by Riley Gill

Abby Stultz and Adam Middlebrook are our February athletes of the month, and the first pair of athletes of the month for the online edition. The athletes of the month are both state champions from indoor track-without them, state titles for both the boys and girls would’ve been impossible.

Middlebrook, a senior, competes in both indoor and outdoor Track & Field. His current events are pole vault and high jump. Adam began pole vaulting his sophomore year, and picked high jumping back up during the 2014-2015 indoor season. His silver medal in pole vault and state title in high jump carried the men’s indoor track team to their first indoor state title, and first men’s Track & Field state title.

When asked what he was going to miss most about track, Adam said it was the individuality of the sport, “It’s really nice that I can work on my event to get better on my own, and I can trust that the rest of the team is going to get better with me.”

He also said that he’s excited for outdoor track, where he’ll be competing in the pole vault, high jump, and triple jump.

“I really think we have a chance of repeating indoor and getting another state title” said  senior Adam Middlebrook, when asked how he thought the team looked for outdoor.

Stultz, also a senior, competes in indoor and outdoor Track & Field as well. Her events for indoor are the high jump, 55m hurdles, and shot put. As a Freshman, she competed in indoor and outdoor track as well as gymnastics outside of school. She also began high jump and hurdles as a freshman, but didn’t begin shot put until her Senior year of indoor. At the beginning of her Sophomore year, she decided to give up gymnastics and focus on track instead. Besides middle school meets in eighth grade, she had no prior experience with her events.

Abby plans to go to Penn State on a scholarship to compete in the Pentathlon and Heptathlon, both of which have multiple events in running, jumping, and throwing. Stultz has experience in all three, and hopes to carry her success as a state champion in high school to the collegiate level.

When asked what her favorite memory of track and field was, Abby answered immediately – “Definitely the team. I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls and coaches, and I hope I can have the same relationship with my team in college.”

Both  athletes have made giant leaps in all their events, They plan to finish their senior year with a bang and clinch state titles in outdoor as well as their already hard-earned indoor titles.