The Performance Lists for the 2019 PIAA Track and Field Championships have been released. Here is an event by event look at Central Pennsylvania competitors.

100m

The Warwick girls are coming off a great weekend in which they defended their District III AAA Team Championships. Their sprinters played a big part in that championship and will be all be incredibly busy at the state meet. Leah Graybill and Meghan Quinn are both entered in the 100m/200m/4x100m/4x400m. Lily Palacio-Lewis will be doing the 100m/4x100m/4x400m triple. To make it to finals in the 100m and 200m you need to advance through 2 qualifying rounds (prelims and semis). The 4×100 and 4x400m prelims will also be run on Friday. The Warwick trio is seeded #2, #3, and #4 in the 100m heading into the state championships.

Other local competitors: Cahsia Page, Hempfield (#14); Ania Johnson, Ephrata (#21); Jessica Lose, State College (#24)

200m

Warwick’s Leah Graybill (#3), Donegal’s Taylor Nissly (#6), Conestoga Valley’s Jordyn Hock (#8), and Warwick’s Meghan Quinn (#9) are in prime position to earn a trip to finals. Both Nissly and Hock will be competing in the 400m earlier in the day. Conestoga Valley will also be running in the 4×100 prelims (as will Warwick). In other words, Hock will be very busy this weekend. CV has decided not to enter their 4×400 which will save their legs a bit heading into Saturday.

Other local competitors: Raechel Bonner, Central Dauphin (#22); Makenzie Graham, State College (#24)

400m

Taylor Nissly ran a terrific 400m race this past Saturday, improving her PR to 55.63. She is the #2 seed heading into states. Central Dauphin’s Rachael Bonner (#5), Cedar Crest’s Shayla Bonzelet (#7), and Conestoga Valley’s Jordyn Hock (#8) are in good position to medal. Shayla Bonzelet ran great in the 200-800m events this past weekend, but will be able to focus solely on the 400m this weekend. District III is sending 8 (the max # allowed) athletes to states in the 400m.

Other local competitors: Sarah Castronova, Conestoga Valley (#13); Megan Grube, Hempfield (#19); Jackie Goebel, Twin Valley (#21); Kaia Martz, Cocalico (#22); Casie Eifrig, State College (#25)

800m

I am surprised to see that Greencastle-Antrim’s Taryn Parks has opted out of the 800m to focus on the 1600m. With Conestoga Valley’s scratch in the 4x400m Greencastle Antrim’s squad made it in. This could be the reason for the 800m scratch. She would have battled Strath Haven’s Grace Forbes for state gold. District III is still very well represented in this event. CD East’s Makenna Krebs dropped a 2:12.95 and is seeded 3rd. Elizabethtown’s Katie Locker is seeded 5th. Locker will be running anchor on their 3rd ranked 4x800m relay team, but has opted out of the 1600m. Look for her to improve upon her 2:15 seed time and advance to finals. Another athlete likely to move up from her seed is Milton Hershey’s Tatyana Gibson. In one of the gutsiest performance I have seen, she came back to finish 4th at the District III Championships after falling 120m into the race. CD East’s Delaney Line (11th) and Twin Valley’s Anna Posh (12th) will also be looking to qualify into finals (Top 12 from prelims advance).

Other local competitors: Kelty Oaster, Gettysburg (#17); Olivia Wilson, Hershey (#18); Elly Haushalter, State College (#27)

1600m

Northern’s Marlee Starliper ran the 2nd fasted 1600m time in state history this past weekend when she PRd with a 4:38.70. She currently ranked #1 in the United States at 1600m. She is not entered in the 3200m so she should be looking to take down Kim Gallagher’s meet record of 4:41.08 that has stood since 1981. Taryn Parks (Greencastle-Antrim) comes in as the #2 seed and will be looking to improve upon her 4:52 from Districts. Parks won the indoor national title over Starliper when they ran identical 4:39.05 times in the mile at the New Balance National Championships. District VI champion Kileigh Kane of State College comes in as the #4 seed with a 4:54. She ran a 4:51 mile at Penn Relays, so she could be looking to go sub-4:50 at 1600m this weekend.

District III is loaded at 1600m this season. Place-winners finishing 3-8 opted out of the event at states to focus on other races. Mary Campbell of Ephrata finished 9th, but now enters states as the #5 seed with her time of 5:02.45. Elizabethtown’s Cat Shontz is now also in and seeded 8th. They both will be looking to move on to the 12 person final.

