Hempfield Area's Rachel Serafin tuned up for the upcoming post-season meets with a 39-7 throw. She is currently PA#1 with her late January toss of 43-3.5. Teammate Gino Pilato moved into PA#10 with a season best and PR by over three feet of 51-01.50. Both Serafin and Pilato are juniors.
Central Bucks West kicked off the night with a PA#2 time of 9:35.70 to win the 4x800 meter relay, Leah Nugent of Abington ran 9.03 to win the 60 meter hurdles and earn PA#3 honors, Ayanna Fields of Notre Dame ran a PA#5 time of 58.29 to win the 400 meters, and Abington (4:06.23/PA#5) edged out Chester (4:06.25) to win the 4x400 meter relay. In the field events, Diamond Hodge of Girls High won the long jump with a T-PA#2 mark of 18-03.25 over Phoenixville’s Courtney Kedra (18-01.25/PA#5) and Central Bucks East’s Shannon Daniels (18-00/PA#6), Jessica Matsinger of Great Valley moved up to PA#6 in the triple jump with her winning mark of 36-1, Katie McAndrews of Bensalem cleared a PA#5 height of 11-3 to win the pole vault, and Amy Galvin of Methacton, Taylor Morgan of Upper Dublin, and Kelly Anne Stuetz of Cheltenham all cleared 5-4 in the high jump for PA#4 honors
Adding his name to another even on the indoor all-time lists, Altoona senior Brady Gehret went a hand-timed 20.9 (21.14c), which is the #7 AT performer, and #9 performance. It matches the mark set by Reggie Witherspoon (GA 2003). Gehret would tie Alex Kenney of State College in the 60 meter dash with a PA#4 time of 6.7. Teammate Wade Endress won the 800 meters with a time of 1:57.4. The Altoona DMR also were victorious with a time of 10:39.8, good enough for PA#4 honors.
In girls action, Chloe Schmidt of State College won both the 400 (57.2/PA#3) and the 200 meter dashes (26.3), Hannah Seeland of State College won the shot put with a throw of 36-3, and teammate Paige Fry won the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.3
Milton Hershey sprinters Thomas Walker and Almamy Bangura went 1-2 in the 55 meter dash in 6.63 and 6.71, respectively Walker had gone 6.62 in the prelims. In the 3200 meter run, Brett Kubiak took 2nd in 10:01.97
Hill School's Callie Francis won both the 400 (58.47) and the 200 (26.98) and for the boys, Mercersburg's Nebiyu Osman won the 3200 meter run with a meet record time of 9:46.86
Methacton’s CarltonLavong made his last appearance at Lehigh a memorable one, breaking two meet records and recording a US#1 in the process. He won the long jump with a mark of 24-4, breaking the meet record of 23-08.50 set in 1994, and then he won the triple jump with a US#1 mark of 49-11.50, breaking the meet record of 48-04.50 set in 2003.
There were other competitors who were making their own noise during the competition. ScottRushton of Episcopal Academy won the shot put with a PA#1 mark of 55-04, JamesWeiss of Quakertown tied the meet record in the pole vault with a mark of 15 feet even. On the track, we had PA#3, 4, 5, and 6 performances in the mile run, led by winner NickScarpello of Central Bucks West, winning the race in 4:18.60, MattGilmore of Cheltenham ran a PA#2 time of 49.55 to win the 400 meters, SamEllison of Upper Dublin ran a PA#3 time of 1:57.02 to win the 800 meters, and ZachGreth of Exeter won the 3000 meters with a PA #3 time of 8:50.24. In the relays, Lasalle ran 8:07.22 to win the 4x800 meter relay, good for PA#4, Northeast HS ran 1:31.98 to win the 4x200 and earn PA#2 honors, and Abington ran 3:25.62 to win the 4x400 meter relay.
Penn Hills girls set the brand new GaREAT Sports Complex ablaze with two new PA#1 and US top 7 relay performances. They won the 4x200 meter relay (Photo by Doug Michaels) in a US#7 time of 1:42.77 to overtake West Catholic’s previous top mark, and they won the 4x400 in a US#3 time of 3:52.49 to improve on their PA#1 time by seven seconds.
Other girls highlights include a US#10 and PA#1 shot put from Emily Woods of Hickory (43-09.50), (Photo by Don Rich) a PA#7 performance from Schenley’s Asia McCain in the 60 meters (7.87), Angel Piccirillo running a 5:06.93 (PA#2)/2:20.31 (PA#8) mile/800 double, and Elaina Balouris of Hampton running a PA#4 time of 10:21.25 to win the 3000 meters.
In boys action, Foot Locker cross country finalist Rad Gunzenhauser of Mount Lebanon ran a US#10 and new PA#1 time of 8:47.76 (Photo by Don Rich) to win the 3000 meter run, Ryan Gil of North Allegheny ran 4:24.45 to win the mile, good enough for PA#7, Penn Hills ran two PA#2 performances to win both the 4x400 (3:22.33/US#5) and the distance medley (10:32.09/US#15), Pat Cochran of McDowell cleared a PA#5 height of 6-6 to win the high jump, David Humphrey of North Allegheny jumped a PA#3 mark of 45-05.25 to win the triple jump, and David Reinhard of Bradford Area won the shot put with a throw of 51 feet even.
Rad Gunzenhauser posted a solo PA#1 8:47.76. The mark is also US#11.
Abington surged up the state and national rankings in two relays.(Photo by Tim Fulton, ArmoryTrack.com) They moved up to US#4 and PA#2 in the 4x400 while winning the event in 3:20.56 and ran a US#3 and PA#1 time of 7:52.70 to win the 4x800 meter relay. Cardinal O’Hara ran 3:25.83 for a 9th place finish in the 4x400 and PA#5 honors. Hempfield (3) ran a PA#5 time of 1:32.45 to finish 10th in the 4x200 meter relay. Seth Robbins of Cumberland Valley ran a PA#1 time of 9:30.94 to finish 3rd in the full two mile run, teammate Andy Flynn finished 3rd in the 800 meter run with a PA#2 time of 1:56.19, Stephen Lewis of Liberty ran a new PA#1 time of 7.59 in the 55 meter hurdles to finish 2nd overall, Tom Hopkins of The Haverford School ran a PA#5 time of 49.85 in the 400 meter dash for a 7th place finish. In the field events, Stephen Lewis of Liberty won the high jump with a new PA#1 mark of 6-10, and Hopkins finished 2nd in the long jump with a mark of 23-00.50
In girls action, Leah Nugent of Abington improved her PA#1 time in the 400 meter dash with a time of 56.73, finishing 3rd overall. Kayleigh Perry of ELCO ran 5:11.76 in the one mile run to finish 4th, with Liz Barrett of St. Basil’s finishing 6th overall with her time of 5:12.44. Amanda Faust of Emmaus ran a PA#1 time in the full two mile run with a time of 11:14.28, finishing 4th. In the field events, Jessica Matsinger of Great Valley moved up to PA#3 in the triple jump with her mark of 36-08.75 for a 6th place finish, and in the relays, Cheltenham finished 6th in the finals, but ran a PA#5 time of 1:44.42 in the prelims, and Abington ran a PA#5 time of 4:03.91 for an 8th place finish in the 4x400 meter relay.