Plum’s Brooks, Domke earn WPIAL track and field medals

By: Michael Love
Sunday, May 22, 2022 | 9:01 AM

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The Plum boys and girls track and field teams were well represented at the WPIAL Class 3A track and field championships last week at Slippery Rock University.

A pair of Mustangs — senior Logan Brooks and junior Connor Domke — brought home top-eight medals from the meet which was contested in cool temperatures with on-and-off rain showers dousing all of the runners, jumpers and throwers.

Brooks hoped for a shot at this weekend’s PIAA championships at Shippensburg. He needed to place in the top four for an automatic berth or finish in the top eight and meet the state-qualifying standard.

His top throw of 21 feet, 1¾ inches landed him seventh overall and on the medals stand. But the distance was short of the 22-3 needed to earn a place at states.

“The conditions weren’t ideal, but that’s not really much of an excuse,” said Brooks, also a football standout with Plum who will continue to play in college at Edinboro.

“I had worked to be ready. But I just wasn’t able to get that last bit of spring I needed to propel myself and get the distance I wanted. I can’t tell you why. I think it was just an off day. That happens, but I didn’t want it to happen today.”

Brooks came into the WPIAL meet as the No. 5 seed after jumping 22 feet to place second at the Slippery Rock High School Invitational at Slippery Rock University on April 23.

Domke also entered the meet in medals contention as he was seeded ninth in the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.99.

He was in eighth after the three preliminary heats, recording a time of 16.17 seconds which placed him in the finals.

Domke’s finals time was a slightly elevated at 16.42, but he was a WPIAL medalist in eighth overall.

In her WPIAL debut, freshman Gabrielle Layne challenge for a medal in the 100 dash and came close to reaching the medals stand.

The 11th seed coming in, Layne ran a 12.97 in the second of three preliminary heats. When the times were compiled, she found out she was ninth overall, just three one-hundredths of a second away from eighth and a spot in the finals.

Layne also ran the 200 dash preliminaries and took 14th in a time of 27.10.

Junior Cam Rogers and freshman Danica Jones shared the same heat for the preliminaries of the 400 dash.

Rogers held her seed place — 18th — and ran to a time of 1:03.04.

Jones made the most of her first opportunity to run at WPIALs. She bumped up three spots from the 24th seed, placing 21st with a time of 1:04.42.

Rogers and Jones also teamed up for a pair of relays.

They joined Layne and freshman Lilliana Dubois on the 400 relay which bumped up two spots from their seed placement, finishing 16th in a time of 51.77.

Jones, Layne, Rogers and freshman Josie Sciulli capped the meet for the Plum girls with a 1,600-relay finish of 4:20.88, good for 23rd overall.

Senior Jake George capped his career with a pair of WPIAL events.

He placed 17th overall in the 300 hurdles with a time of 43.86, and he teamed with seniors Ethan Jones and Shawn Richardson and sophomore Tristan Ralph to take 20th in a time of 3:43.10.

The quartet’s time was elevated from the top time it recorded in the regular season (3:38.15), but it bumped up four places from the 24th seed.

Junior Connor Pivirotto took 24th in the 3,200 run (10:30.30).

“We had a really awesome group of kids who were always moving in the right direction,” Plum coach Stephanie Kennedy said.

“I think it’s proven in the progress we’re making that we had three relays qualify and also seven individuals. They all had really good attitudes despite the rain and low temperatures. We thought it was going to hold off until a little later, but it didn’t let that dampen their day. The kids went out and really competed.

“We’re losing a couple really good seniors, but most of them are young, especially on the girls side with a couple of ninth graders who really stepped up. We’re looking forward to the cross country season for those distance kids and also to next year’s indoor and outdoor seasons. We’ve already talked to them about that, and they were looking forward to the future even before we were done (at WPIALs).”

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.

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