May 26—SHIPPENSBURG — Tatum Norris sought a new challenge when she started competing in the long jump late in her senior season.

Her drive to succeed landed her another medal to add to her treasure trove.

The Susquehanna standout leaped 17 feet, 3 inches on her second sprint down the runway, and it earned her fourth place in the girls Class 2A meet at the PIAA Track and Field Championships on Friday afternoon at Seth Grove Stadium. Palmerton's Nataly Walters won with a mark of 18-5 1/2 .

"It feels awesome," Norris said. "It's pretty cool, because I really like this event. It's fun to be successful at it because it is a new event for me."

On her first jump, Norris posted a mark of 16-9 1/4 , which improved on her district-winning distance of 16-6. Then she hit the board almost perfectly on her second jump and knew it had a good distance to it. Her mark of 17-3 had her in second place after the trials, but she couldn't improve on that and finished fourth.

"That made me feel really good because I wanted to make finals," said Norris, who had a third mark of 17-2 before finishing with three distances less than 17 in the final. "I really wanted to win a medal in the event. I was so excited to put myself in that position on that jump."

The medal, the fourth in the last two seasons for the Binghamton University commit, highlighted a busy day for Norris, who won last year's Class 2A team title by herself with 28 points thanks to golds in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

In addition to her effort in the long jump, Norris qualified with the fastest time in the 100. Last week, like all the sprinters in District 2, she battled a powerful 15-mph headwind and entered the state meet seeded 14th with at time of 12.61. In Thursday's qualifying heat, she stormed down the runway and ran a personal-best time of 12.05 seconds.

"That felt really good, because I was doubting myself a little," Norris said. "There are some phenomenal girls here this year. It is intimidating, so to be able to put up a time that I really didn't think I was capable of is pretty great."

She will also defend her title in the 200 after advancing to the final with a time of 25.02. That qualified her second behind Pine Grove's Viktorya Luckenbach, who clocked in at 24.94.

On the second day of the meet, Norris will start with the pole vault, where she is tied for the fourth seed at 11-0, during the 9 a.m. field session. Then she is scheduled to sprint in the 100 at approximately 10:35 a.m. and the 200 at 2:30 p.m.

Montrose junior Chloe Diaz is in position to win a medal. She qualified in the 100-meter hurdles by running a 15.46, finishing second in her heat with the fifth-fastest time overall. Last season, Diaz finished fifth in the final with a time of 15.48.

Lakeland senior Anna Liuzzo finished 10th in the Class 2A discus. She had a mark of 112-0 on her third throw and did not reach the final. She entered the event seeded fifth with her district mark of 117-9.

Contact the writer: jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @sportsTT on Twitter