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Gold medals galore for girls at WPIAL championships

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 5 min read
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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Olivia Renk takes the baton from Amanda Marquis and bolts down the track during the final leg of the 4x100-meter relay race. The duo along with Dea Monz and Melana Schumaker combined to give South Fayette the victory in the event in 48.45 during the WPIAL track and field championships.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Grace Howard of South Fayette captured the gold in the high jump during the WPIAL track and field championships. Howard added fourth and sixth places in the 100 hurdles and long jump.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Dani Prunzik of Upper St. Clair edged Central Valley’s Paige Drake for the gold medal in the 100-meter dash. A junior, Prunzik won the race in 12.28 and qualified for the PIAA championships. It was her second straight WPIAL title. Prunzik added silver in the 200 dash and helped the 4x100 relay team to a fifth-place finish.

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Melana Schumaker of South Fayette captured the pole vault event during the WPIAL track and field championships. She added another gold medal in the 4x100 relay and a bronze medal in the long jump.

Dani Prunzik of Upper St. Clair, as well as Grace Howard and Melana Schumaker along with their South Fayette teammates Olivia Renk, Amanda Marquis and Dea Monz were golden girls during the WPIAL Track and Field Championships held May 18 at Slippery Rock University.

Melanie Schumaker had the Midas touch twice. She won the pole vault with a mark of 11 feet, 9 inches then ran the second leg on the winning 4×100 relay.

“I had I had a lot of adrenaline going into this race because I knew I won pole vault,” said Schumaker.

Despite rainy conditions, Schumaker weathered a strong field of vaulters, which included Elizabeth Tapper. The Hempfield junior won the discus and shot put events.

“I just tried to stay relaxed on the runway. Focus on my vault and not worry about what everybody else cleared,” explained Schumaker. “Winning the vault was so exciting because I was working harder compared to last year.”

The foursome of Schumaker, Renk, Marquis and Monz worked hard to repeat their feat of winning the 4×100 last year, knowing they had to replace Amy Allen, who dominated last year’s sprints and won four gold WPIAL medals before moving on to Duquesne University.

Renk handled the anchor duties. Marquis moved to the third leg and Monz, the newcomer to the unit, filled the leadoff spot, making sure the Lions got the fast start. SF finished in 48.45.

“I had a really good feeling about the relay because this is a great team and a great group of girls,” Schumaker said. “We have all gotten faster since last year.”

Prunzik improved her speed since winning last year’s 100-meter dash but the Upper St. Clair junior was not real pleased with her gold-medal time of 12.28 in this year’s finals. She had a 12.18 in the preliminaries, a more typical time for her this spring.

“I thought I had a really good race and I thought I ran faster than I did but when looking at the time it was kind of surprising,” Prunzik said.

Indiana’s Abbie Huey shocked the 200-meter field, grabbing the gold in 25.01. Prunzik finished in 25.14 and settled for silver for the second consecutive year.

Prunzik though recorded a Top 10 state time and will look to tweak things in both events when the PIAA Championships are held May 26-27 at Shippensburg University.

“I definitely have some things to work on. I have to get out of my blocks faster. That’s always my weakest point but I tend to pull away at the end,” Prunzik said.

Howard pulled out a victory in the high jump. A junior, Howard won with a height of 5-3 to edge Lexi Pirosko. The Peters Township junior also cleared 5-3 but was awarded the silver medal based on jump attempts.

Howard said the damp weather conditions played a part, mentally, on her jumping but she was content with the victory.

“I was happy with how I ended up finishing but I think I could have jumped better. I plan on doing better at states,” she vowed.

Howard also finished fourth in the 100 hurdles and sixth in the long jump.

“I’d probably have to say high jump is my favorite,” Howard said. “My brother (Mitchell) did it so we always tried to compete with each other.”

Howard was not the only multiple medal winner for the Lady Lions, who advanced 14 qualifiers for the state meet.

Renk took the bronze in the 100 and fourth in the 200 dashes.

Schumaker added third in the long jump, three feet shy of first place taken by New Castle’s Maria Owens in 17 feet, 7 inches.

Marquis finished fourth in the 400 and Monz was sixth in the 100.

Erica King was the runner-up in the javelin with a mark of 124-9. Butler’s Megan Penrod won by one foot, two inches.

SF’s 4×800 relay also earned a silver medal. Emily Sinton Zoe Poe Lily Colombo and Lauren Iagnemma finished runner-up to North Allegheny with a time of 9:35.71.

Individually, Colombo was seventh in the 800 run while Evabella Cox posted a PR time of 47.92 for an eighth-place finish in the 300 hurdles.

BP’s Lang second

Jenna Lang finished runnerup to Mia Cochran in the 800 run with a time of 2:17.87. Cochran won in 2:14.62. Lang also anchored the 4×400 relay team of Artemis Conaboy Sadie Orie and Madelyn Sellati to a bronze medal.

Individually, Conaboy and Sellati finished fifth and seventh in the 400 run.

Adams leads Lebo

Mt. Lebanon sophomore Caroline Adams finished runner-up to Mia Cochran in the 1,600 with a 5:00.76 time. Cochran won in 4:56.85. Cochran also won the 3,200 in 10:48.06 while Adams took eighth in the event.

Megan Cain was fourth in the 300 hurdles with a Top 50 state time of 47.26. Julianne Gallo had a P.R. and finished seventh behind Cain

Cain helped the Blue Devils to seventh- and fifth-place showings in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.

Anya Clougherty Selma Bajgoric and Chloe Desnain joined Cain in the 400 while Selma Bajgoric Julianne Gallo and Jordan Nyisztor comprised the 1600 grouping with Cain.

Lebo’s 4×800 relay team of Kate Mooney, Justine Meta, Phoebe McNeil and Emma McGreevy added eighth place.

Other action

Upper St. Clair’s Jaclyn Martinelli finished fourth in the 3,200. Lauren Iagnemma and Sydney Shock from Peters Township placed ninth and 10th.

USC’s relay team of Micayla Densmore and Emily Powell along with the Prunzik cousins, Sam and Dani, finished fifth in the 4×100 relay.

Peters Township’s Kara Liguori finished fifth in the triple jump.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Complete results can be found at https://pa.milesplit.com.

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