The Canon-McMillan senior, who is bound for Northwestern on a football scholarship, won the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 9.5 inches.

In addition, Matthews secured silver medals in finishing second in the 200- and 400-meter dashes. He also ran a leg on the Big Macs' 1,600 relay. That foursome finished seventh and also included Teddy Mathis, Chris McClellan and Mike Ennis.

His efforts at the Baldwin Invitational combined with a four-gold medal performance at the Washington-Greene County Coaches Meet serves as a confidence builder for Matthews as he enters the post-season.

The district qualifiers and the individual championships, where berths for the PIAA finals rest, await Matthews after that. The WPIAL championships are set for Thursday, May 15 at Baldwin.

While the Baldwin Invitational showcases many district schools, it also pulls other teams from outside the WPIAL. For instance, Erie McDowell's Jonny Dogun won the 400 in 49.57.

Matthews, however, will be challenged at the WPIAL championships for Central Catholic's Tristen Stagger won the 200 and Mt. Lebanon's Peter DesPasquale (fifth) was among the other top challengers in the 400.

"You know that you can compete with all the good kids here," Matthews said of the Baldwin Invitational.

"I had high expectations because I was seeded higher in the long jump and 400 than I expected.

"You go in with the mindset to win. I expect to do well and my coaches expect me to do well."

Thanks to Matthews, the Big Macs did well enough to finish fourth overall as a team. Baldwin won the event with 72 points followed by McDowell and North Allegheny.

Among the other medallists for the Big Macs were: Zane Zebrasky, fourth in the javelin with a personal best throw of 187 feet, 8 inches; Kyle Gibson, fourth in the 3,200 run and Sonny Billingsley, sixth in the triple jump.

Meanwhile, Matt Courter of Peters Township and Miles Becker of Mt. Lebanon grabbed gold medals. Courter won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.05 while Becker claimed the 3,200 run in 9:22.23.

Courter also placed eighth in the intermediate hurdles. He also helped the 1,600 relay team of Christian Brandstetter, Andy Blandino and Hunter Braden to a second-place finish and a new school record mark of 3:24.88. Individually, Brandstetter finished fourth in the 800 run.

Upper St. Clair produced two medalist.

Eric Kasunich finished fourth in the high hurdles. He also secured second in the intermediate hurdles.

In a race dominated by the Highlanders, T.J. Hobart and Dave Adley finished 1-2, Phil Young placed eighth in the 1,600 run.

Girls track

Several area female athletes earned medals at the Baldwin Invitational.

Elizabeth Kline of Upper St. Clair took third in the 110 hurdles. She added second place in the intermediate race.

Peters Township's Megan Hahn followed Kline. She secured sixth place in the low hurdles and added eighth place in the intermediate hurdles.

For Chartiers Valley, Amanda Mazur took sixth in the 100 dash and eighth in the 200 while Kaitlynn Ingold finished seventh in the triple jump.

Canon-McMillan's Brittany Taylor finished fourth in the high jump.

Meanwhile, the Mt. Lebanon ladies participated in the Pine-Richland Invitational and fared well.

Samantha Carl won the 800-meter dash in 2:18.49. Becca Robbins followed in third place.

Emily Difenderfer, Anna Simone, Rose Schrott and Kayleigh Birks combined to win the 400-relay race.

Agnes Su captured the discus event with a throw that measured 105 feet, 3.5 inches. Larissa Simkovich followed in third place.

Megan Tramaglini finished second in the 3,200 run as did the 1600 relay.

For Bethel Park, which placed second in the 3,200 relay, Trisha Barron secured the silver medal in the javelin.