S
haler Area’s Cameron Mbalo took the
school’s track and field team to the
national level for the first time this season
with outstanding performances in the
triple and long jump.
Cameron Jacob Mbalo, 18, lives in
Reserve Township with his mom, Melissa,
and will be a senior this fall. Mbalo has
participated in track and field at Shaler
Area for five years, with his main events being the triple and
long jump.
“I became interested in the sport after watching many
YouTube videos of people competing and decided it was
something that I wanted to try,” says Mbalo.
Shawn Ryan, a Shaler Area graduate and former track
member, has coached the Shaler Area Track and Field team
for 10 years. Ryan began coaching at Shaler Area in 2009. He
spent two years coaching at the Butler Area School District,
and returned to Shaler Area during the 2017-18 school year.
He began coaching Mbalo during his sophomore year.
“I had positive role-models at Shaler Area when I was
growing up and wanted to be able to give back to the
community in the way the adults who coached me did,” says
Ryan.
In his track career so far, Mbalo has had a great deal of
success. He managed to break the indoor and outdoor school
triple jump record numerous times this past season and was
only four inches from breaking the WPIAL championship
triple jump record. This season was by far Mbalo’s best, as he
became WPIAL champion in the triple jump and placed 3rd
at the state championship. Also this season, Mbalo managed
to win every invitational Shaler Area attended and was
featured on the All-State team.
Mbalo’s most recent meet was in June at the New Balance
Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, NC. “The meet was a
great experience because I got to face 55 of the best triple
jumpers in the nation,” says Mbalo. “I had a bit of a rocky
performance, but ended up placing 24th in the country.”
“I became interested in the sport after
watching many YouTube videos of
people competing and decided it
was something that I wanted to try.”
Mbalo qualified for the national meet when he jumped 47
feet at the Butler Invitational. Since then, Mbalo has been
jumping in the high 47s pretty consistently and saw his state
and national rankings start to boost. This year was his first
time at Nationals, but the young athlete hopes to attend
indoor and outdoor Nationals next year.
Mbalo’s future plans include working toward winning
the indoor and outdoor state championships in the triple
jump this coming year and repeating as WPIAL champion.
“I absolutely want to continue to compete in track and field
in college, as it’s something I have become very passionate
about. As for my career aspirations, I hope to find a career
somewhere in the cyber security field.”
“The journey to the New Balance Outdoor Nationals was
very exciting to be a part of,” says Coach Ryan. “I’ve known
athletes personally who competed at this level but, never
coached an athlete to meet the qualifying standards until this
year. It was great to be able to have an athlete compete at this
level as a junior, and we are excited to see how Cam’s senior
season will unfold.” n
SHALER ❘ FALL 2019
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