Burrell’s Smola, Freeport’s Schaeffer hope to face off at PIAA meet

By: Michael Love
Thursday, May 23, 2024 | 8:49 PM

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Burrell senior Allison Smola and Freeport senior Erin Schaeffer have lined up against each other numerous times in the 100-meter hurdles throughout their high school track and field careers.

The rivals were together again in the finals at the WPIAL Class 2A championships May 15 at Slippery Rock University.

Smola took third, and Schaeffer was fourth. They were nine one-hundredths of a second apart.

While they are not in the same PIAA meet heat Friday morning at Shippensburg University — Smola is the 15th seed (15.92 seconds) and Schaeffer is 17th (16.02) — both hope to pop season bests and earn trips to Saturday’s finals.

“We always talk before and after races and support each other,” Smola said. “We always pick each other up. We are competitors. We talked about (the finals at WPIALs) possibly being the last time we race against each other. But who knows?”

Schaeffer’s time at WPIALs was just one one-hundredths of a second off the state-qualifying standard for the event set by the PIAA. But she was safely in the PIAA field as she earned one of the six automatic bids that went to those finishers in each Class 2A girls event.

She hopes to improve on her 11th-place finish (16.34) from last year.

Excited for states last year after taking fourth at WPIALs, Smola didn’t finish her 100 hurdles race at states.

“I got hurt,” she said. “So this is a big redemption moment for me. I am super excited.”

The Class 2A girls 100 hurdles was youthful last year. Three of the top four finishers, including the champion, graduated, but only four of the 24 entered were seniors.

Schaeffer also is the 14th seed for Friday afternoon’s 300 hurdles preliminaries.

The Alle-Kiski Valley will be well represented in Shippensburg after strong showings across the board at WPIALs May 15 and 16.

Rough weather on the first day of WPIALs pushed some of the championship events to the next day. For several athletes, it was a mini preview of states, which begins Friday and concludes Saturday.

That was the case for Kiski Area’s Eliza Miller and Freeport’s Michael Braun.

Both finished third in their respective 1,600 runs on the first day. Miller came back and captured her second consecutive Class 3A girls 800 title (2:13.95) and is the 11th seed for her race at 2:25 p.m. Saturday.

Braun led or was in a dead heat for most of his Class 2A boys 3,200 run on the second day. But, with tendinitis in his left knee hampering his efforts, he faded off the pace and finished second (9:27.58).

He is seeded seventh and well within medal contention for his 3,200 race that kicks off Saturday’s events at 9 a.m.

Braun said being rested and refocused for states should serve him well.

“Rehab from (the tendinitis) has been going good,” Braun said. “I just don’t think I was fully ready yet (at WPIALs). With additional workouts, I should be ready to go, for sure.”

In all, A-K Valley athletes will compete on the track, in the jumps, or in the throws at least 40 times over the two days.

The first on the track Friday in the 1,600 finals, representing in each of the four races, will be Miller and Braun, along with Knoch senior Ava Santora (13th seed, Class 2A girls) and Fox Chapel’s Rowan Gwin (fourth seed, Class 3A boys).

Gwin is part of a WPIAL-dominant entry list in the Class 3A boys 1,600. The top four seeds are seniors from the WPIAL led by WPIAL champion Drew Griffith from Butler (4:03.22).

Fox Chapel senior Anna Troutman owns the best seed of anyone from the A-K Valley as she is positioned third in the Class 3A girls high jump after leaping 5 feet, 5 inches to claim the WPIAL title. She will compete at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Troutman’s Foxes teammate Mason Miles (shot put), along with Freeport freshman Mackenzie Magness (Class 2A girls pole vault), also own No. 4 seeds.

Miles, the runner-up in the Class 3A boys shot put at WPIALs (57 feet, ¼ inch), is the fourth seed for his throws at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

Magness, whose breakout season continued at WPIALs with gold after a top attempt of 11-6, owns the Freeport school record at 11-9 and hopes to surpass 12 feet at states.

She will get her shot at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“I am just working on getting better,” Magness said. “I am super excited for states and being able to compete with all of those girls. It’s going to be awesome. Twelve feet is sitting right there for me. I just have to take advantage of it and go.”

The top three seeds hit at least 12 feet in their district meets with Lilyana Carlson, a junior from Bermudian Springs in District 3, at the top (13-0).

Others with top-eight seeds Friday or Saturday include Knoch junior Karlee Buterbaugh in the Class 2A girls javelin (sixth, 125-10), Apollo-Ridge senior Sophia Yard in the Class 2A girls high jump (sixth, 5-4), Knoch junior Kara Fennell in the Class 2A girls triple jump (fifth, 38-0) and Plum junior Gabrielle Layne in the Class 3A girls 100 dash (eighth, 12.23).

“I didn’t run my greatest at states last year, so I am looking forward to a great race this time,” said Layne, who was 24th in the 100 at states last year (12.61). “I am confident I can drop time and get a medal.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.