Mt. Lebanon wins South Fayette Invitational
Mt. Lebanon prepared for the track and field championship season by dominating the action April 27 at the South Fayette Invitational.
Held prior to the semifinals of the WPIAL team competition on May 1 at the same site, the Lebo girls beat out 33 squads for the team trophy. The Blue Devils racked up 105 points to outdistance runner-up North Catholic (54.5) and third-place Winchester-Thurston (39). Upper St. Clair finished fourth while Bethel Park secured sixth place.
Megan Cain collected three gold medals. She won the 100- and 300-meter hurdles with times of 15.41 and 47.50 respectively. Lucy Tan finished second and third respectively in those two races.
Cain combined with Sara Incorvati, Jenny Smith and Selma Bajgoric for first place in the 4×100 relay.
Meanwhile, Tang anchored the third-place 4×400 relay. The unit also included Smith, Chloe Griffin and Kat Walters.
Lebo won the 4×800 relays in both the girls’ and boys’ competition. The female foursome featured Marisol Montoya, Autumn Dowiak, Kate Mooney, and Mackenna Pozza. Jacob Olson, Finn McNamee, Jack O’Brien and Isiah Irwin-Evans combined for the win for the males.
Individually, Matt Nguyen blazed to victory in the 100-meter dash with an 11.17 time.
The Lebo boys finished fifth in the team standings with a 40-point score. Grove City won the title with 85 points followed by runner-up Gateway (62).
Other top finishers for the Blue Devils included: Bajgoric, fourth, 100 meters; Jenny Smith, second, pole vault; Kiera Winschel, second, discus: Kiera Kramer, fourth, high jump and sixth, triple jump; Lily Schaerli, fourth long jump; Robert Tang, fourth, 3,200; and Patrick Smith, third, javelin.
The Lebo ladies battled the Lions, Oakland Catholic and Belle Vernon in one of four semifinal meets.
The Blue Devil boys battled New Castle, Penn-Trafford and Elizabeth-Forward in one of four qualifying meets.
The winners of each quadrangular competition advanced to the WPIAL Class 3A team championships to be held at 3 p.m. May 7 at West Mifflin High School.
The Blue Devil boys and girls were the Section VI champions with a 5-0 record. The South Fayette girls won the Section VII title with a 6-0 mark.
BP winners
Artemis Conaboy and Jessica Lang of Bethel Park prepped for the WPIAL individual championships to be held May 15 at the William C. Lennox Track on the Slippery Rock University campus.
During the South Fayette Invitational, Conaboy clocked a 58.15 to win the 400-meter dash. Lang won the 800 in 2:14.51, ahead of runner-up Madeline Stock from South Fayette. Sita Joshi of SF followed in fifth while Peters Township’s Meagan McKenna and Grace Senneway took fourth and sixth.
Senneway finished first in the 1,600. The Duquesne recruit clocked a 5:04.05 to finish four seconds ahead of Lebo’s Caroline Adams in the race.
PT’s Tessa Hazard took third in the pole vault while BP’s Ella Milliken finished fourth in the discus and SF’s Evabella Cox placed fifth in the triple jump.
Saggi wins
Dhruv Saggi led a host of Upper St. Clair performers to the podium during the South Fayette Invitational. He won the long jump with a leap of 21-07.
Other top Panthers included: Saide Tomczyk tied for second in the 100 and fourth in the 200; Kayla Kurrawa, second, high jump; Anna Engleman, second, triple jump, McClintock Comeau, fourth, pole vault; and Lydia Rhodes, fourth, 3,200.
Visit pa.milesplit.com for complete results.
Penn Relays
Logan St. John Kletter of Mt. Lebanon finished third in the 3,000-meter run during the prestigious Penn Relays held April 26 at Franklin Field. Her time of 9:34.19 is the fastest ever by a WPIAL runner and ranks fifth in state history.
The North Carolina recruit, who was the runner-up in the mile at the Penn Relays a season ago, was outpaced by Addison Ritzenhein (9:17.81) from Colorado and New York’s Zariel Macchia (9:31.64).
“Logan ran a stellar race against a national level field,” said Lebo skipper Oscar Shutt. “She has been easing into the outdoor season but is looking forward to the end of season meets.”
St. John Kletter is the defending WPIAL champion in the 1,600 and 3,200 races. She also is the reigning PIAA champion in the two-mile event.