Boys' State Sprints/Hurdles Preview: McLemore goes for two golds; Plenty of big battles in line

PIAA T&F State Championships
Dan Beck

AAA Boys' 100 meters


Jeremy jennings of Downingtown East wins the District 1 title | Photo by Don Rich

This is going to be a good one. Lots of talented sprinters, but only one top prize to hand out.

A couple of juniors are the top two seeds in the race. That's Meadville's Journey Brown and Dwningtown East's Jeremy Jennings. Brown was the District 10 title in convincing fashion, while Jennings slipped by PA#2 Darien Williams of Wissahickon for the District 1 title.

Williams has run 10.71 this season and one of two returnees from last year's final. Williams was third as a junior and he'll try to use some of that experience to propel him this weekend. The other returner from last year's final is Nazareth sophomore Julian Liaci. Liaci broke out as a freshman and he'll look to put together a similar effort this year.

There's no shortage of new faces, though. State College's Tristan Daman dominated District 6, while Dallas' Uzoije Ukattah did the same to District 2. Both should drop some fast times against solid competition.

Armostrong's Zane Dudek has seemingly come out of nowhere to make himself a serious contender in this race as well. Look out for Muhlenbergs Najee Smith, West Mifflin's Micah Watts, Somerset's Levi Deblase, and LaSalle's Charles Headen in this field as well.