RIMERSBURG, Pa. (EYT/D9) — As Union senior Evie Bliss was throwing the javelin a PIAA Class 2A record 170 feet, 2 inches during the first day of the PIAA Track and Field Championships, Union/A-C Valley teammate and A-C Valley senior Landon Chalmers was watching her out of the corner of his eye from the discus competition at Shippensburg University.
(Pictured above, Union/A-C Valley PIAA track and field gold medalists, from left, Landon Chalmers, Evie Bliss and Hayden Smith)
“I got to see her 170 throw,” Chalmers said. “I knew it was out there, but I didn’t know how far.”
Just a few minutes later, Chalmers spun himself around in the circle and launched his discus 171 feet, 1 inch to put him into first place.
He bettered that effort on his next attempt, throwing 171-5 — good enough to win his own gold.
“Landon was right next to me,” Bliss said. “He’d be there watching me, and when he got in the circle, I’d watch him and cheer him on.”
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Meanwhile, over at Set Grove Stadium, their teammate, Union junior Hayden Smith, was competing in the high jump.
By the time Bliss and Chalmers secured their gold medals, Smith was well on the way to his.
In a matter of a few hours, the Union/A-C Valley track and field team had won three state titles.
Not bad for a co-op between two of the smallest schools in the state. Union graduated 37 and A-C Valley 35 this year.
“Looking at all the teams that were there and all the great athletes who were there,” Bliss said, “it’s amazing to have three of us be able to do something like that.”
Bliss, Chalmers, and Smith are close friends, despite coming to the team from very different places. Bliss is homeschooled, Chalmers is from A-C Valley, and Smith from Union.
They probably never would have met without the co-op.
“I’m so grateful for that,” Bliss said. “Some of my best friends have been made through track and I think those friendships are gonna last a lot longer than any other because we’ve been through so many ups and downs with each other, picking each other back up and cheering for each other when we succeed, when we do well and helping each other when we’re not doing so well.”
“Track brought us together,” Smith said.
While Smith and Chalmers celebrated their golds after that first day of competition, Bliss had to participate in another very important event.
The 180-mile dash.
Bliss needed to get from Shippensburg to Rimersburg to attend her high school graduation ceremony at Union. And time was ticking away.
“I figured out the morning of the competition that, if I want to make graduation, I have to be done throwing by three o’clock,” Bliss said. “I was panicking the entire way home. I’m texting my friends. Texting the teachers in charge. I was giving them an ETA every half hour.
“I pulled up to the school at 6:29,” she added, laughing. “I was walking in for graduation two minutes later.”
There was no time for Bliss to change. She threw her white gown over her Union/A-C Valley track and field uniform.
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
