Cole Miller loves when he gets a new golf club to add to his set. He can't wait to go out to the range and the golf course to test it out.

The Northwestern senior got a new pole to use heading in to last week's District 11 track and field meet at East Stroudsburg South High School and he was definitely excited to use it.

"I just really wanted to get work in with my new pole in competition," Miller admitted. "I just got this pole and I haven't quite figured it out. I just wanted to get my technique down with it."

Just as sweet as that first successful shot with a new club, Miller jumped 13 feet with his new pole and finished second in the event, qualifying for the state meet. The top two finishers in each event automatically qualify as well as any competitor who's time or mark falls within the qualifying standard.

Alex Partington, Austin Weiss, Cam Richardson, Jay Hereba, the boys 4x100-meter relay and the boys 4x400-meter relay squads all qualified, along with Miller, for the PIAA Championship Meet on May 22 and 23 at Shippensburg University.

Anxiousness and nervousness is something that many athletes feel during pressure situations. Only the best are able to persevere through it. Partington can be included in that list as the senior, who admits to being anxious before throws, earned gold in discus with a throw of 152-1. He also finished second in shot put.

Partington, who's achieved a previous best at the Shippensburg Invitational earlier this season, wants history to repeat itself.

"I need to just stay on course for states," he said. "I need to just go for that gold and take the pressure off my shoulders. I'm going back to the place where I had some success, so hopefully I can do that again or do even better."

The Tigers 4x100-meter relay team of Weiss, Miller, Hereba and Richardson repeated history as they tied at district meet record with their gold-medal-winning time of 43.04.

Weiss, the first leg of that relay squad, qualified individually by finishing second in the 110-meter hurdles. The senior said he will have an advantage at states as this is his second trip.

"Just the schedule of everything is nuts. When you run in the morning, but you are used to running at a different time, messes with you," said Weiss. "You need to be able to understand and be able to warm-up at different times and be ready to run whenever."

Richardson and Hereba each qualified for states in different events. Richardson qualified by taking gold in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Hereba punched his ticket with a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash. He also took third in the 200-meter dash.

Hereba, who is making his first trip to the PIAA meet, said he needs to dial it in.

"I need to really focus from now until then," he said after the 400. "I need to really work on everything. Obviously I want to have fun too and hopefully take home some hardware."

The 4x400 meter relay team comprised of Hereba, Richardson, Alec Fixl and Ryan Cerrone finished second with a time of 3:30.62 and will be making the trip to Ship as well.