When Amanda Crooks could not finish her heat in the 100 meter preliminaries last Friday, the whole weekend suddenly turned dark for the Whitehall track and field team.

Crooks was competing at the PIAA Track and Field Championships, racing in an event where she had earned a fourth-place medal last year. Head coach James Sebesta said that she pulled up after 80 meters, ending her shot at a sprint title.

The junior has been battling a nagging quadriceps injury sustained during their Parkland meet, her lone appearance since that time was at last week’s district championships.

While it’s hard to project what could have been, Sebesta said that Crooks would have most likely finished among the top 10 again, earning another medal. In fact, Crooks sizzling 12.00 in the semis last year would have been the best time among any competitor during Friday’s preliminaries.

That loss reverberated to the 4x100 team who had to adjust their lineup due to Crook’s absence. Sebesta said that Kassidy Cunningham and Helen Davis had come along as alternates, joining Angel Bacon, Kate Bonshak, Kylee Cunningham and Crooks. Davis got the nod and the team got set for the preliminaries on Friday.

But that weekend grew even more darker when a handoff was missed during the relay race. That mishap kept the 4x100 team from advancing to the finals.

The pole vault proved to be another setback since the opening height was 13-6. Sebesta said that a lot of coaches were unhappy with that mark since many in the field just wanted the chance to compete, and that height seemed excessive. The opening height of 13-6 was three inches higher than Gavin Wood’s personal best of 13-3 which he accomplished at the District 11 meet where he earned a silver medal.

Still, Wood came close to clearing the bar, said Sebesta.

“He had some nice attempts at it,” said Sebesta. “He had two really good runs, but he didn’t have quite enough to get over it.”

Finally, Tyler Meyers had the misfortune of being in an event that had the most dominating athlete competing at the PIAA AAA Championships. Jordan Geist from Knoch High School set a new PIAA record on Saturday afternoon with a 207-06 toss. That was 21 feet better than second place finisher Matt Slagus from North Pocono High School. Geist also won the shot put with a 71-04.50 mark.

Meyers, the District 11 champ, was battling the rain like everyone else, said Sebesta. He wound up throwing the saucer 143-06, landing him 23rd among the PIAA competitors. Sebesta said that ideally everyone would like to throw, run or jump their personal best at the state tourney, but that always doesn’t happen. Meyers tossed his personal best at last week’s district meet, zinging it 156-05.

Sebesta said that disappointment clouded the weekend for the Zephyrs. He knew they weren’t happy with how everything transpired, but they got to compete at the highest level of scholastic sports.