Local athletes take aim at PIAA Championships
The state championship meet begins this morning and runs through tomorrow afternoon.
A number of local athletes are in Shippensburg for today’s start of the PIAA Track and Field Championships.
Charleroi freshman Braedin Lunger will compete in three events to lead the Valley’s pack in Class 2A boys competition.
Lunger is the only freshman in the field in ther 110-meter high hurdles after hitting the state qualifying standard with a 15.32 seconds at the WPIAL championships last week. He’s expected to run just after 11 a.m. this morning.
At 12:30 p.m., Lunger will take part in the high jump, again the only freshman in the field. Lunger cleared 6-1 at the WPIAL championships.
The young Cougars star will start his day in the field at 9 a.m., competing in the long jump. He leapt 21-09.75 to advance to the state meet.
Joining Lunger in two of his three events will be California’s Lee Qualk. Qualk will also get his day started in the long jump.
He qualified with a 22-02.50 at the WPIAL championships last week and is the 11th best time in qualifying.
About an hour after the long jump, Qualk will run the fourth preliminary of the 100m dash. The Trojans’ junior ran an 11.24 in the district championships.
Another Valley athlete competing today is Rostraver’s James Brewer. Brewer, who attends Greensburg Central Catholic, will run the 300 hurdles this afternoon in the third heat.
The lone Class 2A girls competitors will be Charleroi’s Eden Smith and California’s Ella Neil. Like Lunger, Smith will compete in the hurdles.
She’ll run the 100m hurdles just after 10:45 a.m. in the second of four preliminaries.
Neil will represent the Trojans in the high jump. She cleared 5-2 in the WPIAL championships to advance among the state’s best.
The lone Valley representative in the Class 3A girls competition will be Thomas Jefferson’s Sylvia Kashak.
Kashak will run Saturday afternoon in the 800 meters.
The junior qualified by running a 2:14.62 at the WPIAL championships at Slippery Rock.
In Class 3A boys action this weekend, Elizabeth Forward will be represented by Connor Stokes and Patrick Burgos.
Stokes was third overall in the 100 in the WPIAL championships. He’ll also run the 200 in Shippensburg.
Ringgold’s Ryan Pajak, a Notre Dame recruit, was second overall in the 1,600 with a time of 4:07.06 at SRU and will take aim at a state title this morning. Pajak will also run the 3,200 Saturday.
Burgos beat the state qualifying time with a seventh-place finish in the WPIAL meet at 4:19.29.
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 at the WPIAL championships. He’ll throw Saturday afternoon.
McKeesport’s 4×100 relay team Tigers beat the state mark by .017 seconds and will compete Saturday.
