D9 Class 2A Track and Field: Big guns converging on Brookville

BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Back to Brookville for another year, the District 9 Class 2A Track and Field Championships will be joined by Class 3A, which will run concurrently.

Thus, the starting time will be earlier than usual with some field events starting at 12:30 p.m.

Kane’s Trinity Clark (pictured above) has the third-ranked javelin throw in the county at 165 feet, 3 inches going into this weekend according to milesplit.com

Here is the time schedule for Friday’s combined meet.

Here’s the breakdown of how things look in Class 2A:

GIRLS

Team favorite: Defending champion Brookville will battle Elk County Catholic, Kane and Johnsonburg will likely battle in a close race for the team title.

To qualify for states: Same as the boys. Champions and runners-up in each event plus any state-qualifying performance marks earn a trip to the PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University May 25-26.

Of the 36 state-qualifying marks in district seeding, 31 are in the jumps and throwing events.

Returning state medalists (top 8)/finalists: Kendall Grossman, Moniteau, tied 2nd in pole vault. Tori Obenrader, North Clarion, 6th in shot put; 10th in javelin. Trinity Clark, Kane, 8th in shot put; 7th in javelin. Adrian Page, Coudersport, 9th in discus. Skylar Sherry, Johnsonburg, 2nd in javelin. Cambrie Campbell, Moniteau, 3rd in javelin.

Returning individual event district champions: Nine of 15 champions return in individual events. Punxsutawney’s Kate Horner (400 dash), Elk County Catholic’s Hannah Lenze (1,600 run), Northern Potter’s Hannah Ford (3,200 run), A-C Valley’s Emma Fox (100 hurdles), Moniteau’s Kendall Grossman (pole vault), Oswayo Valley’s Sara McKean (long jump), North Clarion’s Tori Obenrader (shot put), Punxsutawney’s Sam Dyson (discus), Johnsonburg’s Skylar Sherry (javelin).

Top seeds, notes by event, with top seed listed first:

4×800 relay: Kane. It’s seeded at 10:18.77 with ECC (10:21.86) and Punxsutawney (10:22.52). Nobody else is under 10:48.

100 hurdles: Brooke Quairiere, Soph., Brookville. She and defending champion Emma Fox of A-C Valley will battle for the title. Both are under the SQS time of 16.01 at 15.7 and 15.96 respectively. Nobody else is under 17.3.

100 dash: Emma Fox, Sr., A-C Valley. She’s the top seed at 12.84 seconds with nobody else under 13 seconds. Oswayo Valley’s Faith Coole is the No. 2 seed at 13.04.

1,600 run: Rebecca Pennington, Sr., Karns City. She’s the top seed at 5:25.38, almost 12 seconds faster than No. 2 seed Rebecca Morgan of Northern Potter. ECC’s defending champion Hannah Lenze (5:38.7) is the only other runner under 5:46 this year.

4×100 relay: Brookville. The Lady Raiders are top-seeded at 51.16 seconds with two other teams under 52 with Oswayo Valley (51.24) and Johnsonburg (51.34).

400 dash: Kate Horner, Jr., Punxsutawney. The defending champion is seeded No. 1 at 1:02.54 with A-C Valley’s Brooke Irwin (1:02.81) nearby. Johnsonburg’s Evelyn Cobaugh, Karns City’s Hannah Knoll and Coudersport’s Dana Dubots are all seeded under 1:04.

300 hurdles: Emma Fox, Sr., A-C Valley. She’s top-seeded at 48.54 with Brookville’s Dani MacBeth a whisker behind her at 48.64. The only other hurdler under 50 seconds is Kane’s Caitlin O’Hara at 49.42.

800 run: Amanda Williams, Jr., Johnsonburg. She’s the top seed at 2:24.74 and the only runner under 2:28. No. 2 seed Tianna Bowser is at 2:28.95. Nobody else is under 2:30.

200 dash: Mariah Alanskas, Soph., DCC. She and Oswayo Valley’s Sara McKean have seeded SQS times of 25.84 and 26.14. ECC’s Olivia Sorg, Johnsonburg’s Madeline Cowan and Oswayo Valley’s Faith Coole are also seeded under 27 seconds.

3,200 run: Rebecca Pennington, Sr., Karns City. She’s seeded under the SQS time of 11:32.01, over 32 seconds ahead of No. 2 seed and defending champion Amanda Ford of Northern Potter (12:04.89). Nobody else is under 12:25.

4×400 relay: Brookville. The Lady Raiders are seeded at 4:12.47, almost 10 seconds ahead of Elk County Catholic. Nobody else is under 4:24.

Pole vault: Kendall Grossman, Soph., Moniteau. The returning state runner-up has cleared 11 feet, 6 inches with two others clearing the SQS mark of 10-6 — Clarion’s Laken Lewis (11-0) and Port Allegany’s Mauley Fox (10-6).

