Baldwin Invite: South Park Senior Sensational in Javelin

Full results (PDF) added in media gallery. Congratulations to Baldwin's senior Andrew Kuchta for winning the boys 3,200-meter run by more than eight seconds.

It doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but "second to one" ain't too shabby.

Billy Stanley, a South Park High School senior, dominated the javelin field, literally, at the Baldwin Invitational at Baldwin High School on Friday afternoon, throwing 234 feet, 9 inches, to land out of the sector and into second place in the United States among high school throwers.

Had Stanley just pulled his best throw a bit to the left, he would have struck a light pole that seemed impossible by some to reach.

Stanley, who has given up baseball at South Park High to focus solely on track & field, wowed spectators and opponents alike during Friday's boys javelin event, as second place was a distant 178 feet, 11 inches.

With the WPIAL individual championships meet (May 17 back at Baldwin) and the PIAA championships meet (May 25-26 at Shippensburg University) still left to compete in this season, Stanley sits about 10 feet behind the nation's javelin leader, who hails from Washington state.

But no one from the WPIAL, or for that matter, the state is anywhere close to Stanley this year.

"Sometimes, I'm competing against myself," Stanley acknowledged. "I block everything out. I don't like talking to anyone while I'm throwing. I sit out by myself far away from everyone and just think about how I can do better."

Stanley recently committed to continuing his javelin career at The Ohio State University.

"If everything keeps going well, my Ohio State coach said that my senior year will be the next Olympic trials," Stanley said when asked about his javelin aspirations. "If everything keeps going up, and I keep getting better, he said there's a chance I could go (to the trials)."

Baldwin sophomore Luke Smorey finished fifth in the boys javelin on Friday with a toss of 169-2, below his personal best of 175-9. Placing fifth in a meet the caliber of the Baldwin Invitational, especially as a sophomore, would please some, but Smorey seemed disappointed that he didn't throw farther. 

"I want to hit 180 this year," he said.

But Smorey said that it was a thrill to compete against someone the likes of Stanley.

"It was good to see him throw, definitely," said Smorey, who is also a . "There's a lot of things that he's doing right, definitely."

Baldwin Athletics Director Vince Sortino talked about the challenges—and pleasures—of hosting a large meet like the Baldwin Invitational, which brought around 2,000 athletes to Baldwin High on Friday from about 65 schools.

"It's a great event, and we have a great staff that's doing it," Sortino said. "We've been doing it for 39 years, so (obviously,) it goes really, really well."

With temperatures in the 80s and no rain as of 7:30 p.m., Sortino said that athletes and officials couldn't have hoped for a better day.

 ---

Follow the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch on Facebook and Twitter.

Sign up for the .