L-B's Granger, as expected, delivers, but field events yielded some surprises

There were some winners in the Blanchard Valley Conference track meet who were expected Saturday, like Liberty-Benton's state champion thrower Izzy Granger, who won both the girls shot put (35-5) and discus (140). Those performances helped the Eagles to another girls team championship. Then there was Vanlue's JR Snook, who picked up upset wins in the boys' long jump (21-06) and high jump (5-10). Just don't tell him that they were upsets. "My expectation is to always win," Snook said. "I knew I was going against Ka'Von (Bailey) and I know he finished third in state last year — so I wanted to go and beat him today in the long jump." Bailey just took second in the long jump, with a leap of 21-04. Snook then bumped out Van Buren's Landon Miller (5-10) and Arlington's Elijah Frysinger (5-10) to take home gold in the high jump. This, again, isn't an upset to him, but it's shocking considering the circumstances. "This was really the first time I've done it since I broke my nose and this was something new," he said. "I tried something new with my technique and I won, so it worked." It just comes back to his mindset "It's better to go into something with the mindset of winning because if you feel good, you're probably gonna play good," he said. "It's motivation for myself and if I don't have that motivation to win, I probably won't win." Maybe Snook's mindset carried over to another BVC team — Van Buren — which took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in boys discus as Owen Burge (146-10) and Josiah McKeon (137-03). Both of which were personal records for the Black Knight throwers. "This is amazing," Burge said. "I just threw my PR and I was so hyped — you saw me jumping up and down and clapping-and this was just so great. " Just as important as grabbing silver and gold was for these two, Burge and McKeon are hoping this is just the beginning of the trend. "We're pretty excited to be here. We were supporting each other pre-meet and hyping one another up, and it showed here today," McKeon said. "We both hit our PRs today, which is big for us moving forward into the district meet." Pandora-Gilboa's Andrew Suter won the boys pole vault over Riverdale's Zach Tackett. Suter cleared 13-0 for the Rockets Friday, while Tackett topped out at 12-0. Liberty-Benton's Stefan Kolan, who has cleared 14-00 this season, didn't vault due to an injury. You could say the opposite of an upset is a sure thing, and there were plenty of those in the field events Friday. Like McComb boys shot putting up high numbers and finishing first and second. Dylan Swisher — who was seeded No. 1 — tossed it 46-6, while his No.2-seeded teammate, Noah Bormuth, threw 46-5. If you were to ask them, who got No.1 and No.2 — which has happened a lot this spring — it hardly mattered between the two. "I don't see us as competitors at all. We know we've been at or near the top in most meets, but we don't see it that way," Swisher said. "If he's doing well and I'm not, I don't care. It's a team, a brotherhood and a family. "There are times where we're both doing well — like we did tonight — and there are nights where we're both bad. That's okay because that's a part of this, but I couldn't be happier to be sharing the leaderboard with Nick." Bormuth echoed his teammate's statement. "We're here to pick each other up when the other is down, so it's never been about who does better than the other. It's always about getting better," Bormuth said. "We put in a lot of work this season. Whether it's in the weight room or on the track, Dylan and I have worked so hard to get where we are. So for us to be here at No. 1 and No. 2 is a great feeling." VB's Jackson Gregory (44-05) came in third in shot put, while Burge took home fourth in shot put with a throw of 43-10. In the girl's pole vault, L-B took first and second as Kylie Recker took home gold (9-7) and Hannah Hiss (8-06) finished with silver. L-B swept the long and high jump as Penn State volleyball commit, Karis Willow, took first in both. She cleared the high jump with a try of 5-4 over Arcadia's Paige Massie (5-2). In the long jump, Willow (16-11) knocked off Riverdale's Auhdra Myers (16-2). But perhaps the surest thing in the field events was L-B's Granger sweeping shot put and discus. Which she did, but there was still a surprise of sorts. Her teammate, Vanessa Heck, took second in the discus with a throw of 116-01 was certainly one of those surprises. L-B's Emily Eyink, a freshman, came in fourth in the shot put (34-4) as , finishing behind Arcadia's Erin McCarty (34-11) and VB's Courtney Snyder (34-06). "I was really proud of my teammate, too," Granger said. "We went No. 1 and No. 2 tonight and at the beginning of the season, I don't think she was expecting to do that but we we're able to pull that off and that's big for her. It was a nice night to do this and there were a lot of people here." And now, with the BVC Championship behind her, Granger is ready to defend her state discus title. But it's not just going to be given to her. "You always have high and low points of the season and I think I just got out of a low point, which is good for me moving forward. We're just gonna out and do our best and hope for the best," she said. "You can't expect to make it out just because who you are or what you did last year. Everyone wants to beat me, right?"