Valley athletes earn WPIAL medals, trip to PIAA meet

A number of local athletes are bringing home medals from the WPIAL Track & Field Championships.

The usually one-day event was suspended Wednesday after being delayed twice by rain. In Class 3A, four boys events were held Thursday, while five events were held in Class 2A.

For the girls, five events were held Thursday in Class 3A, while three in 2A were completed.

In Class 3A, the top four finishers in each event qualify for next weekend’s PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University.

The Mon Valley had one WPIAL champion Wednesday as California’s Lee Qualk finished first in the long jump at Slippery Rock.

Qualk’s leap measured 22-2.50. Two inches farther than runner-up Braedin Lunger. Lunger, a Charleroi freshman, landed at 22-0.50.

Both qualified for the state championships in the event. Qualk added a seventh-place finish to advance to the PIAA meet in the 100-meters. He finished at 11.24 seconds, just under the state qualifying standard of 11.25.

Lunger will compete in two other events at the state championships, the 110m high hurdles after finishing fourth at the WPIAL meet, and the high jump. He cleared 6-1 to finish fifth and claim a third WPIAL medal.

Rostraver’s James Brewer brought home two medals and will be at the state meet to compete in the 300 hurdles. He finished fourth with a time of 40.58s. He added a medal in the pole vault finishing tied for eighth.

Class 3A boys

Elizabeth Forward will be represented by Connor Stokes and Patrick Burgos at the state championships next weekend.

Stokes was third overall in the 100, crossing the line in just under 11 seconds at 10.96 seconds. He’ll also run the 200 after finishing third.

Ringgold’s Ryan Pajak, a Notre Dame recruit, was second overall in the 1,600 with a time of 4:07.06. Burgos, despite not finishing in the top four, beat the state qualifying time with a seventh-place finish at 4:19.29.

Pajak will run the 3,200 at Shippensburg after another runner-up finish after clocking in at 8:56.37.

In the high jump, Thomas Jefferson’s Isaac Fant medaled with a sixthplace finish. He tied with Seneca Valley’s Dakari Payne with a leap of 6-1.

Thomas Jefferson’s Jaylen Hocker brought the Jaguars home another medal with a leap of 42-11.75 in the triple jump, good for seventh place overall.

Belle Vernon Area’s Ryan Kent will be the lone BVA athlete at the state championships. Kent broke a school record, throwing the discus 155 feet.

EF added another medal with top football recruit Chris Climes bringing home a seventh-place finish in the shot put. Climes’ throw measured 51-9.5, just 2 1/2 inches shourt of the qualifying mark.

McKeesport’s 4×100 relay team will head the Shippensburg after bringing home a medal with a time of 43.08 seconds. The Tigers beat the state mark by .017 seconds.

Class 3A girls

The Mon Valley will have a lone representative in the state championships next weekend in Class 3A.

Thomas Jefferson’s Sylvia Kashak advanced to states with a second- place finish in the 800m.

Kashak finished just .67 seconds behind Kiski’s Eliza Miller, clocking in at 2:14.62.

Belle Vernon Area’s Sienna Steeber brought home a medal in the pole vault, clearing 11 feet. Her Leopards teammate Lily Shahan medaled with an eighth-place finish in the javelin.

Class 2A girls

California’s Ella Neil will be heading east next weekend after qualifying for the state meet in the high jump. Neil brought home a medal, finishing seventh overall. But she hit the qualifying mark of 5-2 with her jump.

Frazier’s Gabby McGavitt finished seventh in the javelin to earn a WPIAL medal. McGavitt’s throw measured 106-2.

Charleroi’s Eden Smith just missed qualifying for states with a fifth-place finish in the 100 hurdles. Smith crossed the line at 16.14 seconds, just .13 off the state qualifying mark of 16.01.