Emily Ingle and Brandon Pruznak blew away the competition at Tuesday’s District 6-AA Track and Field Meet at Mansion Park in their respective best events.
The top three finishers in each event, plus any lower finishers, who met the state qualifying standard in their event, qualified for the PIAA state meet at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium on May 26-27.
Ingle, a senior from Tyrone, who seems to set personal and/or meet records every single time she runs, set a meet record (5:05.30) in winning the 1600 by nearly 10 seconds, also winning the 800 in 2:20.88 and placed sixth in the 3200 in 12:11.09.
“Emily wanted to break the district record in the mile (1600 meters), and she was able to go out and do it,” said Tyrone track coach Tony Yaniello. “For her to come back and then also win the 800 proves that she is one-heck of a competitor. She has elected to concentrate on just the 1600 at states, and she should be one of the favorites. Emily has decided to put all her eggs in one basket and I think it’s a good move.”
Pruznak, a Bellwood-Antis junior, set a personal best in winning the 400 by nearly two full seconds (51.11), and was second in the 200 to defending district champ Brad Kanuch of Westmont-Hilltop, was fourth in the long jump in a jump-off with teammate Brandon Humphreys and was a member of the Blue Devils’ victorious 1600 relay, which closed out the meet with a bang. The B-A 1600 relay won by nearly three seconds with Dustin Harris and Humphreys keeping the team in contention, Ben Hatch taking the lead on the third leg, and Pruznak making sure nobody would catch them.
Joining Ingle for the trip to Shippensburg, will be junior teammate Liz Tepsic who won the 100 intermediate hurdles (15.85), and the triple jump (35-7 1/2) and was fourth in the long jump (16-11). Kayla Patton was fifth in the 400 meters in 1:02.81 and Emily Lloyd was eighth in the 100 hurdles for the Lady Eagles, who finished fifth in the team race with 59 points.
“Coming in from just her second year in track, Liz Tepsic did quite a job,” said Yaniello. “Winning two events is a tribute to the hard work Liz has put in, both during the off season and during this track season. She broke the school record in the hurdles and had by far her best jump in the long jump. Liz reached down and pulled out that jump on her last chance-that was tremendous.”
In addition to the 1600 relay, B-A sophomore Ben Hatch qualified for states with a second place finish (1:58.34) that was his best time of the year, just four-tenths of a second behind district champ Kyle Tennant of Ligonier Valley. Senior Tony DelGrosso was second in the discus (146-9) and eighth in both the shot put (42-3) and javelin (151-2). Junior Brandon Humphreys won the jump-off with Pruznak to qualify with a third place finish in the long jump. Adam Mueller, a junior, was third in the 110 high hurdles (16.14) to qualify for states, and the B-A relay teams in the 400 relay (46.08) was seventh and 3200 (8:56.21) was eighth.
“Brandon Pruznak kind of led us at the district meet, placing in four events and qualifying for states in three,” said Bellwood-Antis boys coach Nick Lovrich. “Our kids really had a good day, even though we came up a bit short in the team race. (Bellwood-Antis finished third with 69.5 points, behind Richland (87) and Westmont-Hilltop (84)) Tony DelGrosso had a tremendous day placing in three throwing events, No body else was able to do that. That was pretty outstanding and shows his versatility.
We had a good effort by everybody. Now, we hope to not just be happy getting to the state meet, but be able to bring home some medals.”
Trey Brockett led the Tyrone boys squad with second places in both the long jump (20-10 1/2) and the triple jump (45-11). In the triple jump, the Tyrone senior pushed defending district and state champ Brad Kanuch with both bettering the top seed distance, with Kanuch barely hanging on to repeat.
“With the weather and conditions they way they were, Trey really had a great performance smashing the school record in the triple jump, first in the preliminaries and then again in the finals,” said Yaniello. “That was his best jump by about 10 inches in the long jump. It was a pretty stellar performance for someone who didn’t win any event.”
The Tyrone 400 relay team of Tyler Gillmen, Brockett, Leonard Wilson and Johnny Franco qualified with a third place finish that was practically a photo-finish with all three top teams within about a foot of each other.
“Tyler Gillmen and Johnny Franco had both just run the finals of the 100,” informed Yaniello. “At states, they will be fresh and we should be able to run a much faster time.
“We were pleasantly surprised with Phil Kreckel qualifying in the pole vault. He has done well in this kind of weather all year. This week, we’ll practice with another pole. It is always nice for an underclassman to get the experience at states. Adam Shaffer has a personal best with a javelin throw of 162 feet and Chris Bradigan ran his personal best (53.93) to finish sixth in the 400. The 3200 relay team ran its best time of the year by about eight seconds to finish seventh. I think we are peaking at just the right time.”
Lady Blue Devil senior Ashley Mueller flashed to a victory in the 300 low hurdles in 48.14. In the first year in which she has run the 300 hurdles, Mueller set a personal best and also was fourth in the 100 intermediate hurdles (16.97).
“We wanted to find something for Ashley to get through to states,” said Bellwood-Antis girls coach Julia Roseborough. “We knew she did well in the hurdles and was a 200 runner, so we combined the two into the low hurdles.”
The B-A girls 400 relay team (51.14) of Lauren Carter, Erica Greene, Lauren Leap and Mueller broke their own school record to place third and continue on to the PIAA meet, and the 1600 relay squad composed of Carter, Leap, Kelley Killinger and Chelsea Wilson finished third, just being edged for second by a strong team from Central Cambria.
“The girls reset their record in the 400. With hand-held times, which is what all our records are, that time becomes the first at B-A to run in the 50s (50.9),” explained Roseborough. We were real please with the girls. It was exactly what we thought we could get through to states. We have a little bit of time to try and sharpen up and see what we can do.
“I would like to congratulate all the Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis kids who really did a nice job at the district meet.”
