SHIPPENSBURG — The results of last year's PIAA Class 3A boys discus throw left a bad taste in Zach Gehm's mouth.

But instead of sulking, he went back to work.

Seneca Valley's senior made it back to the state championship meet and this time, the result tasted pretty sweet.

Gehm won a PIAA title with a toss of 194 feet, 8 inches Saturday at Shippensburg University. The effort was a dominating one as Selinsgrove's Brennen Wolf placed a distant second at 171-1.

“Last year, I was 10 inches from making the finals,” he said. “That hurt and it motivated me. Over the winter, I was very dedicated and put in a lot of hard work.”

Zach's father and coach, Craig Gehm, saw the determination and knew his son's senior campaign had a chance to be a special one.

“Since the start of the season, his goal has been to win a state title,” said Coach Gehm. “We were hoping to get to 200 today, but (194-8) is really, really good. The dad in me is definitely more proud than the coach right now.”

Zach Gehm began Saturday's competition with a strong throw.

“The game plan was to start off at about 80 percent and I got off a 189-2, which was a personal-best for me,” he said. “I didn't think I did too well with my second throw, but I hit 190. Those two throws set the tone.”

Zach Gehm faulted on his first two throws of the finals, but his last throw was the 194-8, a school record.

Craig Gehm, a Seneca Valley graduate, also competed in the throws in high school back in the 1990s.

“Zach passed me up a long time ago in the discus,” he said. “My best event was the javelin.”

The younger Gehm proved to be pretty adept in that event as well, placing fifth in the javelin Saturday morning with a distance of 186-6.

He earned a medal in the shot put Friday with an 8th-place effort.

“I just kept moving up, going from 8th to 5th to winning,” he said.

Zach Gehm will continue to compete at Youngstown State University, but he will always look back on Saturday with pride and a sense of accomplishment.

“I can't think of a better way to close my career at Seneca Valley,” he said.

Immediately following the Class 3A boys 3,200-meter run, Butler's Noah Beveridge crouched down on the track with a grimace on his face.

He wasn't injured, just trying to recover from what he termed, “the toughest race I've ever run.”

Beveridge finished second with a time of 9 minutes, 8.02 seconds. Neshaminy's Rusty Kujdych won the event at 9:04.98.

Though the race was held at 10 a.m., a temperature in the mid-80s and high humidity combined to make Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium a very uncomfortable place to be, let alone compete.

Kujdych led virtually the entire race, with Beveridge and West Chester Henderson's Spencer Smucker trailing close behind for the first three laps.

Smucker started to fade on the fourth lap, but Beveridge remained just off the lead. With one lap to go, Kujdych led by a second.

“That's when he tried to drop me, but I responded,” Beveridge said. “It was the next move he made, with about 200 meters to go, that I just couldn't answer.”

Kujdych was the only runner to place ahead of Beveridge in last fall's PIAA cross country meet.

“I figured it would come down to the two of us,” said Beveridge, who owns Butler's school record in the event with a 9:07.26. “I just wish the results were flip-flopped.

“I'm a little disappointed, but I can't be mad at myself,” said Beveridge. “I laid it all on the track today. Sometimes, you do that and it's just not enough.”

In other events:

Freeport sophomore Sidney Shemanski came within .17 seconds of winning a state championship in the Class AA girls 800 run. She finished with a time of 2:16.55, just behind Shady Side Academy freshman Melissa Riggins (2:16.38).

Riggins and Shemanski placed first and second, respectively, at the recent WPIAL Championships, separated by exactly one second.

“As long as we're both in high school, we're going to be battling each other,” Shemanski said. “I was boxed in for most of the race. It was tough to make a move.”

Eight days after earning her second straight District 9 Class AA title in the girls pole vault, Moniteau sophomore Kendall Grossman finished runner-up in the state with an 11-6, which tied her own school record.

Richland High School's Morgan Gossard placed first with a height of 12-6.

Grossman also placed second here last year.

Moniteau's Jake Patton earned a pair of medals, getting third in the Class AA boys 110 hurdles (15.09) and taking sixth in the 300 hurdles with a school-record time of 39.27.

Also breaking school standards was Karns City's Rebecca Pennington, who was seventh in the Class AA girls 3,200 run (11:08.33). On Friday, she broke KC's record in the 1,600 run at 5:20.10.

Rylee Kopchak of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic placed sixth in the Class 2A girls 1,600 run in 5:08.38.

Butler's Jena Reinheimer was fifth in the Class 3A girls discus with a heave of 131-7. She also placed fifth last year.

Jake Wolfrum, also from Butler, earned fourth place in the Class 3A boys 300 hurdles (38.84).

Grove City's Jonah Powell took third in the Class 3A boys 1,600 run with a time of 4:18.79.

In the Class 3A boys 4x800 relay, Seneca Valley's quartet of Sam Owori, Luke Bellack, Andrew Balla and Seth Ketler came in fourth (7:50.74).

Butler's Rob Hays, Aden Dressler, Doug Kostelansky and Brett Brady were sixth in the event (7:56.1).