SHIPPENSBURG - Austin Shupp dazzled at the Colonial League Track and Field Championships and turned heads with countless record-setting performances at the District 11 meet a week later.

After Saturday's showing at the PIAA Track and Field Championships, it's clear the Palmerton senior saved his best for last.Shupp left Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium with four medals, including gold in the AA 110 high hurdles and silver in the 300 highs."I think everything good that could have happened today happened," he said afterwards.The victory came early and somewhat unexpectedly for Shupp, who entered the 110's as the third seed."That kind of got me off track a little bit," said Shupp, who tied his personal best with a time of 14.23 in the final. "I really wasn't expecting it and I sort of wanted to just celebrate it a little bit."But I knew I had to keep a level head because I had three other events that I could have, and did, medal in."Despite entering the 300 hurdles as the top overall seed, Shupp was satisfied with his result, even though it wasn't a victory."I'm happy with it," said Shupp, who set a personal best with a time of 37.98 and also was good enough to make the National Federation Honor Roll, which qualifying time was 43.00."It's one thing to lose if you don't PR. But it's another thing to lose to someone (Delaware Valley Charter's Donaldo Benjamin) who also just ran a national qualifying time. And we were pretty close to the state record."Of course I would have loved to have finished first. But second with a good time against good competition is respectable."Much like a week ago at districts, Shupp had a decision to make when it came to 1600 relay.Once again, the choice was easy. Shupp (along with Gerald Pereira, Nate Eckhart and Shaun Seiler) helped the Bombers claim third place, one spot better than their seed, with a time of 3:26.09.Shupp's other medal came earlier in the day in the 400-meter relay, where he joined Pereira, Tre Nelson and Harley Appelbaum to give Palmerton a sixth place finish.Palmerton finished in 4th place in the AA team standings with 31 points, one point behind Delaware Valley Charter and Hickory, who tied for second. Springfield finished first with 38 points.Pereira, along with his two relay medals, took fifth in the 2A 400.After winning his semifinal heat the day before, the junior admitted he was hoping for more in the final."I'm a little disappointed," said Pereira, who finished in 50.35. "I came in seeded higher (5th), but they're tough competitors and they really went all out."Usually I'm good at the finish. But no one died and it was hard to make up any ground."Northwestern's Cam Richardson, who anchored the Tigers' 400-relay team that was also comprised of Cole Miller, Austin Weiss and Jihad Hereba, used a strong finish to propel the squad to a fourth place result with a time of 43.13.For a team that entered with the second overall seed, Richardson admitted that the bar was set high coming into the event."We had pretty high expectations for ourselves," Richardson said. "But to come out and be top five in the state is really great."Of course we would have liked to finish third, second or first. But taking fourth place is great for us."Richardson also did well individually, taking third overall in the 2A 200 with a time of 22:36. After struggling in Friday's preliminary race, the junior was pleased with performance in the final."I didn't really run my best time on Friday and I knew that I just needed to be more focused today," he said. "To be able to take third is a great accomplishment for me. I was hoping for top five or top six, but taking third is fantastic."Northwestern's Alex Partington took fifth in the 2A discus with a toss of 149-05. The finish was especially satisfying for Partington, who fouled on all three attempts the day before in the shot put, an event he was seeded third in."I'm happy that I was able to come back strong today," he said. "I had good throws and it feels really good to come away with a medal. That's what I came here for."Tamaqua's Tyler Hope also did well in the throwing events, outperforming his seed in the AAA javelin by taking sixth with a throw of 194-11 in what he knew was a strong field."There was a lot of really good competition here," Hope said. "I definitely had some nerves, but I just tried to do my best."Overall, I'm really happy with how I performed. This was a great way to end my senior year."Tamaqua's Morgan Boyle claimed her second podium finish of the weekend with an eighth place result in the AA javelin earlier in the day, recording a toss of 125-01.After taking eighth in the pole vault the day before, the sophomore admitted she entered Day 2 slightly more at ease."Getting a medal yesterday definitely helped," Boyle said. "I was able to relax and it made things a little bit easier."For Boyle, carrying on Tamaqua's strong tradition in the event made the result that much more satisfying."It really means a lot to me and the program," she said. "I'm happy to represent Tamaqua and hopefully next year I'll come back and do even better, maybe stand at the top of the podium."I know I can do it. It's just a matter of when. I feel like I'm ready to come back next year and do it all over again and do better."While Boyle and several other TIMES NEWS athletes will be hoping to return to Ship next year to compete at scholastic track and field's highest level, the goals for others will be slightly different, even if the venue might remain unchanged."I'm going to keep training hard," said Shupp, who will be attending Shippensburg next fall. "I have a lot of goals that I still want to accomplish, especially going into my collegiate years. So I won't be stopping or slowing down anytime soon. I'm going to keep pushing and keep progressing."