The Northwestern boys and girls track and field teams both enjoyed highly successful seasons this year, evidenced by the dual Colonial League regular season titles and 11-0 records for each squad.

Both continued that success in the postseason, claiming multiple individual Colonial League and District 11 championships.

As the season came to a close lpast weekend at the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University, it's clear the Tigers have established one of the best programs in the state.

Cam Richardson, who anchored Northwestern's 400-relay team, used a strong finish to propel the squad to a fourth-place finish in the Class AA race with a time of 43.13.

For a team that entered with the second overall seed, Richardson admitted that the bar was set high coming into the event.

"We had pretty high expectations for ourselves," Richardson said. "But to come out and be top five in the state is really great.

"Of course we would have liked to finish third, second or first. But taking fourth place is great for us."

Richardson also did well individually, taking third overall in the 200 with a time of 22:36. After struggling in Friday's preliminary race, the junior was pleased with his performance in the final.

"I didn't really run my best time on Friday and I knew that I just needed to be more focused today," he said. "To be able to take third is a great accomplishment for me. I was hoping for top five or top six, but taking third is fantastic."

Northwestern's Alex Partington took fifth in discus with a toss of 149 feet, five inches. The finish was especially satisfying for Partington, who fouled on all three attempts the day before in the shot put, an event in which he was seeded third in.

"I'm happy that I was able to come back strong today," he said. "I had good throws and it feels really good to come away with a medal. That's what I came here for."

The Northwestern girls' 3200-relay team earned a spot in the Saturday's final with a sixth place finish in their semifinal heat on Friday morning. The Tiger girls athletes competed in Class AAA at districts and states, competing against larger schools and deeper teams.

The result was especially satisfying for the Tigers' Haley Yost, who decided to focus exclusively on the relay event instead of running individual events or both.

"It's definitely a big relief because I think that if we wouldn't have made the finals I would have had that thought of regret in my head," said Yost. "And it was definitely a nail-biter when we were watching that other (heat) go because we knew we would be on the border of making it with our finish."

"We didn't run our best time, but we got another day and we're all really excited about that. I don't think words can really express how happy we are to have the chance to fix our mistakes from today and get an extra day."

Unfortunately, the Tigers were unable to medal, finishing 12th in the finals with a time of 9:36.92.

PIAA TRACK AND FIELD RESULTS FOR NORTHWSTERN ATHLETES

CLASS AA GIRLS

3200 Relay - Northwestern, 9:27.40, 6th in semifinal heat, advanced to finals; 9:36.92, 12th overall in finals.

200 - Lauren Anderson, 27.01, 6th in preliminary heat, did not advance to finals.

Discus - Trista Cunningham, 116-08, 12th overall.

CLASS AA BOYS

110 hurdles - Austin Weiss, 15.77, 3rd in preliminary heat, advanced to semifinals; 15.27, 7th in semifinal heat, did not advance to finals.

400 relay - Northwestern, 43.32, 2nd in semifinal heat, advanced to finals; 43.13, 4th overall.

Shot Put - Alex Partington, no distance recorded.

200 - Cam Richardson, 22.95, 3rd in preliminary heat, advanced to semifinals; 22.37, 2nd in semifinal heat, 3rd overall, advanced to finals; 22.36, 3rd overall in finals.

1600 relay - Northwestern, 3:37.47, 6th in semifinal heat, did not advance to finals.

Discus - Alex Partington, 149-05, 5th overall.

Pole Vault - Cole Miller, 13-0, 10th overall.