Shaler’s Mbalo breaks school record in season finale

By: Josh Rizzo
Friday, March 1, 2019 | 4:13 PM

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Cam Mbalo made sure the Shaler track and field team received one more accolade before the season ended.

With a leap of 45 feet, 9 inches, Mbalo broke his own school triple-jump record and set a personal best to land on the medal stand with a seventh-place finish at the state indoor track and field championships last weekend at Penn State. Mbalo was the highest-placing junior.

“He went to a new technique in the first round, and he got progressively better,” Titans indoor track coach Shawn Ryan said. “He took seventh place among a heavy group of seniors.”

Mbalo was one of two Shaler athletes to reach the state finals. Dalton Kalbaugh, who also qualified for states in cross country, finished 11th in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 10.67 seconds.

Kalbaugh likely got a good look at his competition for the WPIAL outdoor season while in State College.

The top three finishers — Zachary Kinne (North Allegheny), Daniel McGoey (North Allegheny) and Zachary Leachman (Mars) — are familiar faces.

Christian Fitch from Fox Chapel placed eighth.

“Dalton went out conservative,” Ryan said. “He had a plan because he had never ran on a banked track before. He went out conservatively. He wanted to average 36 seconds per 200 meters.”

Ryan was pleased with the progress he saw throughout the season. Eight of the nine Titans who competed at the TSTCA championships the week before states earned medals.

Mayah Charity set the Titans record in the 60 dash during the Tri-State Track Coaches Association No. 4 meet at Edinboro. Charity came in with a time of 8.17 seconds, clipping the previous mark of 8.24 set by Tori Soeder in 2014.

Kalbaugh set the Shaler record in the 3,000 by coming in with a time of 9:00.36, besting his school record by four seconds.

Ryan hopes these performances will allow for strong performances during outdoor season.

“I think a lot of the kids are excited for warmer weather, even though it doesn’t like look like warm weather any time soon,” Ryan said. “The kids want to get outdoors and warmer environment and more natural environment. As a whole, it’s a lot of excitement.”

Tags: Shaler