BVA girls advance to track championship

By JOSE NEGRON

jnegron@yourmvi.com

For the first time in program history, the Belle Vernon Area girls track and field team will compete for a WPIAL Class 3A championship next week. 

The Leopards earned the opportunity by collecting victories over Beaver (87-63), Baldwin (85-65) and Armstrong (79.5-70.5) during a semifinal meet Tuesday at Baldwin High School. 

“The girls came up big today,” BVA head coach Chris Stasicha said. “They left everything on the track and everything in their jumps.”

Grace Henderson, an Akron recruit, posted three individual wins for the Leopards. She was victorious in the 800-meter run, the 1600-meter run and 3200-meter run. 

“Grace was amazing on the track,” Stasicha said. “

Gianna Anderson had herself an impressive showing as she won in the long jump and reset her school record in the triple jump. 

In a previous triple jump attempt, Franny Scaramucci, who finished second in both the long jump and triple jump, broke the school record before Anderson retook the mark on her next jump. 

Other significant contributors included Viva Kreis, who ran as the anchor on the girls 4×800-meter relay team. She was also second-best in the mile and two-mile. 

“I can’t say enough about the depth of this team,” Stasicha said. “Going into the meet, us coaches sat down and scored it out as to how it could go. It came out pretty close to how it would go. We had a really strong performance and the girls were victorious.”

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