AA Boys Javelin Preview
With the global pandemic wiping out the 2020 spring season, some athletes took advantage of a limited number of summer and fall competitions to work on moving event PRs in a positive direction. One to do that was Scranton Prep's Thomas Dickinson, the leading competitor from this year's Class AA district meets and the top thrower on the 2021 performance list. Dickinson's big meet season in 2021 included best marks all above 183-3 and his 192-7 victory in District 2. The senior will be looking to grab his first PIAA medal and maybe improve on his 196-plus PR from last November.
A pair of District 9 throwers - Kyle MacBeth of Brookville and David Stamm of Moniteau - came the closest of the remaining qualifiers to 180 feet in district competition. Both seniors hit PRs as they advanced to Friday's finale.
Senior Elijah Cook of Bedford reached 189-1 in finishing third and ahead of Dickinson in a loaded field at the Roddick Invitational at Shippensburg in mid-April. Cook, who finished 12th in the PIAA final in 2019, had another 180-foot meet earlier in the season en route to defending his District 5 crown.
Others in contention include Ligonier Valley junior Miles Higgins, who is No. 3 on the AA charts this season with a best of 180-4 four weeks ago, and Pen Argyl's Zach Morro, Harrisburg Christian's Matthew Puleo and Wyoming Area's Drew Mruk, whom all have thrown 175 at least once this year.
ENTRIES:
Event 618 Boys Javelin Throw AA =============================================================================== NFHS Record: 246-09 2012 Billy Stanley, South Park HS, PA PIAA Record: 221-06 2011 Rob Robbins, Northeast Bradford 04 NFHS Hnr Rol: 190-00 176-00 SQS Name Year School Seed Mark Finals =============================================================================== 1 Dickinson, Thomas 12 Scranton Prep 02 192-07 SQS 2 MacBeth, Kyle 12 Brookville 09 179-06 SQS 3 Stamm, David 12 Moniteau 09 178-04 SQS 4 Cook, Elijah 12 Bedford 05 177-00 SQS 5 Puleo, Matthew 12 Hgb Christian 03 175-06 6 Mruk, Drew 9 Wyoming Area 02 175-01 7 Ellis, Asher 12 Athens Area 04 174-08 8 Livermore, Gavin 12 Montoursville 04 173-09 9 Morro, Zach 12 Pen Argyl 11 171-09 10 Marinak, Nick 12 Penn Cambria 06 170-09 11 Higgins, Miles 11 Ligonier Vly 07 169-10 12 Holbay, Hudson 12 Wstmnt Hilltp 06 168-00 13 Stack, Sean 12 Oil City 10 166-04 14 Bakewell, Hunter 12 Yough 07 166-01 15 Faber, Luke 12 Reynolds 10 163-11 16 Niewinski, Colin 9 Penns Valley 06 161-11 17 Schzure, Nick 12 No Catholic 07 159-07 18 Dlugos, Danny 11 Greensburg CC 07 157-04 19 Hribal, Ray 12 Southmoreland 07 155-01 20 Niedrowski, Collin 9 Wyomissing 03 149-09 21 Kelly, Jah 12 Conwell-Egan 12 122-09 22 Al-Laty, Omar 12 Dock Menn 01 112-10 23 Walk, Thomas 11 Devon Prep 12 103-04 24 Crespo, Noel 9 Conwell-Egan 12 92-07