High jump: Taylor Newton, ECC. This will be an interesting event with five jumpers having cleared the SQS mark of 5 feet, 2 inches this year already, led by Newton’s 5 feet, 5 inches. Clarion’s Laken Lewis (5-4), Punxsutawney’s Leah Miller (5-3), Clarion’s Lexi Lauer (5-2) and Kane’s Audri Marconi (5-2) will also be in the mix for a state berth.

Long jump: Sara McKean, Jr., Oswayo Valley. The defending champion one of two jumpers over 17 feet with the top-seeded 17 feet, 6 1/2 inches mark. Brookville’s Madison Johnson (17-1) is also over the SQS of 16-11. Four others are over 16-2 — Johnsonburg’s Erica DeLullo (16-9), Brookville’s Dani MacBeth (16-5), Clarion’s Laken Lewis (16-2.5) and Cameron County’s Kamme Guisto (16-2).

Triple jump: Sara McKean, Jr., Oswayo Valley. She’s the top seed with a SQS of 36 feet, 3 1/2 inches. Cameron County’s Kamme Guisto is also over the SQS at 35-7.25 (SQS is 35-6) with four other jumpers over 34 feet — Johnsonburg’s Cassidy King (34-9), Redbank Valley’s Paiton Rizzo (34-7), Clarion’s Laken Lewis (34-5) and Clarion-Limestone’s Abby Reed (34-2).

Shot put: Tori Obenrader, North Clarion. The returning state medalist and district champion ripped off the biggest throw in the state last week at the Redbank Valley Invitational with a toss of 46 feet, 1 inch. That’s nearly six feet better than the rest of the field which includes five other putters who are over the SQS of 36 feet, 6 inches, including three throwers also in the top eight in the state as per milesplit.com — No. 5 Trinity Clark of Kane (40-7), No. 7 Cambrie Campbell of Moniteau (40-1) and No. 8 Sam Dyson of Punxsutawney (39-7). Also over the SQS are Coudersport’s Lanie Cobb (37-7) and Elk County Catholic’s Samantha Fedus (36-11).

Discus: Sam Dyson, Sr., Punxsutawney. Four D9 throwers rank in the top eight in the state, led by No. 3 Dyson’s throw of 136 feet, 10 inches. Coudersport’s Adrian Page is No. 5 at 129-9, Kane’s Trinity Clark is No. 7 at 126-2 and Moniteau’s Cambrie Campbell is No. 8 at 125-7. Also over the SQS mark of 113 feet are North Clarion’s Tori Obenrader (117-11), Keystone’s Katie Brown (116-9) and Karns City’s Shaney Cheesman (114-0).

Javelin: Trinity Clark, Sr., Kane. The impressive resume of D9 throwers continues in this event as Clark, a University of Akron recruit, owns the third-best throw in the nation and state of 165 feet, 3 inches. Only fellow Keystone Stater Skylar Ciccolini of Mifflin County (Class 3A) at 173 feet, 11 inches and Dana Baker of Kansas (171-5) are better nationally. In Class 2A statewide, D9 has four of the five best marks, led by Clark, No. 2 Cambrie Campbell (145-10) of Moniteau, No. 3 and defending D9 champion Skylar Sherry (144-9) of Johnsonburg and No. 5 Tori Obenrader (136-4) of North Clarion. Two other throwers are seeded over the SQS mark of 121 feet — Redbank Valley’s Zoie Stewart (126-2) and Coudersport’s Adrian Page (121-9).

BOYS

Team favorite: Defending champion Brookville has four top seeds, five No. 2 seeds and they’ve qualified athletes or relays in all 18 events. Of the 29 state-qualifying marks in the district seeding, the Raiders have 10 of them.

To qualify for states: Champions and runners-up in each event plus any state-qualifying performance (SQS) marks earn a trip to the PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University May 25-26.

Returning state medalists (top 8)/finalists: None.

Returning individual event district champions: Just two athletes are back in three events with Clarion’s Brendan Zerfoss (100 and 200 dash), Brookville’s Bryan Dworek (long jump).

Top seeds, notes by event, with top seed listed first:

4×800 relay: Elk County Catholic. The Crusaders have run a SQS of 8:09.14, over 22 seconds better than No. 2 seed Smethport. They were ranked No. 6 in the state as per milesplit.com going into this week.

110 hurdles: Jacob Patton, Sr., Moniteau. He’ll be hard to beat with a SQS seeded time of 14.73. That’s No. 2 in the state. Two others — Brookville’s Dillon Olson and DuBois Central Catholic’s Noah Vokes — are seeded under the SQS of 15.5 with Clarion-Limestone’s Austin Newcomb and Brookville’s Addison Singleton close.

