Freedom’s Alex Heidemann and Liberty’s Elijah Rogers were crowned district champions while seven other Hurricane boys and one from Bethlehem Catholic picked up medals at the District XI Class 3A Track and Field Championships last Wednesday at Blue Mountain High School in Schuylkill Haven.

Heidemann was awarded gold medals in the 1600 meter run and the 800 meter run, both won on the Patriot junior’s perfectly timed kick, but it was the 800 that had all eyes on the track.

“When I got to the end of the line, I’m like, holy...I did it. Let’s go! I was freaking out,” Heidemann said. “Pretty much everything worked because I knew I could out kick these guys. It was just a matter of staying close and keeping within kicking distance.”

Heidemann hadn’t raced Southern Lehigh’s Chase Hensinger, Saucon Valley’s Matt Chaikowsky, and Parkland’s Brady Hoffman all season, but he knew there would be tough competition in the 800.

“Right around 350 to go, I was sitting not too comfortably in fourth, and then with about 250 to go, I was still in fourth but I was kind of like, let’s go for it, and then I started picking up speed,” Heidemann said. “Around 200 to go, I was right with them, and I knew I could keep going.”

Heidemann finished in determined, dramatic fashion with a time of 1:57.17, and Hensinger placed second in 1:57.63.

“I was ready for a really tough race today, but doubling, that was awful. That was really challenging,” he said after having competed in two distance events within a relatively short amount of time.

“I knew [Chaikowsky] was gonna’ be the one to beat,” said Heidemann after the 1600. “My coach (Bob Thear) and I re-strategized. We realized that if I started my kick on the turn, I would lose a second trying to go around it, so we thought it would be better if I started [around 300] and then slowly get faster and faster into the kick. It worked.”

The Patriot junior was especially pleased that he was able to see the strategy pay off.

“Oh, it was good,” he said. “To be honest, our plan was to go out a little harder. We went through (800) at 2:15, and that was actually a little slow for what I thought we were gonna’ be in through. I was expecting to go through 800 at 2:10, so that kind of screwed up the plan a little bit, but as far as the last lap went, everything worked to a T.”

Liberty’s Elijah Rogers won his gold medal in the high jump and set a personal record of 6-05.00.

“My coaches (Coach Peterson and Coach Bush) and I had a talk, and we said top two gets me to states, and anything else is icing on the cake, so we got that done and first place just happened to be the outcome. Coach P. told me, ‘Jump for the roof,’ and that’s what I did,” Rogers said.

Winning the gold meant a lot more to Rogers than one day of competition.

“I’ll never forget my sophomore year. I went to leagues, placed eighth, and I cried on the bus ride home, and it’s so crazy seeing myself grow, and getting all the way to this point,” he said. “At the beginning of the season, my goal was to make it to leagues. I won leagues, and then my goal was to make it to districts, and I end up winning it. My goal was to make it to states, and I’m there. Everything falls into place. It’s how it’s supposed to be, and I’m happy for myself and happy for everybody who helped me out to be here. I really appreciate them.”

Joining Rogers at states will be teammate Cole Frank who won the silver medal and set a personal record in the 3200 meter run with a time of 9:44.91, and Liberty’s 4x8 relay team of Frank, Graham Phillips, Jacob Orrico, and Emrick Leshko, who also won silver medals with a time of 8:10.43.

“I’m happy with it because it’s something we haven’t done before so it’s an improvement, and we improved on our EPC time by about seven or eight seconds,” said Phillips.

But placing second was bittersweet for the Hurricanes.

“I’m mixed. A little upset, a little happy,” said Frank. “This year we got to states, but we were really hoping to get gold and beat Southern Lehigh. But props to them. They did a terrific job, but you gotta’ be humble and stay happy with what we got, and we’ll see them at states.”

Phillips, Leshko, Matthew Johnston, and Josh Farrell closed out the district meet with a fourth place medal in the 4x4 relay with a time of 3:28.71.

Bethlehem Catholic’s Nicolas Roof was awarded the bronze medal in the long jump with a distance of 21-02.50, and Liberty’s Sander Sahaydak won a bronze in the triple jump with a distance of 42-07.00.

The PIAA State Class 3A Track and Field Championships are scheduled for May 29 at Shippensburg University.