My latest story called "A Chance Coincidence". (Please correct any details that I may have gotten wrong)
Outdoor Track Season in Pennsylvania has always drawn my attention because I have grandchildren who have participated over the years and two who are still running or jumping for their high school today. My granddaughter, Emily who runs for South Fayette in District 7 (800m and 4 x 800m relay), even making it to the State championship level for three years in a row. But as I was adding a new member to the family tree the other day, I noticed that I did not have much information on the baby’s dad. As usual, this prompted me to do an Ancestry, Facebook and Google search to see what I could find out, if anything. To my surprise, this dad had run track in high school with the Hurdle events being where he excelled. That is Coincidence #1. Yes, lots of people have participated in this sport, but wait. Coincidence #2 involves my nephew who also ran track, as an excellent sprinter, from middle school up through college and happens to live very near the baby’s dad. Here is where it gets very interesting.
The baby’s dad is Chance Post who is married to my 1st cousin’s daughter, Brittany Hatfield. My nephew, Joe Vedilago, is the son of my sister, Teresa. This makes Joe and Brittany 2ndcousins. A very simple connection. But back to Track.
Chance lived in Lancaster county and attended Solanco High School and Conestoga Valley High School where he ran track (110m & 300m Hurdles, 4x400m relay). Joe lived in Lebanon county and attended Northern Lebanon High School where he also ran track (200 m, 400 m, 4 x 100m relay, 4 x400m relay). I began to search deeper to see if I could find some track meet results online for both Chance & Joe. Coincidence #3 is that I not only found meet results, but also found that Chance & Joe ran in the same meets several times. Specifically, the Lancaster-Lebanon District 3 Championships in 2011, 2012 & 2013. Not surprising though due to their locations. Because both athletes excelled in their events, they also both ran in the PIAA State Tournament in 2012 & 2013.
Coincidence #4, the biggest one, takes us back to the early days of Chance & Joe’s high school careers. In 2011, at the Lancaster-Lebanon Championships, Chance & Joe ran in the same race, the 4 x 400m relay. Not only that, they both ran the anchor leg racing each other. Joe’s team finishing 12th and Chance’s team finishing 17th. Only 6 seconds apart in their finishing times !!
Joe would graduate in 2013 but Chance, a Senior now, would once again qualify for the 2014 PIAA state tournament in both hurdle events, winning the 300m and finishing 3rd in the 110m. Joe kept up his running career while attending California University PA. He ran the 400m, 4 x 100m relay and 4 x 400m relay. In 2017, as a Senior, he held the top time for the 400m run in the PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference) that year. Emily still has a year to go.
UPDATE: Emily qualified once again for the PIAA state championships in 2025 after winning the gold in the 3A Section 9 championships. She ran in the 3200m Relay setting a new school record. At the state meet, her relay finished 5th in the state.
Joe at Cal U 2017
Chance at States 2017
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