PIAA Track and Field Championships: Fortunate move-up in relay helps earn team silver for Haverford girls

SHIPPENSBURG — Before stepping on the track for the Class 3A 4 x 400-meter relay, the final girls event of the day at the PIAA Track and Field Championships, Haverford’s Erin Olsavsky, Olivia Cieslak, Aubrey Leneweaver and Morgan Elliott already knew what the Fords had to accumulate in order to come home from Seth Grove Stadium with some team competition hardware to go with the individual medals dangling from their necks.

“We had to finish fourth or better to finish second overall,” Olsavsky said without hesitation.

The Fords did place fourth, with a little bit of help. Cumberland Valley won the event but was disqualified afterward for a lane violation on the first exchange. That elevated State College to champion and the Fords from fifth place to fourth.

It also created a tie for second between the Fords and the Little Lions in the team race. Haverford got to take the second-place trophy home. State College will get its team trophy in the mail.

“This means everything to us,” Olsavsky said.

The fourth-place finish in the 4 x 400 capped a big day for the Fords. Leneweaver was second in the 300 hurdles, third in the 100 hurdles and earned a medal in the relay.

“The fact that I even got to finals was amazing,” Leneweaver said. “I was satisfied with that. To do what I did was extra special.”

Cieslak came away with two medals in her first PIAA Championships. She was fourth in the 800 and helped the Fords slowly move from last place to fifth in the 4 x 400, and then fourth, thanks to the disqualification.

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Members of the Haverford girls track team hold up the second-place trophy at the PIAA Track & Field Championships on Saturday. (MediaNews Group photo).