(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since May of 1999, the Times News Sports Department has featured an On This Date practically every day, highlighting an event that happened in the past. With the coronavirus putting a halt to sports, the On This Dates have been expanded to the stories that actually ran in the next edition’s newspaper. Today’s On This Date story is from May 19, 1990).

By Joe Plasko

TIMES NEWS Staff

It’s rare that a scholastic athlete can compete at the state class level in more than one sport, but Kristyn Mizack will experience it this weekend.

The Palmerton senior, who is a top-notch gymnast, used some of those skills to her advantage Saturday, leaping to wins in the AA long and triple jumps at the District 11 track and field championships at Northern Lehigh.

Mizack will be joining three other TIMES NEWS area girls at this weekend’s PIAA state championships at Shippensburg University.

Mizack was the only local double winner on Saturday. Others who took titles in their events were Lehighton’s Heather Moyer in the AAA javelin and Northwestern’s Megan Shaughnessy in the AA 1600.

Marian’s Sue McLaughlin placed second in the AA 400 but her time of 1:00.6 was good enough to qualify for states.

Mizack was the top seed in the AA triple jump, but her leap on Saturday was one of the top performances of the day.

During the final round in the triple jump, Mizack managed to spring forward a distance of 35-1 3/4, which was almost 10 inches better than the 34-3 she managed when winning the CL triple jump at the same site the prior week.

“I jumped a 35 in the first heat, and I never got a 35 before, so I was really psyched about it, and I wanted to do it again,” noted Mizack after the event.

The Blue Bomber gymnast claims to like the long jump a little better, and she was no less adept at it during the afternoon. Her 16-10 1/2 won the event and topped the 16-6 she managed at leagues.

“I got that on my first jump and I thought, wow. I never expected two golds, so I was really excited,” smiled Mizack, who was seeded behind Catasauqua’s Tammi Haines in the event. Haines also qualified for states at 16-9 1/4.

Mizack, who was second on the uneven bars during the state gymnastic competition, concurred that the training required for gymnastics helped her develop her leaping ability.

“Gymnastics really helps, because it’s all leg strength,” explained the Blue Bombers’ champ.

Despite some pain in her knees that limited her practice time last week, that leg strength paid off as Mizack made the leap to Shippensburg.

“It didn’t really matter as long as I got there (to states),” added Mizack.

Return trip for Moyer

Lehighton’s Heather Moyer is making her second straight trip to Shippensburg.

After experiencing a bit of a midseason slump, Moyer has returned to form in the javelin in recent weeks. Last week her toss of 122-3 won the Centennial League meet, and it had her seeded first in the AAA jav for Saturday.

On her first attempt, Moyer fired the spear 124 feet to win the gold, which is an area best for this year and gives her a shot at bettering her LAHS mark of 124-10 set at states last year.

“I have a problem with my knee and it was really bugging me. Thank God I turned it on now,” said a happy Moyer.

Moyer explained that she worked hard on the mechanics of throwing in order to get back on track.

“When I pull back, my wrist goes down, then the tail of javelin goes down, and everything goes down. Mr. Brong (Indians’ coach Bill Brong) had me work on keeping everything going up, and that’s what did it.”

Shaughnessy wins 1600

Megan Shaughnessy, Northwestern’s freshman distance phenom, was seeded first in the AA 1600 coming into Saturday with a time of 5:35, but she knew that there would be a challenge from a familiar face,

Northern Lehigh’s Lisa Dorshimer, also a freshman, was seeded second in the race. The two had dueled several times this season and will probably be seeing a lot of each other on the cinders in the next few years.

“She is always on my tail, no matter what. It keeps you moving,” said Shaughnessy of Dorshimer.

It was no different Saturday, as Shaughnessy made her move on the third lap and kicked her way to first with a time of 5:31.3, which tied an area best. Pleasant Valley’s Jody Beers also did that time in the AAA 1600 but finished third.

Dorshimer was third in the AA 1600 with a 5:41.2.

“The last half of the third lap was when I made my move. We’ve been practicing our kicks a lot lately, and I’ve got to save it up,” explained Shaughnessy.

“I’m so happy, because I was a nervous wreck.”

First trip for McLaughlin

Sue McLaughlin, Marian’s top sprinter, has had a series of near misses at districts. Since her sophomore year, McLaughlin has placed second once and third once in the AA 400 but missed the qualifying cut.

This year the Fillies’ senior hit the mark on the nose, as her 1:00.5 in the 400 was second to Notre Dame’s Shannon McDonald (at 1:00.3) but was enough to get her over the qualifying hurdle.

“She (McDonald) is only a sophomore, but she’s really good, and she went to states last year. I wanted to get my time down. It’s my last year, so I wanted to get it down good,” said McLaughlin.

The St. Francis-bound McLaughlin regained the Marian school standard in the 400 with the win, and is looking to keep things going at states.

“I just want to do the best that I can (at states) for my school and myself,” she added.

Teammate Colleen Crossen, another senior, was third in the race with a time of 1:01.5. Crossen and McLaughlin joined Nikki Miller and Denise Stiely on the Fillies’ AA 1600 relay team that took third but set an area best with a time of 4:19.7.

Other local performers

Panther Valley’s Lisa Kravelk had a good day as far as medals go but just missed the state cut several times. She placed second in the AA 200 at 27.1, and third in the AA 100 at 13.1. She was also a member of the PV 400 relay team that set an area best of 52.0, which was just short of the state qualifying mark of 51.8.

Northern Lehigh’s Sherri Musselman, the top seed in the AA high jump at 5-0, managed to hit that height Saturday but finished second when West Hazleton’s Chris Berlitz cleared 5-1.

Lehighton’s Darla Rimbey took second in the AAA discus with a toss of 108-1, which was an area best.

Third place finishes besides those already mentioned included Northwestern’s Denise Kehm in the AA shot out, Northern Lehigh’s Val Heckman in the AA discus, and Panther Valley’s Pam Machalik in the AA long jump. Machalik was also a member of the 400 relay team with Kim Williams, Sherry Colon and Kravelk.

Tamaqua’s top finishers were Brenda Snyder, who was fourth in the AAA 300 intermediate hurdles at 49.7, and Maria Mateyka, fourth in the AAA shot put with a toss of 31.4.