Other local competitors: Kiersten Lloyd, Red Lion (#16)

3200m

With Starliper’s focus on the 1600m, Kate Dickow of Warwick has a chance to double back from her indoor 3000m gold to win outdoor gold at 3200m. She is the top seed entering the meet with her 10:28.02 from Districts. How good was distance in District III this season? 8 of the top 11 ranked athletes entering the meet are from the district! District III would have 9 out of the 12 if Starliper ran and a district was allowed more than 8 athletes to qualify. Sophia Toti of Carlisle (#2), Gwyneth Young of Cedar Crest (#3), Reagan Underwood of Wilson (#5), Bryn Underwood of Wilson (#6), Cat Shontz of Elizabethtown (#7), Emily Schuler of Dallastown (#9), and Maddie Quinn of Elizabethtown (#10) will all be looking to medal Saturday. Dickow is the only senior of this bunch.

Other local competitors: Jordan Reed, State College (#21)

110mH

Conestoga Valley’s Jane Livingston will face her toughest competition since indoor season as she goes head to head with Christina Warren (Perkiomen Valley). Livingston earned the victory over Warren indoors for her first state title. Livingston, Warren, and Oakland Catholic’s Jayla Ellis are the only three athletes who have gone under 14-seconds this year. 4 other local athletes have gone under 15-seconds and will be looking to earn a trip to the awards stand. They include Cedar Cliff’s Ava Bechtel (#8, 14.68), Cedar Crest’s De’Asia Holloman (#10, 14.84), Chambersburg’s Breya Clopper (#12, 14.95), and Exter’s Jackie Richards (#15, 14.99). Palmyra’s Maliyah Stough, Wilson’s Amanda Tony, and Mifflin County’s Ella Spriggle also hit state qualifying marks and are seeded 20th, 21st, and 22nd respectively. Stough has a season best of 14.84.

300mH

Jane Livingston will be looking to sweep gold in both hurdle events this weekend. The Conestoga Valley senior and Villanova signee is seeded first in both events. Hoping to join her on the award stand will be Cumberland Valley senior and Penn State commit Taylor Jede, who seeded 6th. Madi Herb of Wilson is seeded 12th.

Other local competitors: Breya Clopper, Chambersburg (#15); Alexandra Snyder, Hollidaysburg (#18); Sophia Kline, Spring Grove (#20)

4x100m

Warwick will be looking for state gold a week after setting the District III meet record. They are ranked #1 coming into the meet. Conestoga Valley is seeded 6th and Carlisle 9th. They are the only 3 Central PA teams in the top 10 entering Friday’s prelims.

Other local competitors: Hempfield (#13); Chambersburg (#16); Altoona (#24); Exeter Twp (#25)

4x400m

Warwick also broke the District III record in the 4x400m this past weekend and are seeded #1 in this event. This will be a true testament of will on behalf of the Warwick girls. If all goes to plan and they advance to finals, this could be the 10th race of the weekend for Leah Graybill and Meghan Quinn and the 7th for Lily Palacio-Lewis. Warwick could also be battling for a team podium spot this weekend as well. Conestoga Valley would have been seeded 4th, but they scratched out of this event. Cumberland Valley (#13) and JP McCaskey (#15) are the next two ranked Central PA teams in the 4x400m.

Other local competitors: Carlisle (#18); Greencastle-Antrim (#21); Altoona (#22)

4x800m

Elizabethtown improved upon their season best at Districts running 9:21.07. They are seeded 3rd. Elizabethtown made the Championship of America finals in this event at the Penn Relays. Carlisle is seeded 4th after their impressive 2nd place finish at the District III championships lowering their season best time to 9:21.79. Governor Mifflin is also in good position to medal seeded 6th with a 9:25.02.

Other local competitors: Wilson (#15); Hershey (#18); State College (#26)

High Jump

Amelia Mccloy (Central Mountain), Kayla Gillen (Twin Valley), and Skylar Miller (Kutztown) are the areas best bets to win medals in the high jump. McCloy has a season best of 5-7. Gillen has jumped 5-6 this year and Miller has cleared 5-5. None hit their season bests at districts and come into states seeded off of their district performance at #4, #8, and #9 respectively.

