Sewickley Academy track team collecting medals

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, April 21, 2024 | 11:01 AM

The Sewickley Academy track team kicked off its 2024 schedule April 4 in a seven-team meet at Hampton.

The Panthers ended the meet with 23 medal-worthy performances, led by sophomore Herlynn Niepa’s first-place finish in the girls 100-meter dash thanks to her time of 13.16.

Niepa also placed fifth in the 200 and third in the high jump.

Sewickley’s Amina Josephs, Abby Bojolad, Josephine Courtney and Emiliy Milanovich were double medalists in individual competition.

Josephs, a junior, earned second place in the 200 and third in the 100. Bojolad, a senior, secured second place in the 3,200 and the fourth spot in the 1,600.

Courtney, freshman, placed third in the 400 and eighth in the 100. She also finished with a near-miss medal-winning ninth-place performance in the 200.

Milanovich, a freshman, finished fifth in the 300 hurdles and eighth in the 1,600 while sophomore Emma Di Domenico took fourth in the 300 hurdles.

Three other leading competitors for the Panthers were junior Christa Sims (100, 200), sophomore Raheem Wahdan (800) and freshman Sofia Castagnaro (discus, shot put).

Rounding out the impressive list of Sewickley medalists in the girls events were the 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams.

The top individual performance on Sewickley’s boys team was turned in by junior Cooper D’Antonio, who finished as the runner-up in the 800 with a 2:15.46 time.

Senior Zachary Kerrish was a double medalist with a fifth-place showing in the 1,600 and sixth-place finish in the 800.

Four other medal winners for the Panthers were freshman True Robinson (fourth place in the shot put), junior David Zuluaga (sixth in the long jump), senior Alex Wang (eighth in the 200) and sophomore Elijah Koziar (eighth in the 400).

The 3,200 relay team also placed third while the 1,600 relay team finished fourth.

Other leading performers in the boys events included senior Jose Maldonado (100, long jump), Robinson (100, discus), Zuluaga (100, 200, 400), sophomore Nathan Victor (100, 200, 400), sophomore Phillip Zhao (100, 200, 400) and Wang (400).

Sewickley Academy also competed April 6 at the 20th annual South Hills Classic hosted by Baldwin.

Bojolad led the way for Sewickley as a third-place medalist in the girls 3,200-meter run. Bojolad crossed the finish line in 12:32.03.

Courtney (100, 200, 400), junior Bailey Criswell (100), De Domenico (400, 300 hurdles), Whadan (400, 800), Milanovich (1,600, 3,200) and Castagnaro (discus, shot put) also competed in individual events.

The boys 3,200 relay team rambled to a medal-winning sixth-place finish while D’Antonio (800) proved to be the team’s leading performer in individual competition.

Robinson (100, discus), Maldonado (100, 200), Zhao (100, 200), Victor (100, 400), Wang (400, 800), Koziar (400) and Kerrish (1,600) also competed.

Other team members in the early going are senior Alaina Ohr, junior Katherine Varghese and freshman Kayla Keefer for the girls and juniors Rocco Colditz and Quinton Gibbs-Green and sophomore Erick Maldonado for the boys.

Derek Chimner, assisted by Austin McClinton and Zack Skabski, make up the Sewickley track and field coaching staff.

Tags: Sewickley Academy