Many WPIAL athletes at Baldwin Invitational embrace challenge of back-to-back meets

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, May 6, 2023 | 12:06 AM

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Liz Tapper is one of the state’s top throwers, but the Hempfield senior faced a challenge Friday that was new to her and many others at the Baldwin Invitational.

They had big meets on back-to-back days.

Less than 24 hours after throwing in a WPIAL team track semifinal, Tapper shrugged off the fatigue to sweep the girls shot put and discus titles at Baldwin. The two meets were initially scheduled three days apart, but rain earlier in the week postponed the WPIAL event from Tuesday to Thursday.

That left some teams and athletes with a tough decision: Should they skip Baldwin?

“I was curious how I’d feel,” said Tapper, a Michigan recruit. “I walked in today a little bit tired from yesterday. We didn’t get home until late, but I did what I needed to do.”

The schedule change caused eight teams to withdraw from the invitational, said meet organizer Ed Helbig, the longtime coach at Baldwin. Other teams sent only a skeleton crew. Helbig had hoped the WPIAL event might remain on Tuesday, but the weather turned cold and rainy.

“I understand why it was done,” Helbig said. “I’m on the WPIAL (track) committee. But what it caused was a domino effect of people not being able to compete (at Baldwin), so it did affect everyone.”

Still, a number of athletes found success at Baldwin despite the quick turnaround.

Upper St. Clair sprinter Dani Prunzik won three gold medals at Baldwin, claiming victories in the girls 100 and 200 meters and the 400-meter relay. Canon-McMillan’s Rose Kuchera also won three times, celebrating gold in the girls long jump, triple jump and 100-meter hurdles.

Mt. Lebanon’s Logan St. John Kletter set a personal best in the girls 800 meters in 2 minutes, 13.43 seconds. Blue Devils teammate Caroline Adams won the girls 3,200 meters.

Moon’s Jacob Puhalla defended his title in the McKinney Mile, a marquee event at Baldwin. Kiski Area’s Eliza Miller won the girls mile.

Their teams all competed in the WPIAL meet Thursday.

Tapper won the discus title Friday with a 149-feet, 8-inch throw, and won shot put with a 45-foot, 7-inch toss. Neither matched the season-bests she achieved a day earlier.

“Even though you might walk in here knowing it’s not going to be a good day, you still get to go through the motions,” Tapper said. “You get to go through the (technique) and the whole mental aspect of it.”

The decision to compete Friday was maybe easier — albeit bittersweet — for teams that lost Thursday in the WPIAL team semifinals. The 16 teams that advanced to the WPIAL finals must run again next Tuesday, so some skipped the Baldwin Invitational as a strategy.

“They ran them yesterday and they don’t want to run them hard today,” Helbig said, “because they have to come back on Tuesday and run them again.”

That summed up the situation for the Winchester Thurston girls, who won a Class 2A team semifinal Thursday, yet five girls chose to compete again Friday. WT coach Bruce Frye gave them the choice.

“I try to tell my girls that it’s a practice session for (the state championship meet at) Shippensburg, when you have to run back-to-back days,” Frye said. “I try to make lemonades out of lemons.”

The Butler boys have a chance next week to defend their WPIAL Class 3A team title, so coach Mike Seybert arrived Friday at Baldwin without much of his roster.

“We put our team competitions first all the time and that’s what the kids want,” said Seybert, adding that this wasn’t the first time that teams took this strategic approach.

“This invite is always between the semifinals and finals,” he said, “so a lot of times it’s hard to run six hard (events) in six or seven days.”

Other winners Friday included Hempfield’s Peyton Murray, who swept the boys shot put and discus titles. He set a personal-best in the discus with a 180-foot, 8-inch throw, boosting his standing as the state’s best in the event.

Penn Hills’ Achan Green swept the boys 110- and 300-meter hurdles.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.