Hempfield’s Peyton Murray, Franklin Regional’s Monroe Law shine at invitational

By: Paul Schofield
Friday, April 14, 2023 | 10:45 PM

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Hempfield junior Peyton Murray and Franklin Regional freshman Monroe Law had strong performances Friday at the Lady Spartan/Wildcat Invitational at Memorial Stadium.

Both were double winners.

Murray won the shot put and discus.

Murray heaved the shot put 53 feet, 8 inches and tossed the discus 164-0. He has the best throw in the state at 172-10.

“I had a good day in shot but bad day in discus,” Murray said. “I won, but it wasn’t my best. It was a personal record in the outdoor in the shot. My best indoors is 54-2.

“It’s pretty exciting to get the PR early, and I’m getting closer to my goal of around 56. I’m getting there. I want to get better as we go on.”

Law won the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Her time in the 100 was 12.53 seconds, and she took the 200 in 25.86.

“I’m excited,” Law said. “It was my first big meet. I’m looking to continue to get stronger.”

Law earned the girls track MVP.

The girls title went to Hempfield with 112 points. North Allegheny followed with 105.

North Allegheny won the boys title with 131 points, and Norwin was second with 75.

The Hempfield girls 3200-meter relay team of Alicia Weimer, Chesnee Smith, Noelle Dougherty and Cydney Blahovec won in 9:52.49.

Blahovec also won the 800 in 2:19.55.

Hempfield senior Liz Tapper won the shot put with a throw of 45-6 1/2 but placed second in the discus. Tapper is coming off a foot injury that has slowed her progress.

Tapper and Homer-Center’s Justley Sharp split the field MVP for the girls.

The Spartans’ Lindsay Simmons edged Latrobe’s Brylee Bodnar in the 300 hurdles. Simmons ran a 47.59 and Bodnar a 48.52.

Franklin Regional sophomore Abigail Paterline won the 100 hurdles in 16.19.

Latrobe sophomore Mia Klasnic won the triple jump with a leap of 36-0.

Norwin’s Ashley Laukas won the high jump with a leap of 5-3, and Nataiah Robertson-Dutrieuille won the long jump with a leap of 16-11.25.

For the Norwin boys, Trey Huha won the 200 in 22.85.

The Kiski Area boys 3,200-meter relay team came into the meet looking to improve.

They did just that.

In the first race of the meet, the team of Paul Roberts, Justin Gross, Justin Tucker and Samuel Plazio breezed to a victory with a personal-best time of 8:26.94.

“That was our goal (Friday),” Gross said. “It was easy to get loose and wanted to run our best. We all ran well, and it made it easy on ourselves.”

The team’s previous best was 8:29 at Altoona earlier this season.

“We just want to continue to get better,” Gross said. “Friday was a good start.”

The Cavaliers 400 relay team of Isaiah Gonzalez, Brennan Moore, Kyle Guido and Demieux McFadden placed fifth in 44.98.

The 1,600 relay team of Gross, Marco Yanarello, Guido and Gonzalez placed second in 3:32.30.

The boys MVPs were North Allegheny’s Owen Curran (combined), North Allegheny’s A.J. Foulk (track) and Laurel Highlands’ Hunter Kooser (field).

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.