South Fayette, Mt. Lebanon dominate track scene
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Megan Cain clears the hurdle on her way to victory. During the South Fayette Invitational, Cain won both the 100- and 300-meter events and helped Mt. Lebanon to a runner-up showing in the team standings.
By Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Michael Gimigliano bounds over the hurdles. He finished first in the 300 hurdles and second in the 100 event and helped South Fayette to a runner-up showing in the team standings.
By Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Upper St. Clair’s Carter Chui, Mt. Lebanon’s Rocky Fennell and Chase Barney from Penn Hills streak down the runway during the 100-meter dash at the South Fayette Invitational. Bethel Park’s Blake Striegel won the race in 11.60 while Barney, Carter and Fennell finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.
South Fayette and Mt. Lebanon have dominated the area track scene this spring so it came as no surprise that the Lady Lions and the Blue Devil boys dominated the South Fayette Invitational.
South Fayette and the Lebo ladies finished 1-2 in the team standings with combined scores of 149 and 83.50 points. The Upper St. Clair girls followed in third place with a 66.50 score.
Lebo won the boys team title with 107 points. Taylor Allderdice was the runner-up while the Lions took third place with a 58 score.
Melanie Schumaker paced the Lady Lions. She won the pole vault with a personal record of 12 feet, 3 inches. She also ran a leg on the winning 4×100 relay unit that included Dea Monz, Amanda Marquis and Olivia Renk.
A Youngstown State recruit, Schumaker also secured silver in the long jump ahead of USC’s Evie Ellenberger (third) and Emily Powell as well as her own teammate Grace Howard.
Howard and Sydney Bair finished 1-2 in the high jump ahead of USC’s Tayla Kurzawa. Ellenberger and Lebo’s Molly McKenna followed in fifth and eighth place.
Erica King dominated the throwing events, winning both the discus and javelin for the Lady Lions. Lebo’s Hailey Latona was fifth and fourth in the respective events while Chartiers Valley’s Eva Tokar medaled with seventh and eighth places. Bethel Park’s Ella Milliken was eighth in the discus.
Other SF champions included: Lily Colombo in the 800-meter run and Lauren Iagnemma in the 3,200. Colombo and Iagnemma combined with Siya Joshi and Zoe Poe for second place in the 4×800 relay behind the Lebo foursome of Justine Meta, Kate Mooney, Emma McGreevy and Caroline Adams.
Lebo also finished runner-up to Bethel Park in the 4×400 relay. Rachel Masteller, Anya Clougherty, Jordan Nyisztor and Selma Balgoric comprised the Blue Devil squad.
The Hawks consisted of Artemis Conaboy, Sadie Orie, Madelyn Sellati and Jenna Lang. Individually, Conaboy and Lang won the 400 and 1,600 running distances respectively.
Lebo’s Megan Cain was a double winner in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. Her teammate, Julianne Gallo, secured second in the intermediates and fifth in the 100 hurdles.
USC’s Dani Prunzik dominated the sprints. She won the 100-meter dash in 12.12 and the 200 in 25.11 to eclipse Renk by .66. Renk took third in the 100 while Marquis was eighth and fifth in the respective distances.
Others to pick up points, contributing to the Lady Lions’ victory, were: Emily Sinton, third in the 400; Poe, seventh in the 800; Sadie Mohnkern, sixth, 1600; Gabby Baiano, fourth and seventh in the 1,600 and 3,200, respectively; Evabella Cox, third in the hurdles; Bair, seventh, triple jump.
Lebo received contributions from Emma McGreevy, Phoebe McNeil, Julianne Gallo, Jordan Nyisztor, Sara Incorvati, Jenny Smith and Gina Smith.
Other top performers on the girls side included: USC’s Jaclyn Martinelli, who took second in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs and Lydia Rhodes, who took sixth in the 3,200 and helped the 4×800 relay of Molly Maher, Mia Skeel and Meredith Rhodes finish sixth.
Medal winners also included: BP’s Madelyn Sellati, seventh, 400; CV’s Rachel White, Hiba Chaouk and Eva Kulbago, third, fifth and third in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200; USC’s Marie Kinchington, fourth, shot put; USC’s Micayla Densmore, fourth, 100 hurdles and Orie, seventh, shot put.
