A final look back at the track season that never happened
Memorial Day weekend not only designates the unofficial beginning of summer, but it’s also the time the PIAA holds its annual state track & field meet at Shippensburg University.
I attended my first state meet in 1996 and have only missed one in the years that have followed. That is, until 2020.
It was an awkward feeling not traipsing around the grounds of Seth Grove Stadium for a couple days, keeping tabs on the area’s local athletes. A lot of miles, a lot of hours, lots of photos, some improper nutrition, not enough sleep and avoiding the deadly steeplechase rail along the track were the norm of the whirlwind two days, but, hey, once a year, it was worth the effort.
Brownsville senior Gionna Quarzo didn’t run early in the morning on that Saturday over Memorial Day weekend, but she would’ve been the odds-on favorite to lower her state-record time and win her third Class AA gold medal in the 3,200. The fun count would’ve been how many runners she’d lap in the eight-lap race. Now mind you, these are the best the state has to offer and it’s intriguing just how great some athletes are to lap other runners or win by a large margin of time, distance or height.
Plus, the opportunity was lost to hand over the baton to the next Quarzo, JoJo, a freshman.
Waynesburg Central’s Taylor Shriver finished third in the state in the pole vault last year after breaking the WPIAL mark held by former Raider great Marissa Kalsey and entered the 2020 season after a strong indoor season.
The list of girls seeking a return trip to the state championship included seniors, Belle Vernon’s Hannah Seitzinger (10, 400) and Brownsville’s Jamilah Copeland (22, 200) and Aniya Tarpley (10, triple jump); juniors, Belle Vernon’s Casey Weightman (14, javelin), Southmoreland’s Makayla Slack (12, 100) and California’s Makayla Boda (10, 300 intermediate hurdles); and West Greene sophomore Brooke Barner (20, 100).
Local senior boys who participated in the PIAA Championships last year included seniors, Elizabeth Forward’s Stephen Frost (19, 800) and the Warriors’ 3,200 relay (18), Yough’s Josh O’Bradovich (21, high jump), Uniontown’s Isaiah Melvin (T-13, high jump), Connellsville’s Aden Bruich (19, shot put), and Belle Vernon’s Ryan Marek (19, discus); and juniors, Yough’s Hunter Bakewell (16, javelin) and Elizabeth Forward’s Chase Whatton (21, javelin).
Those are just the athletes who qualified last year. There were a number of kids who were close in 2019, plus those counting on a strong spring season to finally earn that elusive berth into the final meet of the season.
Oh well, here’s hoping for a return trip to Shippensburg in May, 2021!
n n n
”Binky” Sages passed away last weekend from cancer. To those who might not know of Binky, he was my longtime barber.
He was old-school. Binky might’ve been the last person in America to use White Rain to hold my freshly-cut hair (along with the occasional blast of cigarette smoke). He used to cut my grandmother’s hair.
I can count on one hand how many times Binky or his former partner John Prah did not given me a haircut since I first sat in the booster chair, say around 57, 58 years ago.
(There is no way any barber, dentist or member of the medical profession was paid enough to deal with a preschool me. I was, let’s say, a bit squirmy and uncooperative at that age.)
I’ve often said barber shops are among the bastions of democracy because discussions go all over the place, and Binky’s shop was no different.
He was an avid hunter and sportsman (as evidenced by the works of taxidermy in the shop, including a groundhog donning a Steeler lei and sunglasses greeting patrons).
Binky had a walk-in shop (not possible in these days of COVID-19), so you’d take a seat and wait your turn. We had a bit of a routine in the latter days before his retirement. He’d spot me, ask my age and say “See that guy, I gave him his first haircut,” as though I was a living advertisement.
The need for a haircut would usually coincide with a road race, so I would always ask for an “aerodynamic cut” to help me walk faster. (He would also point out to patrons patiently waiting their turn that I walked the Summit, either in amazement or this guy is nuts.)
When the calendar turned to fall, the Pittsburgh Steelers questions would come forth, as though I had any inside information (which I don’t). He would also announce I wrote for the Herald-Standard, which would generally lead me to pick up the shop copy and point to a story I had in the edition that day.
So, to his wife Cecilia and children Joe, Bob and Kristie, condolences on the loss of a pretty unique fella.