SHIPPENSBURG — Lackawanna Track Conference standouts Olivia Thomas from Mid Valley, Kendel Jones from Elk Lake and Weston Yannone from Dunmore got District 2 off to a strong start, but the first day of the PIAA Track and Field Championships was a relatively quiet one for Wyoming Valley Conference athletes.
Nanticoke Area senior Nevaeh Baran led the way for the WVC Friday with a seventh-place medal in the Class 3A girls triple jump while Wilkes-Barre Area senior Timothy Leonard had a successful day of qualifying.
Baran jumped 37-11½.
Leonard was the second-fastest qualifier in the 100-meter dash and also made the final of the 200 dash in Class 3A boys.
Wyoming Valley West reached the halfway point in second place out of nine teams in the Unified Champion Schools State Championships held along with the PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University.
Thomas, a freshman, finished second in the Class 2A girls long jump with 18-11 ¾ and was the top qualifier for Saturday’s finals in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.43 seconds. She is also the top seed in the triple jump 11 days after becoming the first District 2 girls to ever exceed 40 feet in that event.
Elk Lake ended the first day in third place in the Class 2A boys team standings after fourth-place finishes by Jones in the 1600 run and Brody Crisman in the high jump. Jones will attempt to add more medals in the 3200, 800 and 3200 relay Saturday. Teammate Cody Adams added an eighth-place finish in the 1600 with a time of 4:17.81 compared to 4:14.76 by Jones.
Yannone qualified for the finals in both Class 2A boys hurdles events with the day’s second-best time in the 110 high hurdles and fourth-best in the 300 hurdles. Dunmore already got points from Carter Sload, with a tie for fifth in the high jump, and Josh Dudick, with an eighth-place finish in the long jump.
The top eight finishers in each event earned state medals and team points.
Baran had the second-best opening jump in the 28-competitor field, behind only eventual champion Hannah Owulade from Altoona. She exceeded 37 feet on five of six attempts and can within a quarter inch of that distance on her other try.
Leonard’s 100 time of 10.58 was second to only Blue Mountain’s Chase Guers, who posted a time of 10.52. He ran a time of 21.54 in the 200, also the second-fastest, but technically putting him fifth among qualifiers because he was second in his heat, even though he beat the time of the three other heat winners.
Matthew Gregory from Owen J. Roberts, the fourth seed in the 100 final, was the fastest qualifier in 21.45. Guers is again a threat after winning his heat in 21.58.
East Stroudsburg North leads the Unified Champion Schools standings with 36 points. Wyoming Valley West has 31, followed by Lancaster McCaskey (26), Spring Grove (23), Warren (23), General McLane (20), Capa/Conroy 20, Downingtown East (20) and Valley View (19).
Unified track and field teams, part of a Special Olympics program, are made up of a proportional number of students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities who practice and compete together as equal peers. Athletes are combined into divisions based on athletic ability.
The three UCS field events – long jump, mini javelin and shot put – were contested Friday with three individual track events and a 4×100 relay still to come on Saturday.
Raheem Blanton not only won his division of the long jump but had the best jump in the entire competition at 5.17 meters.
Chelsea Hummel, Lily Eckstein and Gavin Burridge each finished first in their mini javelin division for the Spartans.
Montrose’s Sadie Jones finished third in the Class 2A girls javelin and Blue Ridge’s Chance Davis was fourth in the Class 2A boys long jump.
Local journalism matters, and your support makes it possible. You can help sustain this work by making a donation or choosing one of our subscription options. Subscribers enjoy valuable benefits, including full access to our e-edition, a reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more.
Your support helps ensure independent, high-quality local news remains available today and for future generations. Thank you for standing with local journalism.