RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Central Mountain's Lily Hendricks competes in the girl's long jump during the Lock Haven Invitational track meet at Hubert H Jack Stadium in Lock Haven on Friday, April 26, 2024.

LOCK HAVEN — Amidst the illustrious track and field career of Central Mountain senior Lily Hendricks, the accolades have only continued to pile up.

On Friday afternoon at the Lock Haven High School Classic, the Wildcat posted two meet titles, claiming gold in the triple jump and long jump, setting the meet record in the triple with a distance of 38 feet, 7 inches. The performance came just one week after the senior broke the program record for the long jump (18-7 1/2), which she tied at the classic.

“I was feeling good, feeling myself,” said Hendricks on the day. “It’s been kind of cool lately. Not too cold but I’m a warm weather jumper. I don’t do well in the cold. So, I think that energy was just already there.”

Her climb to the top of her program’s leaderboards has been a slow and steady progress, spanning three and a half years and culminating from a considerable amount of time and effort. Previously set by Jena Toner in 2014 with a score of 18-3, Hendricks came one inch short of breaking it against Selinsgrove earlier in April before finally pulling it off last Friday.

“It was great. I’ve been trying for three years so it felt good,” said Hendricks on breaking the record. “I was hoping to break it earlier and was kind of frustrated (after the 18-3), but it was great when I finally got it.”

She was particularly proud of her performance in the long jump on Friday as well, debuting with her record-tying 18-7 ½ before hanging around the 17-18 feet rang for the rest of the meet and even posting the program’s second-best score with an 18-5 3/4 late.

“I started out really well with long, so I was happy about that,” said Hendricks. I got exactly what I got last week on my first jump ever and just kind of got worse from there.”

Her first few runs at the triple jump weren’t as satisfactory, however.

Her first few attempts fell a foot or two away from her PR (38-8 3/4). But on her fourth jump within the event, she managed to post her record-breaking score of 38-7, ultimately winning the event by over two and a half feet.

“In triple, I was kind of scared for a while because things were looking iffy. It was not up to my standards,” said Hendricks. “Then, in my second to last jump, I got a season best but not a PR.”

“We’ll take it,” she laughed.

With the long jump record and a piece of the 400 relay record from last season, her next goal is the claim the record in the triple. She’s six inches away from acquiring that record, set by Kristin Brandt in 2008.

Outside of Hendricks, Central Mountain’s Jordan Donahay and Logan Dawes also saw success, with Donahay taking third amidst a stacked 100-meter dash class with an 11.18 as well as seventh in 200 (23.08) and Dawes claiming silver in shot put (50-2) and eighth in discus (131-4).

Bald Eagle Area’s Kaiden Gates also represented the area at the top of the podium, claiming first in the high jump with a score of 6-2. He had hoped to eclipse 6-4 on the day but was still proud of the effort.

“Overall, the day felt pretty good,” said Gates. “I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t clear 6-4. There’s meets like that tough. My PR is 6-6 but I got 6-2 and got first place, so that’s what I’ve got to be happy with.”

For Jersey Shore, junior Anna Sick saw three top-eight finishes on the day, setting a PR in the process of taking third in the 400 (1:00.41) and finishing fifth in the 100 (13.30) and seventh in the 200 (27.41). Fellow junior Zach Kendall came incredibly close to a first place showing, finishing just .03 seconds short of in the 400 (51.74) behind Punxsutawney Area’s Garrett Bartlebaugh.

“I kind of wished I went out stronger, but I really picked it up towards the end and almost caught the guy in first,” said Kendall following his 200. “Last year, my mindset going into this was that I couldn’t compete with them. Now that I know I physically can, it makes it ten times easier.”

He’d go on to immediately follow up the event with a third place showing in the 300 hurdles (41.19) just a few races later, an effort which Jersey Shore head coach Bob Fox commended him for.

“Zach did a great job. He does three events in a row in a big meet like this and it was a bit of a shorter time frame than there was last week,” said Fox on Kendall. “But he still ran a great time in the 400 and 300 hurdles, came back in the 4 by 400 after a break, which was good.”

“We’re trying to do workouts here just to get ready for districts, that’s the whole goal here,” he added, referring to Kendall and his team.

Kendall has had a strong junior season, posting PRs across the board this season from sprints to hurdles. He stands near the top of the district in two of his events as well, ranking No. 2 in the 300-meter hurdles and No. 4 in the 400 dash.

He wore his heart on his sleeve on Friday when discussing what’s motivated him to push himself. He credited his former teammate and fellow hurdler, Max Engle, with being one of his primary motivators, both through the offseason and in the present day.

“This couldn’t really be possible without Max Engle,” said Kendall. “Last year, we were always talking about how we were going to come into the offseason working hard. It’s unfortunate what happened, but everything I do is for him.”