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Outdoors with Tom Venesky: Take a hike? No offense taken

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Little League: Back Mountain 8-10 softball reaches state finals

<p>Most track and field athletes set their sights on a goal and celebrate reaching it.</p><p>Not Payden Montana.</p><p>She kept moving the bar higher for herself.</p><p>That&#8217;s how the Berwick star became a three-time District 2 champion, a two-time PIAA champion, and finally, the national shot put champion on her way to earning her second straight Times Leader Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year award.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think, as an athlete, I&#8217;ll ever be content,&#8221; Montana said.</p><p>Still, she had to be pleased with a senior 2018 season that made her the most decorated athlete in Berwick history and sent her to Pennsylvania track and field&#8217;s version of the triple crown.</p><p>She won the high school girls shot put competition at the prestigious Penn Relays.</p><p>She won the PIAA Class 3A girls shot put championship.</p><p>And finally, the 18-year-old daughter of Gray and Beth Montana of Berwick won the girls shot put at the New Balance National Championships, cementing her as the best in the nation.</p><p>&#8220;Those kids come around once in a lifetime,&#8221; Berwick coach Bob Calarco said. &#8220;If that.&#8221;</p><p>There were no ifs, ands or buts about who was the most dominant thrower in Northeastern Pennsylvania and state history.</p><p>Montana won in all seven of her regular season meets &#8212; easily &#8212; while throwing the shot put, discus and javelin for the Bulldogs. With little competition from the opposition, Montana used herself as a measuring stick and set school records in all three throwing events, over and over and over again.</p><p>But she was at her best on the biggest stages.</p><p>Montana, who will throw for Penn State next season, won the Penn Relays with a shot put throw of 50-7.</p><p>She won her third District 2 Class 3A shot put championship and broke the record she set as a junior with a throw of 50-4 and captured the district discus gold medal that eluded her throughout her career by setting a District 2 record for all levels in that event with a throw of 154-8.</p><p>She not only defended her state shot put championship while becoming Berwick&#8217;s first two-time gold medal track and field winner, but shattered the PIAA Championships record with a distance of 51 feet. Then Montana made it two gold medals in two days by matching her district distance of 154-8 to win the state discus championship.</p><p>And at the New Balance National Championships, she unleashed a throw of 49-11.75 to beat the best high school girls from around the country.</p><p>&#8220;I want to do everything to the best it can be done,&#8221; Montana said. &#8220;I am driven.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s what made her the best.</p><p>But it hardly made her act like she had an edge on anyone.</p><p>Calarco points to this year&#8217;s state championships, where Montana roomed with another competitor from the Wyoming Valley Conference and the two girls got talking about their state seedings.</p><p>&#8220;The girls asked Payden where she was seeded, and Payden said, &#8216;I&#8217;m seeded first,&#8217; &#8220; Calarco said. &#8220;The other girl said, &#8216;Oh, you must be pretty good.&#8217; And Payden said, &#8216;Yeah, I&#8217;m alright.&#8217;</p><p>&#8221;Payden&#8217;s the most humble, unassuming big-time performer you&#8217;re ever going to meet,&#8221; Calarco said. &#8220;That&#8217;s how she is and that&#8217;s how she&#8217;s always been. The other girl later reaalized who she was and said, &#8216;Wait, you&#8217;re that girl they&#8217;re always talking about.&#8217; &#8220;</p><p>Montana put together a whole season of must-watch performances, but it didn&#8217;t happen by accident &#8212; or without sacrifice.</p><p>A softball player when she was younger, Montana turned to track and field in 7th grade while looking to participate in something new. A standout on Berwick&#8217;s basketball team as a sophomore, Montana gave up that sport to concentrate on throwing during the winter indoor season.</p><p>She began training at Garage Strength in the Reading area two years ago and spent countless hours at Berwick&#8217;s track, throwing on her own and with nobody around, almost daily during the last two offseasons.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s the most dedicated, hardest-working athlete I&#8217;ve ever seen in all my years of coaching,&#8221; said Calarco, who has worked with athletes in multiple sports for the past three decades.</p><p>That competitive fire isn&#8217;t limited to sporting events.</p><p>Montana maintained a straight-A average throughout her high school years and was Berwick&#8217;s senior class president.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve kind of always had that personality,&#8221; Montana said. &#8220;Even before sports, my family tells stories about that personality always being there. Every competition I was in since middle school, I&#8217;ve had the same mindset.&#8221;</p><p>Now, her mind is set on making the USA Olympic team as a thrower &#8212; either during her college career at Penn State or after.</p><p>&#8220;As soon as I can get there,&#8221; Montana said. &#8220;I&#8217;m hoping to have a pretty successful college career and on to the Olympics.&#8221;</p><p>After a high school career that put her on top of the nation, nothing seems out of her reach.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Payden Montana reached for the clouds and wound up on Cloud 9, setting new records in the District 2 and PIAA Class 3A girls shot put before also winning gold in the New Balance national shot put championships. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_052618-cgk-PIAAtrackfield22.jpg</photo0><caption0>Payden Montana reached for the clouds and wound up on Cloud 9, setting new records in the District 2 and PIAA Class 3A girls shot put before also winning gold in the New Balance national shot put championships. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_PIAA-Track-Montana2CMYK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Payden Montana finished her Berwick career with a national shot put championship, a PIAA gold medal in both shot put and discus and with her third straight District 2 Class 3A shot put title. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_PIAA-Track-Montana2CMYK.jpg</photo1><caption1>Payden Montana finished her Berwick career with a national shot put championship, a PIAA gold medal in both shot put and discus and with her third straight District 2 Class 3A shot put title. </caption1><photoCredit1>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_052618-cgk-PIAAtrackfield21.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick senior Payden Montana won her second straight state shot put championship and added a gold medal in the PIAA discus throw on her way to earning the Times Leader player of the year award. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/web1_052618-cgk-PIAAtrackfield21.jpg</photo2><caption2>Berwick senior Payden Montana won her second straight state shot put championship and added a gold medal in the PIAA discus throw on her way to earning the Times Leader player of the year award. </caption2><photoCredit2>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Berwick&#8217;s record-setting thrower became national champ before heading to Penn State</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Sokoloski</p><p>psokoloski@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Berwick’s Montana took it to the top while becoming the very best