SHIPPENSBURG — Greencastle-Antrim senior Claire Paci saved her best effort for last and used that finishing strength to capture first place in the girls Class 3A 3200 race at the District 3 Track & Field championships.

Claire Paci

Paci trailed after laps 4 and 5, but picked up the pace and the field could not match her closing kick.

Her victory, the second 3200 win in her stellar four-year career at districts, was the highlight among area athletes on the first day of the meet Friday at Shippensburg University. The second day begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at SU.

Paci, a UConn recruit, led Kaitlyn Highduch of Governor Mifflin by less than a second after the first two laps. Her lead went to .23 over Hempfield’s Ella Wolfe after three, but Wolfe took a short lead on lap 4 and held it for one more trip around the track.

On lap 6, Paci retook a small lead over Wolfe, but increased it to 4 seconds with one lap to go. The final margin was Paci’s 10:30.70 to Wolfe’s 10:41.123. Paci’s time broke the previous school record that she already owned.

Her final two laps were run in 1:16.84 and 1:12.04, the fastest of any runner in the field.

Greencastle had three other medal winners on Friday. In the girls discus, Bailey Hurley uncorked a throw of 121-0 to place third. In the boys javelin, Conner Wright placed sixth with his effort of 172-0, and teammate Blake Diller was eighth with a toss of 167-3.

In the boys 3200, the Blue Devils’ Hayden Parks just missed on a medal, taking ninth in 9:33.55, while Joel Amstutz was 11th (9:35.56).

Jahnaya Wimberley

For Chambersburg, only one athlete earned a medal. Jahnaya Trotter-Wimberley hit a distance of 16-11.25 to place seventh in the long jump.

In finals Friday, the Trojans’ Abby Bucher was 10th in the girls discus (107-7), Peter Mertz placed 11th in the boys discus (142-3), Cami Bender was 11th in the girls javelin (103.7), Madelyn Koons (13th, 11:31.49) and Lexi Boyd (14th, 11:33.37) competed in the girls 3200, and in the boys 3200, Ari Snyder was 17th (9:45.95) and Kaden Rife 19th (9:54.72).

In events with Friday prelims, four Chambersburg athletes advanced into Saturday’s finals: Antonio Harrison (5th seed in 100, 10.82; and 3rd seed in 200, 22.30); Jermere Jones in the 110 hurdles (4th, 14.88) and Natalia Holmes in the girls 100 (4th, 12.33).

Other area medal winners included Shippensburg’s Derek Lynch in the discus (6th, 161-1) and Waynesboro’s Ben Williams in the javelin (7th, 171-11).

G-A’s Lily Kauffman was 10th in the javelin (104-10) and Waynesboro’s Jaeda Dockman took 11th in the high jump (5-2).

Among qualifiers for finals, James Buchanan’s Austin McCoy was third-best in the 400 (49.70) and True Benchoff of Waynesboro was sixth-best in the 300 hurdles (45.90).