Pole vaulters lead local charge in PIAA track championships
Southmoreland's Emily Lessman slides over the bar during the girls Class AA high jump at the WPIAL Class AAA/AA Individual Track & Field Championships held at Baldwin High School on Thursday, May 17. Lessman is one of many local athletes to qualify for the PIAA Championships this weekend at Shippensburg University.
Jim Downey
Laurel Highlands’ Shelby Burns bends over the bar during the girls Class AAA high jump at the WPIAL Class AAA/AA Individual Track & Field Championships held at Baldwin High School on Thursday, May 17. Burns is among several local hopefuls who qualified for this weekend’s PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University.
Local pole vaulters left last week’s WPIAL Individual Track & Field Championships with two golds and a silver, and enter this weekend’s PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University among the high seeds.
Waynesburg Central’s Marissa Kalsey not only won the Class AA gold medal, she did so in style by topping former Lady Raider standout Jocelyn Lindsay’s previous WPIAL meet record. Kalsey cleared 12-6, her personal best, to beat Lindsay’s height by one inch.
Kalsey wanted to continue on at Baldwin, but Waynesburg vault coach Butch Brunell quickly put an end to that notion. Kalsey, a Westminster College recruit, will likely have the opportunity to take one more vault when she takes to the pit this morning at 9 a.m. at Seth Grove Stadium.
Laurel Highlands’ Jesse Laverdiere needed a second vault, but cleared a personal-best 15 feet to win the Class AAA gold medal. He is seeded fourth in Saturday afternoon’s boys Class AAA pole vault.
“Today was my day. It’s completely random between me and Jake,” Laverdiere said after the competition. “I was a great day.”
Hensh cleared 14-6 to finish second to his teammate, and is seeded seventh.
Teammate Pat Conn joins the Albert Gallatin duo of D’iare McKoy and Greg McKay in Saturday afternoon’s Class AAA long jump. McKoy won the bronze medal with a personal-best jump of 22-8½, and is seeded eighth coming into the state meet. Conn cleared 22-2¼ to be seeded 15th, while McKay jumped a state-qualifying 22-2¼ and is seeded 18th.
California’s Kailyn Clancy qualified in two events, finishing second in both the shot put and discus in her first district finals. She will compete in the Class AA discus this afternoon and the shot put Saturday afternoon, where she is seeded sixth, and is looking for a personal best of 40 feet.
Waynesburg Central senior Peyton Hampson won the WPIAL gold medal in the Class AA 800, and has the third-best time entering this afternoon’s preliminaries.
West Greene’s Mikayla Sonneborn could have a busy weekend ahead of her. The senior runs in the Class AA 1,600 preliminaries at noon today, and then returns to the track three hours later for the 800 preliminaries. The 1,600 finals are Saturday at 1 p.m. with the 800 finals later in the afternoon.
Also seeking to advance to Saturday’s final in the 1,600 is West Greene sophomore Rebecca Phillips.
Southmoreland’s Emily Lessman, in her third state meet, and Beth-Center’s Erin Pirt, in her first, in Class AA, as well as Laurel Highlands freshman Shelby Burns in Class AAA, will likely need personal bests to make the medals podium. The Class AAA girls jump at 9 a.m. today with the Class AA girls slated to begin at noon.
Uniontown’s Julie Friend looks to double this weekend, but will need to travel 16 laps around the track to do so with the 1,600 preliminaries today and the 3,200, and possibly the 1,600, final Saturday.
Frazier’s Sawyer Palonder caps his career for the Commodores seeking a medal in Saturday’s Class AA 3,200 final.
Laurel Highlands’ Maria Pierce, in her first state meet, is seeded fourth after finishing third in the WPIAL Class AAA finals. Pierce throws this afternoon.
Also qualifying for this weekend’s state meet are Southmoreland’s Jessica Shotts (shot put), Mount Pleasant’s Alexa Szelong (pole vault), Julia Novotny (400, javelin), 400 relay team, Tyler Kolar (pole vault), and Taylor Nitkiewicz (long jump, triple jump), Waynesburg Central’s Richelle Tharp (javelin), and Jefferson-Morgan’s Nick Santoya (long jump).