Mt. Pleasant’s Garn, Hempfield’s Prola take WPIAL silver

By: Paul Schofield
Thursday, May 16, 2024 | 10:46 PM

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SLIPPERY ROCK — Mt. Pleasant junior Jarret Garn and Hempfield senior Caleb Prola would have rather run Wednesday at the WPIAL track and field championships.

But Mother Nature wouldn’t cooperate.

So the meet resumed Thursday at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium at Slippery Rock University, and the duo earned trips to the PIAA championships May 24 and 25 at Shippensburg University by placing second in the 200-meter races.

Garn, who also qualified in the 100, will compete in Class 2A. Prola will be competing in Class 3A.

“It was a very close race, and he got me with the lean,” Garn said. “I like the 200 more than the 100.

“My goal was to get on the podium and make it to states. That’s the same goals for states.”

Prola didn’t have a good day in the 100 on Wednesday, but he made up for that in the 200.

“I felt pretty confident with all my training,” Prola said. “I was working on a lot of 200 this past week, and the hard work paid off. I happy with the result, and now I’ll get ready for Shippensburg.”

Other individuals to qualify for states were Ligonier Valley junior John Jablunovsky (2A high jump), Norwin junior Alexis Heller (3A javelin), Hempfield senior Laney Springer (3A javelin), Norwin’s Melani Schmidt (3A 200), Southmoreland’s Lexi Ohler (2A 3200), Latrobe’s Mia Klasnic (3A long jump) Norwin junior Luke Simpson (3A 800) and Franklin Regional’s Nathan Kociela (3A 3200).

Jablunovsky, Heller and Klasnic also finished second.

The surprise of the day was when Butler’s Owen Dressler, who finished eighth in the 3,200, decided to give his spot at states to Kociela, who finished ninth.

To qualify for states in Class 3A, athletes must finish top eight and meet the state qualifying standards. Kociela, who met those standards, finished ninth. But with Dressler withdrawing from the event to concentrate on a relay, Kociela will be moved to eighth.

“I thanked him,” Kociela said. “It’s surreal. I can’t believe it. I’m so excited to get the opportunity.”

Norwin’s 1,600 relay teams also qualified for the state. The boys edged out Penn-Trafford for the title. Running for the Knights were Austin Hladek, Teddy Ola, Eliezer Nicolas and Luke Derry. Running for the Warriors were Michael Cheplick, Jake McGhee, Ekoulus Lett and Tommy Cheplick.

The Norwin girls placed fourth. Running the race were Casey Colcombe, Autumn Stoken, Myla McCabe and Schmidt.

Norwin has 20 individuals and numerous relay teams headed to states.

“We had a great showing,” Norwin coach Tim Van Horn said. “They all did a great job.”

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.