PIAA States Preview: Boys' Throws


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