NTL TRACK & FIELD: TOWANDA'S FARRELL HEADED BACK TO STATES IN THE SHOT PUT (2025-05-16)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
WILLIAMSPORT — Towanda’s Varrius Farrell came out of the gate like gangbusters on Thursday as he qualified for the PIAA Championships in the shot put during the District IV Track and Field Championships.

Farrell’s first throw of 52-feet, 10 1/4-inches was his best of the day, and well past the state mark of 49-feet, 6-inches.

It also broke the school record by three-fourths of an inch, a record that had been in place since 1964.

Five of his six throws would beat the state standard as he took third overall in a very competitive field.

“I’m really happy with how it went today,” Farrell said. “I wasn’t expecting it to go this well. My coach’s guidance really helped. She was really helping me out with my cues, and just making sure I was mentally ready.”

Five throws broke 51 feet on the day with two going over 54 feet, illustrating just how tough of a field it was.

“It was super competitive,” said Farrell. “There’s so many guys that can throw far. When you see someone else throw really far you’re like, ‘man I want to be with them, I want to keep doing that, I want to compete with this guy.’ So I really like competition, and it makes me feel better going forward.”

Few people in the state have as much motivation as Farrell going forward, who missed out on a state medal by tie-breaker last year.

“I’ve got a lot of motivation this year,” he said. “Last year was heartbreaking, but let’s keep working on that.”

Teammate Jazick Brown was 13th in the 100 preliminaries in 11.43.

On the girls’ side it was heartbreak with the 4x800 relay missing the state mark by .01 seconds, as they took fourth in 10:50.41 with a team of Izzy Larson, Mary-Kate Eberlin, Kylee Barnes, and Melody Hakes.

Mya Maynard (90-feet, 1-inch) was 11th in the discus, Kenzie Brown (13:09.60) was 17th in the 3200, and Katelyn Blokzyl (18.71) came in 22nd in the 100 hurdle preliminaries.

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING & LANCE LARCOM

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