King for the Day: Saints’ Brady Mider finally enjoys golden experience
Track and Field coverage sponsored by ATT Sports., Inc.
By Julie Pelchar Cohen — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
SHIPPENSBURG — The hardware hanging around Brady Mider’s neck prompted proper pause.
Shiny and golden, it was large enough to look significant – even on this gentle giant.
“This medal really is nice,” he said.
Turns out it was a prize fit for a king.
Mider punctuated his reign as Pennsylvania shot put royalty by winning a state title on Friday’s opening day of PIAA Track and Field Championships that was welcomed by a perfect late spring afternoon.
A day fit for a king.
Mider heaved his shot put 58 feet, 9¾ inches to win the 3A title by more than 4 feet.
While the story was familiar – Mider blew away the competition week after week this spring – the win still felt special.
As it should.
“A state championship feels really good,” Mider said. “Not too many people can say they’re a state champion.”
Three other Berks athletes won medals Friday.
Wyomissing’s Addie Cohen used a late surge to take 2A silver in the 1600. After sweeping the three distance events at last weekend’s District 3 championships, Cohen finished in a career-best 5:00.51. She was the only Berks girl to medal.
Mider was joined on the medal stand by Exeter sophomore Logan Wegman. A newcomer to throwing, Wegman unleashed a 53-7 and shocked himself with a fifth-place medal.
Wyomissing’s Collin Niedrowski earned his first PIAA medal. The junior took sixth in the 2A javelin with a 176-2.
It could be said that Mider’s rise to the throne started the moment Wyomissing’s Jven Williams left Seth Grove Stadium after last year’s state championships.
After Williams launched his shot put a Berks and PIAA Class 2A record 66-7¾, he played his final year of high school football and enrolled at Penn State in January as one of the nation’s top line recruits.
The door was open for Mider. He finished second to Williams in last year’s 2A competition and the next four places on the medal stand were taken by seniors.
Even with Berks Catholic’s move to 3A this spring, Mider was still the favorite.
Last year’s top five 3A medalists graduated, and Mider was the best underclassman in either classification by more than four feet.
Mider immediately looked comfortable in his new position at the top.
Leading up to the prestigious Nike Indoor Nationals in March, when he took silver, Mider won every meet he entered during the indoor season, which included monstrous successes such as a state indoor title and a career-best 61-4 at a meet in Collegeville.
Busting the 60-foot barrier elevated King Mider to a higher echelon.
“Sixty feet is like that benchmark where you’re an elite high school shot putter,” said Trevor Stutzman, Mider’s coach at Garage Strength. “It’s a huge benchmark. You hit 50 feet and you’re good. You hit 60 feet and you’re elite.”
Mider stalked the big number all spring while once again beating every Pennsylvania thrower he faced. The only meet he didn’t win was the Penn Relays, where he finished fourth behind two Jamaicans and a New Jersey student-athlete.
Mider was on the prowl again Friday. His outdoor personal best of 59-4 came two weekends ago at the Firing Meet. He also hit 59 at districts.
After nailing what proved to be the winning distance in his second attempt Friday, Mider fouled three of his last four throws, giving each heave a little extra as he stretched toward the stuff of high school shot putting dreams.
But gold didn’t equate to the big one Friday.
A pesky wrist band caused the ever polite, gracious and humble Mider to show slight irritation on his first and second attempts of finals.
“I was trying to go big, but that wrist strap kept coming unstrapped,” he said. “That was just messing me up. That never happened before.”
Mider found a second band in his bag and strapped up his thick wrist to give it a final go.
As that last throw soared above line after line in the sector, Mider hopped and teetered and hopped and teetered.
But the red flag flew up and the shot that landed well over the 60 feet didn’t count for a the third foul.
“I just tripped up at the very finish on the toe board,” Mider said. “It felt good, but i just couldn’t save that last one.
“But that’s alright. I’m still a state champion. It’s a beautiful day. I’ll go at it tomorrow and hopefully bring home some hardware in the discus.”
Mider is the fourth discus seed after winning districts with a career-best 161-1.
As Mider chased his discipline’s benchmark, Cohen eyed the mile’s five-minute mark all spring.
She thought she cracked it after finishing several seconds behind Brownsville Area senior Jolena Quarzo, the defending champion and NC State commit, but Cohen wasn’t sure because the finish line clock wasn’t working.
While slightly disappointed, Cohen’s silver wasn’t tainted. Running well behind Quarzo and Forest Hills senior Delaney Dumm for most of the race, Cohen surged past a slowing Dumm during the bell lap to beat a 20-year-old school record of 5:02.43 by Debbie Huss.
She’ll face Quarzo and Dumm again in Saturday’s 3200, and will also run the 800 in hopes of earning another medal.
Wegman’s path to the podium wasn’t as calculated as Cohen’s.
It wasn’t even considered by Wegman when he arrived at Shippensburg.
The 6-5 track newbie and former baseball player had seen the shot put and discus prior to the spring, but knew nothing about the rules.
He’s certainly proven to be a quick study since starting the throws two months ago.
After throwing 37-5 at his first invitational, Wegman broke through with a heave of 49-9 three weeks later. He hit 50-2¼ at the Firing Meet before busting that personal best by almost 3 ½ feet in Friday’s first throw of finals.
All of his state championship throws surpassed 50 feet.
“I was just happy that I had made it here,” Wegman said of qualfying for states. “But my coach was like keep pushing and keep wanting it more. Then I made it to finals today and was like, wow, I could actually place in this. I am just shocked.”
While the 1600 was the only track final Friday, one Berks sprinter and a relay advanced from prelims to Saturday’s final.
Brandywine Heights senior Adam Petersen is seeded fourth in the 2A 100 with a 11.03 and seventh in the 200 with a 22.32. Wyomissing’s Andrew Delp, Ethan Brower, William Delp and Charlie McIntyre qualified second in the 2A 400 relay with a 43.44.
