Quaker Valley wins 2A Boys and Girls WPIAL Track Championship
For the second time in school history, Quaker Valley claimed gold in the boys and girls WPIAL Class 2A Championship meet. The Quakers were the only school to have both teams represented in the Class 2A final meet.
Quaker Valley boys topped Greensburg Central Catholic, Ellwood City and Hopewell for the title, while the girls team claimed a third-straight victory in a row over Fort Cherry, Knoch and Shenango.
Jared Jones, Quaker Valley track and field head coach, said that winning both sides was a goal on his athlete’s minds for a while.
“Last year, our boys got runners-up to Greensburg. They needed the 4 x 400 to tie, and they came up short there,” Jones said. “This year, their goal was to change that. They won the 4 x 400.”
The competition was held at Peters Township Middle School on Tuesday, May 7. For the boys, Quaker Valley earned their first track championship title since 1997. Quaker Valley won 10 of the 18 events. According to the WPIAL results, the Quakers had plenty of individual event winners, not just team-racing victories.
Davin Gartley was the king of the hurdles, clocking in a top finish of 14.33 in the 110-meter high hurdles and 38.99 in the 300-meter high hurdles. Clark LaLomia, a distance runner, picked up wins in the 1,600-meter run (4:30.11) and 800-meter run (2:02.16). Meanwhile, Jonah Montagnese, another long-distance runner, earned gold in the 3,200-meter (or two mile) run, finishing at 10:08.22.
In the field events, Aiden Dwyer won the triple jump and high jump, with teammate Winston Clifford finishing right behind him.
Jones gave credit to the consistency on his boys’ team for pulling ahead of Greensburg for the victory.
“We had some incredible performances across the board,” Jones said. “The distance runners did a great job. They had a lot on their shoulders and pulled out. The jumps did exactly what was expected of them. In the throws, some things went wrong, but some things that we did not expect came out right. The relays in all three events were amazingly impressive, some season-best times. I’m very proud of them.”
Jones said that, while Greensburg was the biggest competition for the Quakers in the boys’ competition, it was a privilege to represent the Beaver County area with fellow competitors, Ellwood City and Hopewell.
“When I saw that Ellwood City snuck in, and Hopewell come out of the meet against Shenango, I was excited,” Jones recalled. “Hopewell’s win was impressive. They both have really good teams as well. Hopewell sprinters are really, really good. Ellwood City, across the board, they have a lot of good kids in a lot of good places.”
As for the girls, and their impressive three-peat victory, the Quakers earned first-place in eight of the 18 events. Jones highlighted the jumping categories, with Jay Olawaiye winning the triple jump and Mia Gartley claiming victory in the high jump. Finally, Evie Rosselli took first in the pole vault jump.
On the track, Jones said the 4 x 800-meter event was “incredible.” Quaker Valley clocked in a time of 10:02.34.
“We threw a team together and we had another girl step up,” Jones said. “We beat Fort Cherry, who had the second-ranked team in the WPIAL coming into this. We had some great numbers in the hurdles, sprints and the distance events. Across the board, they’ve been good.”
While all teams across the WPIAL are combating illness and injuries, due to the short season and small recovery times, Jones said that sickness hit his team hard ahead of the WPIAL Championship.
“We had a lot of illnesses in the last week, so that’s been hard to deal with. We had some girls who missed our playoff meet last week, and they couldn't be here today,” he stated. “They felt really bad and felt like they were letting their team down, but hopefully the other girls can rally and be strong for them.”
Ellwood City and Hopewell gain experience in first-ever Championship
In the Boys 2A Championship, as events wrapped up, it was evident the champion was going to be either Quaker Valley or Greensburg Central Catholic.
However, for the Ellwood City Wolverines and Hopewell Vikings, the WPIAL Championship was a first-time experience and a massive moment for the athletes. Ellwood City came in third, while Hopewell placed fourth.
Ellwood City coach Nathan Brown, who has been in the role for three years, said that his team came in and did what he expected them to do.
“We’re very beaten up right now. A lot of our athletes have weird little injuries, nothing we can really do about that,” Brown said. “It’s been a long season, a lot of meets and not a lot of recovery time. Other teams have had issues just like us. As for today, we came in and did what I expected. As with any meet, if one or two things change, it’s everyone’s meet. I think we placed where I thought we would… I’m content with how we did. Greensburg, Quaker Valley are in a bracket of their own. There were really good teams this year.”
Brown highlighted a big performance from Nate Williams, the team’s pole vaulter. Williams set a personal record of 11.4. Brown called the personal record “ironic, but special,” due to a shoulder injury that Williams had been combating.
Brown said that he has a few runners and field participants on the bubble to qualify for the WPIAL Individual Championship next week, including Williams, shot putter Travis Lytton and runners Nick Wise, Nick Franitti, Bradley Custer and Colton Crizer .
The third-year coach said he’s simply proud of his team for competing with 100 percent effort.
“It feels great to be here. The kids, they all worked very hard for this,” Brown said. “The majority of them were on the cross-country team and took third place at the WPIAL as a team. To me, it feels great. To them, I’m sure it feels phenomenal. I’m seeing these years of work paying off, with all the changes that have been happening. I don’t think they could be any happier.”
As for the Vikings, head coach Jeff Brunton said that the highlight of the day was the 4 x 100 relay, which saw the best time of the year (44.01) for Josh Brunton, Zach Kovell, Tyler Lewis and Nick Adams.
“We had a pretty good day… Our message was that we’re going to put our best team out there, get personal records for the season and see how it shakes out,” Brunton said. “We had a couple of kids who did that, had their best time. Our 4 by 100 had the best time of the year. There were good things. Once you knew the score was out of hand, you could get some young kids in and get them experience. It’s a good experience for our kids and we’ll bring them back next year, since we’re a young team.”
Zach Kovell had the best individual performance of the day, placing second in the 400-meter event, with a 51.08 time. In the field events, senior Ethan Pletcher earned third in the shot put.
Brunton said that the message for the Vikings was to come in, get personal records and get athletes in a better spot to qualify for the individual tournament.
“We had our best people in each event, so the message was to go try to have your best day,” Brunton explained. “In addition to possibly upsetting someone from QV, Ellwood or Greensburg, you can also improve qualifying marks for WPIALs. That’s the most important thing. The only way to get to States is through WPIALs. They had an extra chance, basically, to improve their marks for WPIALs.”
The WPIAL Individual 2A & 3A Boys and Girls Track and Field Championships will be held on Wednesday, May 15, at Slippery Rock University.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Quaker Valley wins 2A Boys and Girls WPIAL Track Championship
