Kiski Area, Burrell, Valley have high hopes entering WCCA track meet

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, April 23, 2025 | 6:13 PM

Kiski Area’s Lauren Ciuca broke 11 minutes in the 3,200-meter run at last week’s Butler Invitational.

Her time of 10:59.76 set a school record and put her on the awards podium in third out of 64 who ran the event that day.

She wasn’t too far behind the winner, West Allegheny junior Grace Fritzman (10:48.61), and runner-up Pine-Richland senior Maren Iski (10:50.42).

“I kind of didn’t have an idea of exactly what I was up against at Butler,” Ciuca said.

“I am still pretty new to all of this. It was a little nerve-wracking, but when I saw on the last 100 that I was close to the record and close to being under 11, I was so excited, and I just started sprinting. It gave me the feel that I belonged with the best distance runners.”

Ciuca’s run at Butler was a strong sign of her progression in the distance runs, and she hopes to keep up that momentum when she takes to the track with hundreds of other runners at Thursday’s Westmoreland County Coaches Association championships at Latrobe’s Memorial Stadium.

“It is awesome to see Lauren’s hard work and commitment pay off,” Kiski Area coach Tom Berzonsky said. “To see her run fast in that environment was really fun to be a part of.”

This year marks the 102nd boys county meet and the 45th for the girls.

The event each year is one of the key jumping-off points in the home stretch to the WPIAL championships at Slippery Rock University.

Kiski Area will join Burrell and Valley from the Alle-Kiski Valley and athletes from Derry, Franklin Regional, Latrobe, Greensburg Central Catholic, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Kiski Prep, Ligonier Valley, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland and Yough.

Those attending Thursday’s meet can expect the first flights for several of the throwing and jumping events at 12:30 p.m. followed by the start of the track preliminaries at 1:15.

The track finals are slated to start at 4 p.m.

“Westmoreland County teams are so competitive when it comes to this meet,” Berzonsky said.

“It is always fun to be a part of the meet. It is the first postseason championship meet that we have after all of the section meets are completed. Being able to execute there is a good indicator that your training is going well, and it also gives teams and athletes a boost into more focused training for WPIALs and some of the other big meets to follow.”

Berzonsky said freshman Ellieanna Arnold (sprints), the boys 1,600, sophomore Braden Miller (hurdles), senior Justin Gross (800), freshman Nick Anderson (throws), senior Natavia Wilson (throws) and junior Gianna DeVito (high jump) are among those Cavaliers performing well and who have a good shot at reaching the medals podium Thursday.

DeVito placed eighth in the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches) at the Butler Invite, Gross was seventh in the 800 (1:57.19) and Miller was seventh in the 300 hurdles (40.52).

“Butler is such a good meet with the competition including kids from outside the WPIAL,” Berzonsky said. “It’s great for us to see how we measure up.”

Burrell freshman Lily Liotta continued her breakout season with a team-leading 12th-place finish in the triple jump at the Butler Invite (35-1.5). Bucs coach Faith Remich said she also is ready to perform well in the 400 dash and long jump.

She owns a personal-best triple jump of 35-7 in a dual meet with Leechburg on April 9.

“I like the WCCA meet because it is a realistic size with strong competition and a good shot for medals, which drives the kids to get (personal records),” Remich said.

“It’s nice to see all the teams around Westmoreland County and see how we stack up. We really haven’t see all the teams yet. There were several of them at Butler, but that was so enormous. We have eight or nine athletes who could land in the top eight and get a medal.”

Others hoping to put themselves in medal contention include sophomore Riley Quinn (discus), sophomore Vinny Guerrini (800, 1,600), junior Ashton Selinger (discus), junior Liam Kasavage (shot put), freshman Kira Legters (3,200), junior Sydney Scherer (100 and 300 hurdles) and senior Abby Junod (pole vault).

Valley is no stranger to medal-winning performances at the WCCA meet.

Last year, then-junior Jorie Houser-Leonard fronted the Vikings contingent with a pair of medals in the sprints.

She took third in the finals of the 100 dash with a season-best 13.05 and seventh in the finals of the 200 dash at 27.50.

Valley athletes positioned themselves one final time heading into the county meet with their section finale Tuesday against both Highlands and Hampton.

Senior Taimel Davis is expected to be a medal contender Thursday as he continues to show his top-flight efforts in both the jumps and hurdles.

He won the long jump against Highlands and Hampton with a top leap of 19-4 and finished second in the triple jump (39-1.5), 110 hurdles (16.91) and 300 hurdles (43.94).

Sophomore Nazere Johnson threw the javelin 128-1 to win the event in the boys tri-meet.

On the girls side, senior Nevaeh Patrick finished runner-up in the long jump (15-0).

County meet records always are expected to fall. Kiski Area and Burrell athletes are among the current record holders.

The boys triple jump record of 46-2.75, set by Kiski Area’s Rich Scott in 1975, is the longest-standing record on the books.

Burrell’s Nikki Scherer is one of the more recent athletes to establish a county record as she set a top mark of 24.63 in the 200 dash in 2017.

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.