Anderson winsDepth proved the difference for Lebo in the boys division as the Blue Devils produced only one individual champion in earning their team title.
Brendan Anderson led a sweep of the 400 dash. He won the race in 51.36 while teammates Connor Rychcik and Nicholas Hendrick followed in second and third place. CV’s Jeremy Uher and Ethan Snyder finished fifth and sixth.
In the 200 dash, Anderson and Rychcik scored fourth and fifth ahead of BP’s Jaden Goodman.
Andrew Freedy and Luke Cramer were silver medalists for the Blue Devils in the discus and triple jump respectively. James Kline took third in the discus.
Cramer added fifth in the 100 and eighth in the 300 hurdles while Fritz Stengel was eighth and third respectively.
Other point contributors for Lebo were: Rocky Fennell, fourth, 100; Robert Tang, seventh, 1,600; Swapnil Rana, third, 3,200; Aiden Anderson, eighth, high jump’ Tim Calvetti and Wyatt McVerry, third and sixth, pole vault; Aidan Tatomir, Sullivan Buckner and Ben Kennedy, fourth, fifth and eighth in the javelin.
Michael Gimigliano was the lone winner for SF. He finished first in the 300 hurdles. He added second in the 100 hurdles and ninth in the high jump, which was won by CV’s Max Lewis.
Gimigliano also combined with Jake Borgesi, Roman Galioto and Braden Jenks for fourth in the 4×400 relay.
Borgesi and Galioto combined with Tim Danziger and Zack Warchol for second in the 4×800. Individually, Borgesi, Galioto and Warchol took second, fifth and eighth in the 800 run.
Jadon Peterson (eighth, 1,600); Alaa-Eddine Guetari and Danziger (fifth and sixth in the 3,200) and Nate Sinton (third, triple jump) completed the scoring for SF.
BP shinesBethel Park secured silver medals in several events at the South Fayette Invitational.
Individually, Max Blanc took second in the javelin while Isaac Nirella earned a similar medal in the pole vault.
Jack Reilly, Blake Striegel, Jack Kirchner and Jaden Goodman combined for seconds in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.
Other top finishers for BP included: Striegel, eighth in the 100 dash; Liam Darr, eighth in the pole vault and Josh Libell, sixth, shot put.
USC and CV had medal winners at the meet. For the Panthers, Carter Chui, Evan Sarkett, Cole Jooste were fifth, fourth and third in their respective events –100 dash, 800 run and 1,600. For the Colts, Kaden Crump, Tyler Glover and Eric Allen were third, eighth and seventh in their races — 800 run, shot put and discus.
Robert Gavlik and Sydney Shock were double winners for Peters Township during the Washington-Greene County Coaches Track & Field Meet.
In winning the discus, Gavlik shattered the school record with a throw of 146 feet, 11 inches.
Gavlik also captured the gold in the shot put. His winning heave measured 48 feet, 9 inches.
A senior, Gavlik already owns two school records in track.
Shock dominated the distance races. The sophomore finished first in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs. Her winning times were 5:20.50 and 11:58.92 respectively.
Kaitlyn Divine and Halley Rist also were gold medalists for the Indians.
Divine captured the high jump while Rist won the pole vault.
The South Fayette girls and the Mt. Lebanon boys advanced to the WPIAL team championships for track and field.
The finals will be held at 3 p.m. May 11 at West Mifflin High School.
Tickets are $10 and available at the gate or in advance at www.gofan.co/wpial.
The Lady Lions defeated Knoch, 115-31, and Mt. Lebanon, 86-64, in their semifinal meet held May 4 on their own turf.
SF will battle Butler, Norwin and North Allegheny for the title.
The Lebo boys dispatched Hampton, 114-31, New Castle, 109-41, and Chartiers Valley, 92.5-57.5 in their semifinal held at South Fayette.
The Blue Devils will battle North Allegheny, Norwin and Butler in the boys’ championship meet.
Butler is the defending WPIAL Class AAA champion in both boys’ and girls’ track.