility to be beaten by anyone, actually."But I knew I had a chance. And it's just so satisfying to get a throw like that here."Pereira's disappointment didn't last long. The junior flipped the script on Northwestern's Hereba in the AA 400 a short time later, winning the event as the second seed with a time of 50:41, just ahead of the Tigers' top-seeded senior. Both qualified for states."It definitely had something to do with it," Pereira said of his performance in the javelin. "I came in determined to do well in the 400, and I came in second to Jihad (Hereba) at the Colonial League meet."He passed me with about 150 meters left, and that's almost exactly how it was at leagues. I just told myself it wasn't going to happen again and pushed a little bit harder to come away with the win."Pleasant Valley's Khai Samuels also used a late kick to claim gold in the AAA 800-meter run, winning the event in 1:57.76."With about 200 meters to go, I knew I could take it," Samuels said. "As soon as I got neck-and-neck with him (Nazareth's Michael Kopach), I knew it was mine. And I was able to finish it."The significance of the victory was not lost on the junior, who will be making his first trip to states."I don't know what to expect, but I'm excited," Samuels said. "I'm just glad that I made it here, because not everybody makes it to districts."Northwestern's Alex Partington, who claimed gold in Wednesday's discus event, will also be going to states in the shot put after taking second with a throw of 51-7.5 in the AA competition.Despite not winning gold as the top-seed, the mark was still a personal best by nearly two feet, something Partington took pride in."I'm extremely happy with how I did today," he said. "This was probably the most fun I've had all season, and it was great to see a bunch of personal bests all the way around."It was great no matter what place you had. It was really incredible to see these performances at the end of the season."Another standout performance was Palmerton's Tre Nelson taking second and qualifying for states in the AA 200 with a time of 23.33, an event he only recently started running."I had an injury and missed about six weeks and was just put into the 200 three weeks ago," Nelson said. "I never expected this. To get second-place is absolutely amazing."Several other athletes just missed qualifying for the PIAA Championships in their respective events. Pleasant Valley's Nyiem Nevarez took third in the AAA 200 and Lehighton's Kyle Whiteman also placed third in the AAA discus.In AA competition, Northwestern's Ryan Cerrone claimed third in the 800 and Northern Lehigh's Bryce Moser finished second in the 1600, while Palmerton's Jarred Sacks finished third in the long jump and Marian's Nico Agosti took third in the 400.