Will Jordan Geist break his own record once again? He'll look to do just that in Youngstown (Photo by Phil Grove)
Youngstown State High Meet #3
GIRLS:
The pole vault will feature plenty of PA depth. Fresh off win at TSTCA last week, Michelle Karabin of Greensburg Central Catholic highlights the field. Hempfield's Molly DeBone, who was second to Karabin last week (though they both cleared PA#5 11-9) will also compete. PA#10 Cassandra Phelan (Laurel Highlands) and Nada Buntic (McDowell) will be looking for the upset. Also in the long jump is Seton-LaSalle's Raja Rutherford.
Penn Hills' Jayla Ellis will compete in both the 60 meter hurdles (PA#7) and long jump (PA#14). She'll face good competition from Oakland Catholic's Olivia Rowe in both events. Caroline Curran of Peters Township will also be in the 60m hurdles field.
In the sprints, Nicole Scherer of Burrell is on the list of entries for both the 60 dash and 200 meters. She'll look to move up the state rankings in both.
In the shot put, PA#3 Tori McKinley will try and build off a good TSTCA meet. In the high jump, hempfield Gina Cuneo hopes to improve on her PA#6 5-3 clearance.
Although Madeleine Davison is on the accepted entries list, the unattached senior will not be competing this weekend at Youngstown State, according to PennTrackXC's Phil Grove.
BOYS:
Jordan Geist returns. The PTXC Performer of the Week will step into the circle once more, a week after becoming the first PA high schooler to throw the shot over 70 feet. Until a week ago, Youngstown State was the location of Geist's state record. Will it return to Ohio? Can he better on his US#5 all-time 71-2.5? Stay tuned.
Hempfield's Dom Marshall (PA#3) is also in the shot put field.
Kiski's Jace Roundtree, who ran both the 60m dash and 60m hurdles in succession last weekend in Edinboro, will get a break this week. Roundtree is only entered in the 60 meter hurdles. He was second at TSTCA to Mt. Lebanon's Patrick Kimball a week ago. There's no Kimball this week, who tied Roundtree's PA#1 in the event. The Kiski senior will look to take back sole possession of the top time in the state.
Bradford's Logan Caruso and Penn Hills' Isaiah Bailey will lead the mile field in what should be a good race. They'll double back in the 800, where they'll get a challenge from Penn Trafford's Nick Wagner (PA#9).
The boys pole vault will also be a good competition pitting McDowell's Caleb Sanford (PA#1) and Hempfield's Hayden Fox (PA#3) against each other. Sanford has been virtually unstoppable this season, going over at least 15 feet in every meet he's competed in this season. But Fox, who cleared 15-4 outdoors last year look to coming around, taking second last week to Sanford with a 14-9 clearance. Fox's Hempfield teammate Adam Gamber (PA#7) will also look for an improvement to his 14-3.5 that he got in early January.