100 dash: Brendan Zerfoss, Sr., Clarion. He’s the defending champion and top seed at 10.94 seconds, but it’s a competitive field with four other sprinters under the SQS of 11.3 — Brookville’s Ian Thrush, ECC’s Jacob Koss, Redbank Valley’s returning runner-up Keaton Kahle and Brookville’s Bryan Dworek. This will be a good final to watch.

1,600 run: Ethan Brentham, Jr., Brookville. He’s one of four runners under 4:40 this year in what could be a tight race. Smethport’s Christian Tanner, ECC’s Matthew Dippold and Smethport’s Darion Gregory are the other sub-4:40s.

4×100 relay: Brookville. The Raiders’ 43.48 ranks fifth in the state at the moment in Class 2A. Two other teams are under 45 seconds — Johnsonburg at 44.44 and ECC at 44.66.

400 dash: Brendan Zerfoss, Sr., Clarion. He turned in a SQS of 49.5 for his seeding and is one of five in the state in Class 2A under 50 seconds at the moment, ranking fourth. Karns City’s Hunter Jones (50.95) is the only other D9 runner under 51 seconds.

300 hurdles: Jacob Patton, Sr., Moniteau. It’s Patton again at the top with a SQS of 39.58, which ranks seventh in the state, one of eight in the state under 40 seconds. Brookville’s Olson (40.12) and Keystone’s Brody Coleman (40.69) are also under the SQS of 40.8.

800 run: Christian Tanner, Jr., Smethport. He’s the only runner under 2:03 this year with a 2:00.02. DuBois Central Catholic’s Linkin Nichols is seeded No. 2 at 2:03.34. Clarion’s Austin Hummel and Moniteau’s Steven Fawcett are also under 2:04.

200 dash: Brendan Zerfoss, Sr., Clarion. His 22.1 seed time ranks third in the state, but not far behind is Brookville’s Ian Thrush with a No. 8 state time of 22.32. Brookville’s Bryan Dworek is also under the SQS (22.88) at 22.7.

3,200 run: Ben Hoffman, Soph., ECC. He’s seeded at 9:57.9, almost 14 seconds faster than No. 2 seed Darion Gregory of Smethport. Brookville’s Ethan Brentham is seeded third also under 10:12 and no other runner has finished under 10:21.

4×400 relay: Brookville. The Raiders and No. 2 seed Clarion have run SQS times of 3:28.6 and 3:29.14. The SQS is 3:29.6 and Karns City is close at 3:30.41 as the No. 3 seed.

Pole vault: Teddy Race, Soph., Kane. The Wolves’ run of 11 straight years of boys’ pole vault titles was stopped last year, but it appears that there’s a good chance it’ll be going back to them this year as Race is the only vaulter over 13 feet this year at 13 feet, 6 inches, which is also the SQS height. His teammate Aaron Hottel and Port Allegany’s Trey Stiles have cleared 12 feet, 6 inches.

High jump: Sam Hetrick, Soph., Redbank Valley. He cleared 6 foot, 5 inches last week and that ranks tied for fourth in the state. Brookville’s Cameron Hooven is the only other jumper over 6 feet this year so far at 6-2. But five jumpers have cleared 6 feet — Johnsonburg’s Trevor Lobaugh, R.J. Miller and Alec McManus, Brookville’s De-Angelo Coffey, and Otto-Eldred’s Jesse Barnett.

Long jump: Bryan Dworek, Jr., Brookville. The defending champion is the only one over 22 feet at 22 feet, 1 inch and that ranks seventh in the state. Otto-Eldred’s Dylan Close (21-9.5) and Brookville’s De-Angelo Coffey (21-7) have also gone over the SQS of 21-6.

Triple jump: Brody Coleman, Jr., Keystone. His seeded mark of 44 feet, 8 1/2 inches ranks fourth in the state. Two others are over 43 feet with Otto-Eldred Jesse Barnett and Brookville’s De-Angelo Coffey. Nobody else is over 42 feet.

Shot put: Ryan Heller, Sr., Moniteau. He’s the top seed at 49 feet, 8 inches with No. 2 seed Bailey Blint of Kane the only other putter over 48 feet at 48-10.5.

Discus: James Parenti, Jr., Moniteau. He’s one of three throwers over 150 feet and the SQS of 148 at 155 feet, ranking sixth in the state. Johnsonburg’s Drew Kilhoffer (153-4) and Kane’s Bailey Blint (151-4) are the other two SQS seeds.

Javelin: Riley Hummell, Sr., Clarion-Limestone. His throw of 188 feet ranks No. 6 in the state and he’s seeded almost 16 feet ahead of Otto-Eldred’s No. 2 seed Dylan Close (172-8). Johnsonburg’s Jake Zimmerman is the only other thrower over 166 feet this year.