North Hills athletes buy in, earn postseason success on track

By: Brennan Valladares
Saturday, June 14, 2025 | 11:46 PM

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As North Hills assistant outdoor track and field coach, Wade Endress knows the importance of buy-in from top to bottom of the roster. Unlike most coaches, though, he and head coach Mark Timko oversee more than 100 athletes.

“I think any coaching staff probably experiences this in some way, but it’s trying to get that level of buy-in with a team that is usually as large as track and field can be across all the different event groups,” Endress said.

“… So I think going into the season, that was a hurdle for us and an obstacle for us, and I think we were successful with how many we had go to the WPIAL championships and compete at a high level.”

The Indians didn’t qualify for the WPIAL team championships after finishing fifth in Section 3-3A in both boys and girls. But 24 athletes competed at the WPIAL individual meet, with nine boys advancing to the PIAA championships.

“I don’t think we could be happier as a group of coaches with what our students were able to accomplish this spring,” Endress said. “… I think success always helps breed success, so it was really cool to see that kind of take over in all forms for both the boys and the girls teams.”

At the individual championships, seven new season bests were set, highlighted by junior Brody Diehl’s performance in the triple jump. After bounding 45 feet, 6.5 inches, Diehl took home one of two gold medals for North Hills.

The other gold went to senior Kayden Lightner, whose 1:52.47 in the 800 meters was nearly five seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Lightner also anchored two relay teams, helping the 3,200 group earn silver (7:57.18) and the 1,600 group place 10th (3:27.02) — both season bests.

The 3,200 team earned one of three second-place finishers for the boys, joining seniors Gamaliel Mogire in the 110-meter hurdles (14.32) and Logan Ilnicki in discus (157-11, season best).

“It was great that I got a personal best at WPIALs, and I was super excited,” Ilnicki said. “For most of the year, I was getting those big throws in practice, but I actually needed to do it when it counted. Fortunately, on the day of WPIALs, I finally did it.”

At the state level, Lightner took home bronze in the 800 meters (1:52.47), Diehl placed 10th in the triple jump (45-6.50), Ilnicki placed 13th in the discus (157-11), and senior Jack Martin tied his season-best javelin mark at 171-07.

“In terms of recent memory, we believe it’s the most that North Hills has ever had qualify and move on to the PIAA championships. So it’s just really cool to see that kind of number advance out of just the WPIAL meet,” Endress said.

For the girls, nine athletes qualified for the WPIAL meet. The 3,200 relay team — Eliana Borne, Gwen Barkovich, Ayla Werner and Kayla Flanigan — placed seventh with a time of 9:49.63. Flanigan, who finished 15th in the 800, will be a key returner next year.

“(Kayla) is largely going to be that identity for us, especially within our distance group,” Endress said. “But I think within track and field, Kayla is that identity moving forward of kind of the standard that the girls team would like to achieve and achieve consistently like the boys have.”

Another notable girls performance came from freshman Emerson Schall, whose WPIAL mark of 115-6 in the javelin earned 11th place.

“I’m extremely proud of how my first high school season went,” Schall said. “… I was definitely nervous, especially doing javelin for the first time, but I worked hard, stayed focused, had great coaches and made so many good friends. Making WPIALs as a freshman was such an accomplishment and has given me the drive to continue.”

Buy-in from athletes isn’t always guaranteed. Fortunately for North Hills, it was there — and the result was some of the program’s best performances.

“You know, that’s our goal, to have them ready for the end of the year and performing at a high level at the end of the year,” Endress said. “But again, I think it speaks volumes to the kids and what they were able to buy in and want to achieve. I think they valued achieving that at the end of the year. So just a whole heck of a lot of fun.”

Tags: North Hills