EAST STROUDSBURG - Records fell.

Barriers were broken.And opportunities were seized.There was no shortage of excitement on the first day of the Colonial League and Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Track and Field Championships at East Stroudsburg South High School Tuesday.Several of those exceptional performances came from Times News area athletes. Some expected, some not.COLONIAL LEAGUENorthern Lehigh's Andrea Snyder couldn't believe it.Palmerton's Chris Fredericks left no doubt.Snyder turned in a personal best performance (99-2) to win the girls' discus, while Fredericks established a school record with his heave of 177-0 to win the boys' javelin.Both had plenty of reason to smile."It feels great," said Snyder. "I don't even know what to do with myself. When I found out I got first, I just sat down. I didn't know what to do."The Northern Lehigh senior entered the event as the eighth seed, with a previous best of 92-4. Snyder's performance helped her edge Southern Lehigh's Julia LaPorta (99-0) for the title."I was just expecting to maybe get a PR - I was hoping for one," Snyder said. "I didn't expect almost 100-0, though. It's a great feeling."Fredericks, on the other hand, entered the day as the top seed in the javelin, sitting on a personal best throw of 169-5.But the sophomore wanted more, and he knew he could get it."I wanted to win. I wanted to break the school record, and I wanted to beat the kid that I've lost to twice this year, (Southern Lehigh's) Luke Hess," Fredericks said. "He was killing me a little bit this year. But I stuck to it, and I got it."Mission accomplished.Fredericks surpassed Jerry Pereira's mark of 169-10, while Hess placed second with a throw of 167-10.Northern Lehigh's Jill Olewine took a huge step - or leap - forward in the girls' long jump, placing first."I was expecting to do pretty well," said Olewine. "I was expecting to at least get my 17-7 mark, and I actually got 17-10, so I'm pretty happy about that. I PR'd by about three inches."I'm kinda looking forward to hitting an 18-0 mark, to try to break our school record. So I'm pretty ecstatic with how I jumped."Olewine also advanced to today's 100 finals, and is the top seed in the triple jump."It feels pretty awesome," the junior said. "I just want to work harder for my school, bring home medals for my school. I just want to kinda make my school happy."Just placing at leagues is a huge deal. But getting first is pretty awesome."Northern Lehigh senior Darby Pender (47.94) placed second in the 300 hurdles, while Palmerton's Madison Martinez (48.78) was fourth.Pender and Martinez set school records in the event in a meet last Tuesday at Northern Lehigh.Martinez also advanced to today's 100 hurdle finals.A pair of Northwestern athletes also grabbed runner-up finishes. Trevor Cunningham (40.35) was second in the 300 hurdles, while Madeline Consuelos (11:28.87) had the same finish in the 3200.Cunningham was edged by Wilson's Job Goodman (39.68). Southern Lehigh freshman Jenna Groeber (11:18.89) won the 3200."Job is such a great athlete," Cunningham said. "I would have liked to catch him. I thought I was going to there at the end. But I ended up getting second. It is what it is."Cunningham also advanced to the finals of the 100 and 110 hurdles today.EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA CONFERENCEPleasant Valley started the day with a bang, winning the boys 3200 relay.The Bears continued to roll through the final on-track event, sweeping the top three spots in the boys' 3200."We were ecstatic about it coming across the line," said Seth Slavin, who won the 3200 with a time of 9:38.02. "We were hoping to complete it. We were optimistic with our chances, but to see it actually happen, and to materialize, was just amazing."Ryan Murphy was second (9:43.52) and Gabe Sullivan third (9:47.03).Slavin and Sullivan teamed with Luke Valdevit and Jon Mickens to win the 3200 relay earlier in the day. Slavin's strong anchor leg helped the Bears (8:11.33) edge Parkland (8:12.29).It was the first time the team had competed together."Coming into the season, I didn't know I was going to be in this position as the anchor," said Slavin. "But as we trained more and more throughout the winter, and we saw how much we all progressed, I started having this idea that maybe we could all progress as a team, as a 4x8 team together and into the future."Obviously, as we saw today, and we've seen all season long, we were able to do that because of what we put in together. Just like how we run as a relay together, we've trained together, we breathe hard together, we've sweated together, and we've bled together. And we'll keep doing that for the rest of the season and beyond at Pleasant Valley."In the field events, Mike Mitchell (45-4.5) placed third in the boys' triple jump for the Bears."I didn't feel that good today," Mitchell said afterward. "I felt like I had a really bad day jumping. So I'm probably going to ice my legs tomorrow and get ready for long jump. I'm just preparing for districts."Mitchell was a state qualifier in the long jump last season, and he made it to Shippensburg in the triple jump as a sophomore."I haven't jumped anywhere near what I jumped last year," Mitchell said of the long jump."But, I just got the rhythm back last meet. I was like a whole foot-and-a-half behind the board, and I still pulled out like a 21-8. So it would have been at least 23-0 if I would have been on the board."Pleasant Valley's Mary Michael (9-0) tied for third with Northampton's Michayala Davidson in the pole vault.Like Mitchell, Michael will be looking for more improvement at next week's district meet."I'm very disappointed," she said. "I came in seeded second … I'm very disappointed in how I jumped today. Just from the start, I could tell it was going to be an off day. My run was very inconsistent, and I wasn't swinging up enough."This week, I'm going to practice harder, and fix all the things I was doing wrong."Pleasant Valley's Jalurah Moore (12.53) advanced to the girls' 100 (12.53) and 200 (26.36) finals. The Bears' Jose Rosario qualified for the boys' 110 hurdle finals (15.73).ON TOP … The Pleasant Valley boys ended the first day of competition in first place in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference team standings with 44 1/2 points. Easton was second with 38 1/2 points, while Stroudsburg is third at 30 1/2.STRONG START … The Northern Lehigh girls finished Day 1 second in the Colonial League girls team standings with 31 points. Southern Lehigh is first with 55 points.ON DECK … Action resumes today with the EPC boys long jump finals at 2:30 p.m. The Colonial League and EPC girls 100 hurdle finals are set to begin at 3 p.m.