Girl’s track
Waynesburg sweeps; B-C sprints past Brownsville WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Central didn’t have to tough of a time in the triangular Tuesday, the meet between Beth-Center and Brownsville was close in the Section 3-AA meet held at the Waynesburg oval.
The Lady Raiders improved to 2-1 in the section with a 105-41 win over Brownsville and a 75-64 victory against the Lady Bulldogs. Beth-Center squeaked by the Lady Falcons, 72-68, for a split. Beth-Center improves to 1-2 while Brownsville evens out in the section at 2-2.
The Beth-Center push was led by a quintet of individuals in 10 events. Becca White was too much for the Brownsville middle and long distance runners to handle, winning the 800, 1,600 and 3,200, something that didn’t escape the watchful eye of Brownsville girls coach Robb Rhodes.
“Rebecca White had too much in her tank for us today,” Rhodes said. “Beth-Center is always up for Brownsville and Waynesburg was just too tough for us. I knew we’d come up short in the field against Waynesburg. We’ll go back to Cal U and do some fine tuning for next week.”
While the Lady Raider throwers might have been too much for Beth-Center, the Lady Bulldog tandem of Danielle Hutchinson and Samantha Slagle were just as strong against Brownsville. Hutchinson finished second overall in the shot put (29-7) and discus (84-7) to Waynesburg’s Helen Higgins while Slagle was the top thrower in the javelin at 107-93/4, a personal best.
“I changed a lot of things from last year, my approach, grip and such,” said Slagle, who came tantalizingly close to advance to the state finals last year. “The WPIAL last year makes me want to do better this year. I want to throw 120-feet and make it to states.”
One thing Beth-Center coach Ed Woods asked of Slagle and the rest of his girls of his small squad was they step up to competing in four events instead of the two they normally do.
“We felt we could compete against Brownsville. Most of the kids competed in four events today,” Woods said. “We want them in two events and focus on those events the whole year. Today, we asked them to step it up in other events.”
Jen Carol finished second overall in both the 100 and 100 high hurdles for Beth-Center while Jen Paroda had a strong day in the jumps with second place efforts in the long and triple jumps.
Waynesburg had a nice all-around effort with first place finishes from Jocelyn Lindsay (100, pole vault), Helen Higgins (200, shot put, discus), Jodie Riggs (high jump, triple jump) and Michelle Thompson (1,600, 3,200).
Lindsay only vaulted 7-feet, but the senior was just happy to be outside competing even though a stiff rain fell during the pole vault. Cold weather cancelled the pole vault at Saturday’s Tri-State Coaches Invitational at West Mifflin, so the three-time WPIAL Class AA gold medallist – the only girl to win the top spot – hasn’t been outside vaulting much.
“It’s frustrating. I haven’t been able to jump against anyone and practice outside because of the weather,” Lindsay said. “Since I’m a senior, things are going to be different. I always want to better myself, my goal is always a PR, but that last meet, that’s a little different.
“Hopefully, I’ll have a long career ahead of me in college.”
Brownsville’s Jenna Jackson gave the Falcon boys and girls track teams a sweep of the 300 intermediate hurdles with her time of 54.75 seconds. Angela Fraley anchored the 3,200 relay team of Holly Peters, Julie Kromer and Jill McClelland and was the overall winner in the 400 (1:08).