Defending champions seek repeat performances at WPIAL meet

By: Alec Italiano
Monday, May 14, 2018 | 8:00 AM

The WPIAL Class AAA and AA track and field individual finals are Thursday at Baldwin, and there are several athletes who will attempt to defend championships from 2017.

In Class AAA, girls defending champions are Avonworth/Northgate's Hunter Robinson in the 400-meter run (No. 1 seed) and 200 (No. 1 seed), Upper St. Clair's Savannah Shaw in the 1,600 run (No. 1 seed), West Allegheny's Maddie Salek in the 800 run (No. 1 seed), Oakland Catholic's Hannah Schupansky in the 3,200 run (No. 1 seed), Oakland Catholic's Jayla Ellis in the long jump and Butler's Jena Reinheimer in the discus (No. 1 seed).

The defending relay champs are Oakland Catholic in the 3,200, North Allegheny in the 400 and Butler in the 1,600.

North Allegheny's Ayden Owens is the defending champ in the Class AAA boys 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles (No. 1 seed) and the long jump (No. 1 seed).

Other's hoping to defend titles in boys Class AAA are New Castle's Le'Shawn Huff in the 1,600, Thomas Jefferson's Zach Wagner in the 200, Butler's Noah Beveridge in the 3,200 (No. 1 seed), Penn Hills' Emmanuel Mitchell in the high jump (No. 1 seed), Baldwin's Nick Lachut in the pole vault, Seneca Valley in the 3,200 relay, Bethel Park in the 400 relay and Norwin in the 1,600 relay (No. 1 seed).

In Class AA, girls defending champions are Bentworth's Brenna Cavanaugh in the 100 hurdles (No. 1 seed) and long jump (No. 1 seed), Freeport's Sidney Shemanski in the 800, Shady Side Academy's Lindsey Grune in the high jump, Greensburg Central Catholic's Lauren Ritenour in the pole vault (No. 1 seed), Burrell's 400 relay (No. 1 seed) and Fort Cherry's 1,600 relay.

Defending champions in boys Class AA are Winchester Thurston's Tristan Forsythe in the 1,600 (No. 1 seed), Riverside's Calvin Wetzel in the 300 hurdles, Valley's Darius Johnson in the high jump, Hopewell's Dantae Ranieri in the long jump, Hopewell's Noah Drudy in the javelin (No. 1 seed), Aliquippa's 400 relay and Avonworth/Northgate's 1,600 relay.

Thursday's events on the track and in the field begin at 1 p.m.

The top five finishers in each Class AA event and top four in Class AAA automatically qualify for the PIAA championships May 25 and 26 at Shippensburg.

Also, individuals or relays placing eighth or better will qualify to states if their time, height or distance is equal to or better than the qualifying mark established by the PIAA.

The heat sheets can be found here .

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Avonworth, Baldwin, Bentworth, Bethel Park, Burrell, Butler, Fort Cherry, Freeport, Greensburg C.C., New Castle, North Allegheny, Norwin, Oakland Catholic, Penn Hills, Seneca Valley, Shady Side Academy, Thomas Jefferson, Upper St. Clair, West Allegheny