2011 PIAA Boys and Girls Track and Field Day Two Update

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, May 28, 2011 | 12:00 AM

Sprinters Trenton Coles of Clairton and Iman Wilkerson of Penn Hills turned a double play at the PIAA track and field championships Saturday at Shippensburg University.

Coles, a junior, and Wilkerson, a senior, were the only double winners from the WPIAL on the final day of the two-day meet at Shippensburg University. Both won the 100- and 200-meter dashes.

Coles won the Class AA 100 in 11.13 seconds and the 200 in 22.24. Wilkerson won the Class AAA girls 100 in 12.04 seconds and the 200 in 24.54.

For Coles, he became the third-generation gold-medal winner in his family. His mother, former Thomas Jefferson star Marla Puryear, won six PIAA gold medals in the 100 and 200 in the 1980s. Puryear died of an illness two years ago.

Coles grandfather, Norman Jones, was the last Clairton athlete to win a PIAA title before his grandson. Jones championship came in the 100-yard dash in 1971.

Jones, who is Puryears father, was in attendance at Shippensburg and the PIAA had him hand out the gold medals for both the 100 and 200 in Class AA. So he got to put the gold medals around his grandson's nec.

Coles had run better times than he did Saturday, but there may have been a reason for that.

"The wind was really tough to deal with, especially in the 200," Coles said.

Wilkerson, meanwhile, became the first girl in Penn Hills history to win a sprinting event as she captured the 100 in 12.04 seconds and the 200 in 22.24.

"My goal coming in here was to double in the 100 and 200," Wilkerson said. "To actually see it happen is very, very satisfying."

Wilkerson also ran a leg on Penn Hills 400 relay team that won the PIAA title a year ago with Wilkerson as a member. But Wilkerson dropped the baton on her leg, and Penn Hills didnt finish the race. Wilkerson dropped the baton after taking it from Deshaun Squires.

"I was coming up with my arm and I just brushed my side with it and I just dropped it," Wilkerson said.

WPIAL wins 12

Counting Wilkersons and Coles championships, the WPIAL won 12 titles in individual events. The WPIAL did not have any winners in relay events.

* North Hills Margo Malone won the Class AAA 1,600 in 4:55.72. Malone and State Colleges Chloe Schmidt were battling each other for the first three laps, but Malone came on strong on the final lap and blew away Schmidt, who ran 4:59.87.

"I just kept telling myself to stay confident," Malone said. "But I was a little scared because I knew she was right behind me most of the way."

* Belle Vernons Matt Green won the Class AAA long jump for the second time in three years with a leap of 23-5

Tags: Clairton