Girls' 800 Meter Preview
Gabrielle Wilkinson has been in the spotlight in Pennsylvania ever since her win over Sarah Walker in the 800 meters in 2015 when she was just a freshman. After a defeat her sophomore year and an injury-filled junior season, Wilkinson will look to bookend her career with 800-meter indoor state crowns.
The half mile will come after she runs what will likely be a hard-fought mile race, but the Friends' Central senior should still be seen as the favorite for Sunday. Wilkinson has a season best of 2:10.81 that came way back in December at the Armory, so we'll see if she can improve on that US#4 time.
A deep field of challengers awaits Sunday, looking for a chance at the upset. Esther Seeland of State College Area will be worth watching. She's patented a kick that has led her to wins at the Kevin Dare Invitational and the PTFCA Carnival. She ran 2:13.78 at the Carnival and could definitely be a serious threat for gold on Sunday. Taryn Parks of Greencastle-Antrim was second to Seeland at the Carnival after doubling back from the mile. She'll be doing that double again, and Parks will look to mix it up with the leaders, too.
West Allegheny's Maddie Salek is one to watch. The senior, who was fifth at outdoor states last spring, has had a strong spring. This past Sunday she ran a quick time of 2:14.42 at Kent State and seems ready to roll this week. Makenna Krebs (Central Dauphin East), Christine Mancini (Cardinal O'Hara), Malia Anderson (Greensburg Salem), and Sarah Crissman (Fleetwood Area) are just part of a long list of strong entries that could make some noise in this field.
Entries
Event 11 Girls 800 Meter Run (24)
===============================================================================
Meet Record: 2:04.96 2/24/2007 Chanelle Price, Easton
Name Year School
===============================================================================
1 Anderson, Malia 11 Grnsburg Salem
2 Barnett, Myla 12 Baldwin School
3 Brown, Grace 12 Villa Maria Acad
4 Carroll, Kyra 12 Penn Wood
5 Crissman, Sarah 12 Fleetwood
6 Hale, Macy 11 Baldwin
7 Kelly, Hanna 12 W C East
8 Kirk, Lizzy 12 Pennsbury
9 Krebs, Makenna 11 C Dauphin East
10 Mancini, Christine 11 Card O'Hara
11 Miller, Sammie 11 Coatesville
12 Parks, Taryn 10 Greencastle-Antr
13 Ross, Hayley 12 Wissahickon
14 Salek, Maddie 12 West Alleghe
15 Schneider, Jessica 11 Acad Notre Dame
16 Seasholtz, Keara 10 Radnor
17 Seeland, Esther 12 State College
18 Seifert, Lexi 12 Villa Maria Acad
19 Simms, Liz 11 Butler
20 Twomey, Anna 11 Conestoga
21 Watts, Sanaiya 11 Agnes Irwin
22 Wilkinson, Gabrielle 12 Friends' Cen
23 Willig, Amy 11 Great Valley
24 Wilson, Dasia 11 Neumann Gore