Kiski Area’s Jace “Shaft” Roundtree won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.26 seconds.
North Allegheny’s sophomore Ayden Owens is a jack of all trades who is beginning to master a few of them. Owens, who competes in the decathlon during the summer, won the 300-meter hurdles in 38.34 seconds and came in second in the 200-meter dash.
Owens finished third in the decathlon at the USATF Junior Olympics last summer. He also competes in 100, high jump, long jump, javelin and pole vault for North Allegheny.
Owens’ sisters, twins Makena and Melina, are juniors who led the Tigers’400 relay team to a second-place finish.
Even at the WPIAL’s highest level, the shot-putter’s, discus and javelin throwers is populated by some of the most anonymous people in track and field, and their road to the gold medal is typically long and arduous.
Typically when you’re at a track and field meet, you watch the person under the spotlight. You follow them you pay attention to them and most of the time everyone else on that track fades into the background.
Unless the person in the shadow is Knoch’s Jordan Geist, in which case you look at the shadows a little more closely.
Geist is the greatest shot putter in WPIAL history. His toss of 72 feet, 7 inches to break a record set 44 years ago by Ron Semkiw of Baldwin.
Who would’ve thought that such a shadowy figure would bring so much light?
Lamont Wade and Zane Dudek have very little in common.
One is Black and the other is White and they compete in different events and in different classifications.
One thing they can share after Thursday, however, is the satisfying feeling of being WPIAL track champions.
There were whispers—ones that were likely unsubstantiated—that Wade could be headed to Alabama to play his college football.
Wade, a junior at Clairton and one of the nation’s top football recruits, won his first track championship with a leap of 22 feet, 5 inches in the long jump, a new personal best.
“I think it was my athletic ability and me working out in other areas,” said Wade. “Like in the weight room, when I squat, or practicing my 100, that all boosted it up. I think everything added up to my success.”
Zane Dudek, who led the WPIAL in rushing last season, won the first track championship in the history of first-year Armstrong High School when he took Class AAA gold in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.88.
After missing her junior season because of a torn ACL, Central Valley’s Mariah Yankello, a Duquesne recruit, is doing her best to make up for lost time.
Yankello won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44.40 seconds.
Aliquippa doesn’t have a track for their 400 relay team to practice, but the boys still won and girls finished second.
The team of Antwon Brooks, Draper Gilliam, Avante McKenzie and Kaezon Pugh.
Pugh ran the second leg and made up for the stagger before he handed off.
It allowed the senior to win his third WPIAL gold medal of the year, after winning in football and basketball. The last Quip to do that was Darelle Revis, now an NFL star.
Kurt Adkins will play football this fall at Seton Hill, but the Washington High speedster has been spending his spring excelling in two other sports.
Adkins plays baseball, too. He is a starting outfielder and leadoff hitter for Washington and led the team in batting with a .500 average.
Adkins won the 200-meter dash in 22.37 seconds.
Avonworth / Northgate sister sprinters Hayden Robinson and Hunter Robinson are used to being on the same side, but on Thursday Hayden and Hunter found themselves as 100-meter dash opponents.
Hayden, a freshman, won the 100-meter dash, anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay team and placed third in the 200.
Hunter, a sophomore, won the 400, ran the first leg of the 1,600 relay and placed second in the 100 and 200 events.
In the end, Hayden earned a measure of bragging rights over her older sister Hunter.
Summer Thorpe, a senior at Sewickley Academy and Notre Dame recruit, won gold medals in both the 100 and 300 hurdles and set a WPIAL record in the 300 hurdles at 43.86 seconds at Thursday’s WPIAL Class AA track championships at Baldwin.
“The track program at Notre Dame is phenomenal and, just within my short visit, I truly blended with the girls on the team,” said Thorpe. “I want to leave with success track, academics and my social life.”
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