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LH, Uniontown have good day

By Jim Downey 5 min read

WEST MIFFLIN – Belle Vernon, Laurel Highlands and Uniontown all had at least one athlete advance with the Mustangs and Red Raiders sending a handful Tuesday from the WPIAL Class AAA Southern Track and Field Qualifier at West Mifflin to next week’s WPIAL Championships. The teams benefited from the addition of two extra qualifiers, taking the berths from six to eight to the WPIAL meet at Baldwin on Thursday, May 15.

The Mustangs led the way with nine individual qualifiers in 10 events. Uniontown had six individuals and a relay team advance with Belle Vernon sending Ryan Moravec in two events.

Matt Humbert advanced through the 110 high and 300 intermediate hurdles, winning his heat in the 300 hurdles easily with a little push from last week’s Baldwin Invitational.

“The Peters Township kid beat me at Baldwin last week, so I wanted to get even at the qualifiers,” Humbert said of his 39.9 seconds effort. “I know there’s at least four real good intermediate hurdlers in the finals.”

Humbert had to overcome a slow start out of the blocks in the 110 high hurdles to finish third in his heat.

“I just wanted to qualify,” Humbert said. “I’ll bring it all out next week.”

Brandon Mahoney didn’t have to work too hard in the pole vault, but gave Joe Jupina, the Laurel Highlands pole vault coach, some trepidations. Mahoney came in at 12 feet, six inches only to kick the bar in his first attempt. He cleanly flew over the bar to continue on to next week.

“There was no need to make a point today. I have nothing to prove. Getting over the bar to the next round was the important thing,” Mahoney said.

The Mustangs will have two vaulters in the final because Jared Jodon cleared 12-feet to advance.

Josh Zueger (6th, 40-9) and Brennon Meadows (8th, 40-6) qualified in the triple jump while Brian John gave the Mustangs three jumpers in next week’s meet by clearing 5-10 in the high jump. Chris Manges, brother of Uniontown girls track coach Bob Manges, gutted out a win in his heat of the 400 to finish seventh overall in a time of 52.7 seconds.

The 400 relay team of Alex Bota, Tony Patitucci, Tim Wardell and Jack Macioce finished fourth in a time of 45.1 seconds. Patitucci advanced in the javelin by placing eighth with a throw of 156-feet. Larry Brink held his pace to finish fifth in the 3,200 with a time of 10:17.

The Uniontown coaching staff was pleasantly pleased with the numbers to advance, especially in the sprints. Eric Russman and Nashuan Jackson made it through in the 100 while Nate Frezzell leaned at the right time to finish third in his heat in the 200 to advance.

Russman had to deal with a tight hamstring and a bad start in the final heat.

“I really had to stretch my hamstring. I ran an 11.2 in the first race, but ran 11.5 in the final. I had a bad start,” Russman explained. “I kept in my head I was going to win.”

Jackson also had a bad start forcing him to run from behind in the sprint.

“I had a lot of catch-up in the first 40 yards. I edged out (Laurel Highlands Alex) Bota. He didn’t lean. I’m happy to be (in the finals). It’s an accomplishment to make it.”

Frezzell was happy with his time, but knows he still has room for improvement before next week.

“I glanced over. I knew I’d have to hit the lean right (at the finish line). If I could sprint the first 100 meters, I’d lower my time. I just stride it out. I have a week to work on it,” Frezzell said.

Adam Muzika was a beneficiary of the extended berths after finishing eighth in the shot put with a throw of 44-3¼. Muzika hopes to be on the upside of his better throws after several weeks of poor attempts.

“I want to try to get back where I was in the middle of the season. It’s been a steady decline until today. I feel I working back to normal. My best throw is 47-feet. I should be throwing that every meet,” Muzika said.

“I work all those last few kinks out. I’ll make everything nice and smooth.”

Jiles White (high jump), Walter Richardson (triple jump) and the 3,200 relay team of Jasper Hawker, Kyle Markwardt, Kevin Monaghan and Andy Gleason also advanced.

The pitter-patter of feet along with his dad’s voice propelled Moravec to a berth in the 800 after he had already earned a berth in the 1,600 with a sixth place finish. A lot of tough running on a windy day in West Mifflin.

“The second turn was like you were wearing a parachute. I knew Mike Booth was a real smart runner in the 1,600. I know he knows how to work the other runners so I just followed him,” the senior said.

“I was eighth on the fourth turn of the 800. I heard my father and heard footsteps and knew I had to go.”

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