May 25, 2007 By Jim Downey 4 min read

Laurel Highlands’ Breehana Jacobs and Brownsville’s America Cardine are among a handful of girls who hope to return from the PIAA Track & Field Championships with three medals, but only Jacobs, at least in Class AAA, will be the only girl doing so exclusively on the track. The two seniors are among 17 local individuals plus a relay team seeking to cap their spring season with a state medal from the two-day meet hosted by Shippensburg University. Action begins at 9 a.m. today and will open at the same time Saturday.

Jacobs would be in a class by herself should she triple in the sprints. If she can pull off her quest, the senior would become the first girl in Class AAA to win gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400. Additionally, Jacobs is the two-time defending champion in the 100 as well as winning the 200 in 2006. Three more gold medals would move her in select company, joining six other girls, including Rochester grad and current Olympian Lauryn Williams, with six gold medals for eighth-best in state history.

Merion Mercy’s Tiffany Abney tops the list with 10 gold medals.

Washington’s Laila Brock, in Class AA, is the only female to sweep the sprints at the state level when she accomplished the feat in 1996.

Nine other girls qualified in three different events in the highest classification. Three will face Jacobs in the sprints with Downington’s Christen Arnold in the 100 and 200 (as well as the long jump), CD East’s Marissa McDonald in the 100 (and the long and triple jumps), and Pocono Mountain’s Anita James in the 200 (plus the long jump and high jump).

Three girls are in all three jumping events with McDowell’s Ajla Glavasevic in the rare triple of the long jump, triple jump and shot put. Carlisle’s Kacey James is in all three throwing events.

Jacobs will also have to face a number of different sprinters in her three races. Eight girls are attempting to double in the 100 and 200. Council Rock’s Ije Iheoma is in both the 400 and 200. Jacobs is the top seed in all three sprints.

Jacobs’ schedule to reach the top step of the medals podium includes a preliminary heat, semifinals and finals in both the 100 and 200 with semifinals and finals in the 400.

This is the second consecutive year Cardine qualified for three individual events, and she is still looking for her first state medal. Cardine is seeded eighth in the 100 high hurdles, 21st in the 300 intermediate hurdles, and ninth in the long jump.

Connellsville sophomore Rodney Richter finished fifth in both the shot put and discus at last week’s WPIAL Championships, but qualified for the state meet by surpassing the PIAA standards. He is seeded 11th in the shot put, about 11 inches shy of Seneca Valley’s Tim Miles as the eighth seed, and 15th in the discus, about four feet short of No 8-seeded Phil Deivernois of Palmyra.

Should he reach his intended goals, Richter would likely medal in both events.

“I would like to throw 170 feet in the discus and 55 feet in the shot put at states,” Richter said after last week’s district championships. “I’m more than happy to be at states.”

Belle Vernon’s Shane Curran didn’t expect to advance to the state meet in the 400 this year, but earned a berth after taking the silver in the WPIAL Championships. The junior will need to shave about a second from his seed time of 50.75 seconds to be in medal contention.

According to Curran, that shortfall can be made up with a faster opening 100 meters.

“I came out too slow,” Curran said after the WPIAL meet, falling short of the gold medal by .13 seconds. “There’s nothing to lose at the states. I’ll try to run it right.

“We never expected to go to states at the beginning of the season. We just want to place.”

Mount Pleasant’s Taylor Funk is seeded fourth in the girls’ Class AA 100 high hurdles and ninth in the 300 intermediate hurdles. Teammate Abbey Way, a double gold medallist in the district meet, is seeded sixth in the pole vault. She is also competing in the high jump.

Waynesburg Central has a handful of athletes in the state meet, including the Lady Raiders’ 400 relay squad, Morgan Bland (pole vault), Rachel Corfont (high jump), Lori Wise (javelin), Maria Shepas (800), Keith Higginbotham (100), and Nick Patton (pole vault).

Higginbotham is one of three sprinters at 11.30 seconds, the seventh-best seed time in boys Class AA.

Also competing in the weekend’s state meet is a trio of Laurel Highlands girls, Aleesha Washington (100), Casey Conn (pole vault), and Demi Phillipy (javelin), Connellsville senior Scott Jones (110 high hurdles), and Southmoreland’s Ben Poorbaugh (discus).