Other local competitors: Paige Jodan, Hollidaysburg (#9); Rachael Spencer, State College (#9); Amber Levengood, Cedar Crest (#28); Madeline Lehker, South Western (#28); Kayla Brooks, South Western (#28)

Pole Vault

Sydney Horn of Manheim Township enters the meet as the #1 seed. She won the Indoor State title this past winter and will look to make it gold 2/2 on the 2018/19 season this weekend. She has a season and personal best clearance of 13-6. Her sister, Mackenzie, holds the PIAA AAA Meet record at 13-3. Cierra Crane of Central York and Gabriella Recce of Central Dauphin are seeded tied for 2nd with their 12-0 clearances from Districts. Recce has cleared 12-6 this season. Carlisle’s Rileigh Cardin, State College’s Lyndsey Reed, and Mechanicsburg’s Annika Hummel come into the meet tied for 6th based off of their 11-0 jumps at Districts. Reed has cleared 11-11.75 this outdoor season and went over 13-feet indoors. Cardin has a season best of 11-6.

Long Jump

West York’s Tesia Thomas, Central Dauphin’s Gabriella Recce, and Northern’s Meredith Engle, all juniors, have been the area’s top horizontal jumpers (LJ & TJ) all season. Hollidaysburg’s Darcie Frazier joins them as the areas athletes who have leapt beyond 18-feet on the year. Based off of district performances, here are the following seeds for states: Thomas (#4); Recce, Central Dauphin (#9); Engle (#11); Frazier, Hollidaysburg (#16); Aviona Saunders, Conestoga Valley (#18); Emily McKenzie, Northern (#22). North Penn’s Natalie Kwortnik is seeded 1st after jumping 19-00.50 at the District 1 championships.

Triple Jump

Central PA is well represented in the triple jump and will look to put multiple athletes on the medal stand. Tesia Thomas of West York had her best performance of the year at Districts when she reached out to 39-11. If not for Perkiomen Valley’s Christina Warren‘s monster jump of 41-00.5 then Thomas would be the top seed. Thomas has a foot on the next closest competitor. Gabriella Recce improved upon her season best at districts as well jumping 37-11.50 and is seeded 3rd. State College Area’s Noelia Pagano won the District VI title with a season best 37-11 and is seeded 4th. While seeded only 16th based off of her district performance, Wilson’s Amanda Tony has jumped 38-11 on the season. Conestoga Valleys Aviona Saunders (38-01.25), South Western’s Zaiyah Marshall (38-00), and Warwick’s Juliette Delmotte (38-00) have all gone 38-feet this year.

Here are the seeds based on this past weekend’s district performances: Thomas (#2); Recce (#3); Pagano (4th); Marshall (5th); Delmotte (9th); Saunders (14th); Tony (16th); Kayla Brooks, South Western (#19); Brooke Long, Altoona (#20)

Shot Put

Seniors Keeley Suzenski (Berks Catholic) and Ryelle Shuey (ELCO) have both thrown the shot over 40-feet this season. Suzenski won the district title and has a season best throw of 45-09. She’s seeded 3rd off of her 43-06.75 performance this weekend. Shuey has thrown 41-3 and is seeded 6th off of her 40-11.25 throw at districts.

Other local competitors: Olivia Moyer, Wilson (#18); Ahni-Yah Parker, JP McCaskey (#22); Kylie McIntire, Red Lion (#26)

Discus

Berks Catholic’s Keeley Suzenski is the top local AAA discus thrower, coming into states seeded 4th. She is the only AAA athlete from Central PA over 140-feet on the season. Cedar Crest’s Hannah Woelfling is seeded 5th and has a season best of 134-10. Other local competitors with a good chance to medal include Penn Manor’s Jayln Clow who is seeded 15th, but has a season best of 135-09. If she repeats that performance she will likely be on the award’s stand. Wilson’s Olivia Moyer is seeded 11th and has a season best of 133-00. Yenisha Lopez of Susquehanna Twp is seeded 9th and is coming off a season best 124-04 throw at districts.

Other local competitors: Kristen Herr, Lampeter-Strasburg (#12); Mackenzie Rinker, Hollidaysburg (#24)

Javelin

Central PA athletes hold down the top 3 seeds at states in the Javelin. US #1 Skylar Ciccolini of Mifflin County has thrown 184-02 this season. The National Federation High School Record is 185-08 by Madison Wiltrout of Connellsville. Wiltrout also has the PIAA Meet Record of 182-08. Both records will be on watch this Saturday. Kristen Herr of Lampeter Strasburg has thrown over 157-feet and is currently ranked PA#2 and US #5. Ciccolini and Herr brought the best out of each other at the Penn Relays and will hopefully do the same this weekend. Taylor Ciccolini (Mifflin County) is seeded 3rd and currently ranked PA#5 and US#22. Taylor is only a sophomore.

Other local competitors: Hannah Cassner, Daniel Boone (#17); Erin Miller, Cumberland Valley (#18); Kaylla Williams, Harrisburg (#20); Genieva Martin, Palmyra (#22)