The first lap of the first race in the first meet for PIAA District 12,
the Philadelphia Public League (E&S - Carver Enginnering & Science in the 4x800 AA Trials.
In the AA Girls 100 Trials, Athens' Melissa Miller had the fastest qualifier at 12.67. Frosh star Devan Coon of Schuylkill Valley went 12.73 to advance. Miller had the 2nd fastest 200 qualifier of 26.06. Coon went 26.02 in her heat, while Milton Hershey's Abigail Johnson ran 26.26. Johnson went 56.93 to post the best 400 Trials in AA Girls. Miller completed her triple sprint qualifier in 57.36. In AAA, all the leading athletes advanced comfortably, with Breehana Jacobs, Laurel Highlands, going 12.11, Janessa Murphy, Great Valley 12.12, and Krista Simkins 12.17. Simkins came back in the afternoon in the 200 Trials to rip a 24.10, best of the four heats by over 8-tenths.
The two favorites in the AA Boys 100, Brad Kanuch, Westmont Hilltop, and Tommie Campbell, Aliquippa, each posted 11.01 times to advance to Saturday morning's Semis. Campbell and Kanuch had the fastest two qualifiers in the 200, with Campbell at 22.37 and Kanuch at 22.49. Montel Williamson, West Mifflin, looked comfortable and confident in running to a 10.74 Trials win. Knowledge Timmons, the favorite from William Penn York, ran 10.81. Also breaking 11 were Mike Odofin of Penn Wood and Da'Rel Scott, a Plymouth-Whitemarsh junior. A mild surprise was frosh AJ Alexander of Altoona failing to advance, losing one sending the times to a-thousandth of a second. Timmons and Bensalem's Reggie Carter both posted 21.80 marks in winning their heats of the afternoon 200 Trials. Scott De'Rel of Plymouth-Whitemarsh went 21.87. Carter came back to run 48.39 in the 400. In all, five guys were under 49 seconds, setting up a spectacular final for Saturday.
No surprises in the 100 and 110 Hurdles, as the top seeds advanced. In the AA Girl's, it was Masterman's Dara Wilson going 15.04. Wilson came back in the 300 Semis, with Northwestern's Amanda Seigworth, a sophomore, posting the AA best qualifier of 44.33. In AAA, Mycaiah Clemons of Valley went 14.23, but in the prior three heats, Brianna Broyles of William Allen ran 14.96, Chanel Williams of Plymouth Whitemarsh ran 14.56, and Ryann Krais, the frosh star from Methacton ran 14.65. The 5th best time in the Trials was from Nicole Smith, McDowell, at 14.99. Krais looked smooth in the 300 Trials, running a 43.08, while Broyles, in the previous heat, went 44.21.
In AA Boys, Pottstown junior Jaris Mayes ran a pretty hard Trials, going 14.75. Also advancing were Valley soph Toney Clemons, Smethport's Mike Mitchell and Windber's Nate Kiss. Mitchell ran 38.83 to advance in the 300 Hurdles. Troy Harris of Bedford and Brandon Tress of Bible Baptist, both broke 40 seconds in the first heat. Carrington Queen ran 14.65 in the AAA Trials, with only Delon Isom of Harrisburg joining him under 15 seconds. Queen looked to struggle over the final three hurdles in the 300 Trials, but still ran 39.41. Ryan Thompson of General McLane and Kerry Boyle of Hazleton both posted better Trials times in the 3rd heat, running 38.90 and 39.15, respectively.
West Mifflin senior Monica Allen and Ije Iheoma, a Council Rock South freshman, posted the fastest two 400 AAA Girls qualifiers of 56.69 and 56.83. In AA Boys, Ben McConnell of Danville ran 48.92, helping Phil Leineweber of Christian School of York to a 49.17, the times the two fastest of the qualifier. Biglerville's Joey Wagner also advanced comfortably. McConnell also ran well in the 800 Trials with a 1:57.95, taking second to Windber's Tony Clement at 1:57.70.
Last year's AAA champ Liz Kearins ran 2:18.41, while Engineering & Science freshman Benita Taylor went 2:18.09 in the second heat to lead the AA Girls 800 qualifiers. Easton freshman Chanelle Price looked every bit the veteran, as she and fellow frosh Amanda Raudabaugh of Big Spring ran 2;15.21 and 2:16.19 in the Trials of the AAA Girls. Serita Lachesis of Wissachickon, the District 1 champ, ran 2:15.53 in the first heat. The second heat of the AAA Boys' 800 was quick, as five athletes bettered the top time from the first heat, lead by favorite Ken King of Connellsville in 1:55.40. Cedar Crest's Andy Miller was 2nd at 1:55.74.
The two favorites in the AA Girls 1600 looked every bit of that, as Shady Side senior Katie Roll ran 5:08.74 to easily take the first heat, and Brentwood frosh Rachel Erney running 5:11.70 to take the 2nd heat. Two of the favorites pulled away from the pack in the opening heat of the AAA Girls 1600. The sophomores, Sam McMillan of Hershey and Sarah Morrison of Chambersburg, ran 5:00.58 and 5:01.46, respectively. But in the 2nd heat, Freedom senior Lauretta Dezubay left no doubt about her intent for Saturday, running alone to a 4:59.97.
Jacob Walker, the Ellwood City junior, controlled the first heat, running 4:24.04. Springfield Montco junior Matlack Gillin was 2nd quickest, while Lane King also advanced. In AAA, the Miller boys took their individual heats. Brad actually had to work the hardest, holding off North Penn senior Sean Doyle by about a quarter second at 4:21.60. In the 2nd heat, Craig looked to be holding himself back over the first two laps, appearing to intentionally slow to stay in the pack. But over the final lap he simply imposed his will on the group, running 4:23.36. He'll have plenty of energy left for the Saturday finals.
In the 4x100's, AA favorites Quaker Valley and Lewisburg advanced with sub-50 second performances. The West Chester Henderson girls led the AAA qualifiers at 48.57, just .02 better than Simon Gratz. Aliquippa was, as expected, the early class of the AA Boys 4x100, going 42.96. And Central Dauphin East led AAA Boys qualifiers with a 42.50. West Mifflin and Simon Gratz also advanced comfortably.
Engineering & Science went 3:59.88 to post the fastest qualifier in the AA Girls 4x400. Gwynedd-Mercy was quick as well, along with Milton Hershey. The AAA Girls race will be quite a race on Saturday. Wissahickon, with a 53-point anchor by Krista Simkins, ran 3:54.11. Ten other teams broke four minutes. Hang on tomorrow. In AA Boys, Lewisburg, Christian School of York, Southern Columbia, and Trinity. In the AAA Boys, some bad news for fans of Harrisburg, as they were DQed when their anchor forced the Central Dauphin East anchor out a few lanes. CD East ran 3:20.267. but Simon Gratz cruised to a 3:18.56, as anchor Khaliff Featherstone looked to turn on the effort with 150 meters to go.
Engineering & Science and Gwynedd Mercy are on a collision course in the 4x800 Saturday morning. Both ran alone to easy wins in the two heats of AA, with E&S going 9:27.88 and Gwynedd running 9:28.20. North Penn didn't have to expend too much energy in running a 9:17.48 in heat two of the AAA Girls. Conestoga ran 9:16.85 to take the first heat. In AA Boys, Greenville and Bethlehem Catholic were the heat winners. If you didn't break eight minutes in the AAA Boys race, you didn't advance. North Penn ran a quick 7:50.69. Conestoga Valley, who went five seconds faster than that at their district meet, controlled the race in heat two, going 9:56.41.