Freeport grad Reese Skiba, A-R grad Sophia Yard showing medal capability as Slippery Rock women's track and field ramps up for PSACs

Reese Skiba and Sophia Yard have known each other since they were 5 years old. Despite graduating a year apart from different high schools — Skiba from Freeport and Yard from Apollo-Ridge — they have maintained their friendship.

When Yard joined Skiba on the Slippery Rock women’s track and field team this past year, the two naturally had to have their picture taken together during the team’s media day.

They have had plenty of chances to pose on medal stands, too.

Yard and Skiba are having strong outdoor seasons for The Rock women, who will try to follow their PSAC indoor title with an outdoor title this spring.

At the Ed Fry Invitational on March 22 at IUP, Skiba earned her first collegiate win, topping the discus field with a personal-best throw of 120 feet, 4 inches (36.69 meters). Yard, meanwhile, placed second in the high jump at 5-3.

Yard’s height was the same as winner and teammate Paige Griffith, but Griffith cleared 5-3 on her second attempt and Yard her third, thus giving the top spot on the podium to Griffith. (Highlands grad Cassidy Davis cleared 5-1 to give SRU a sweep of the top three places.)

“(That) weekend was not the best weather, to say the least,” Slippery Rock coach Bill Jordan said. “It was cold. It was wet. It was windy. But they both stepped up and competed really well under the conditions.

“Later on this season, I know they’re going to get better and better, and I think they’re just getting rolling here.”

Skiba, the 2023 WPIAL Class 2A champion in the discus, had the 10th-best throw in the PSAC heading into this past weekend’s Dave Labor Invitational at SRU.

She said it was a challenge to perform well at IUP given the soggy conditions. Besides keeping her discus dry, she and the other participants had to do their best to keep the throwing circle free of water to help maintain their footing.

A pep talk from grad assistant coach Joshua Gose and the presence of her parents at the meet helped her tune out the weather.

“I had a lot of great energy going into the throws,” she said. “I was a little nervous being my first meet back, but I was able to get a good throw out there. Just trusting myself and having people trust me was a key factor in that.”

Skiba followed her win at IUP by taking eighth — out of 38 competitors — with a throw of 110-8 at the West Liberty Tim Weaver Invitational the next week. With the PSAC championships a month away, she said will continue to work on her technique and adhere to her regimen in the weight room so she can launch more throws like her effort at IUP.

Jordan said Skiba has become “significantly stronger” and could be on the brink of achieving her goal of reaching 40 meters. She qualified for the PSAC outdoor championships last season, and now the goal is to make it to the podium.

“It’s really nice having a full-year coach both years along with graduate assistants,” Skiba said. “Having that kind of trust behind me and also in the weight room, I’ve had a lot of help in that aspect. Lifting four times a week and having a plan and having people push me has also been very helpful.”

Yard has shown equal promise in her first year of collegiate track and field. Besides her second-place finish at IUP, she tied for third at West Liberty and, during indoor season, placed third at Mount Union’s Wuske Invitational.

Slippery Rock jumps coach Tabitha Bemis said Yard came to the program with plenty of natural ability, but she was raw and needed to refine her technique. The biggest change has been switching Yard from an eight-step approach to the bar to 10 steps.

“She just kind of came in and she was just jumping,” Bemis said. “She was a power jumper where it was on that short approach and jumping as high as she could and hoping. That does work, but it’s not as consistent.

“We’re going to rely more on speed because she has that and can use it as part of her strengths.”

Yard, though pleased with the progress she has made, knows there is a lot more she can do. She entered this past weekend’s meet with the sixth-best jump in the conference.

“I’m not getting the bars I was hoping, but all the stuff is lining up, and, hopefully, we start seeing big improvements,” she said. “… Honestly, just taking in all the new information that I’m getting fed by my coaches and using those to get better.”

While neither Yard nor Skiba scored for Slippery Rock in the PSAC indoor championships, just being around the environment was an eye-opener and a motivator. For Skiba, it was her second time being a member of a title team, as 2025 marked back-to-back indoor titles for the SRU women.

When the PSAC outdoor championships roll around May 8-10, both are looking forward to playing bigger roles as The Rock women vie for an indoor-outdoor sweep.

“It (the indoor championships) was very cool,” Yard said. “It was very loud. Anytime The Rock was competing, you knew because the whole environment just exploded with Slippery Rock.”

Added Skiba: “We’d like to get as many people there (to the outdoor championships) as possible. Supporting each other is a big part of what we do.”

That includes supporting her long-time friend. And perhaps the next picture she and Yard take together will feature matching PSAC medals.