Both Riverside girls and boys track and field teams found great success during the WPIAL Class 2A team playoff semifinals Wednesday afternoon at Riverside High School’s Memorial Field.
Each went unbeaten with their team performances.
The Panthers boys defeated North Catholic 87-63, Carlynton 120-26, Deer Lakes 115-34, and New Brighton 108-41. The Riverside girls defeated North Catholic 87-63, Eden Christian 131-17, and Carlynton 83-66.
“The success of our athletes is due to the hard work and time they have put into this season,” says boys head coach Chelsea Kordecki. “We have an amazing coaching staff that goes above and beyond to ensure we are prepared for the season and states, but the drive of the kids is what helps us remain successful.”
Several athletes had a great meet according to their coach and many other athletes scored points to help the Panthers win the meet.
Two Riverside boys collected personal sweeps in their respective field events.
Joe Reed swept his three field events, placing first in the shot put (49-02.00), discus (124-03), and javelin (155-06) while Teddy McHale placed first in pole vault (12-00.00), long jump (19-09.00), and triple jump (39-08.50).
On the track, Brody Barton finished second in 110 hurdles (17.24) and first in 300 hurdles (43.37), Ty Fluharty finished first in the 1600m (4:47.58) and 3200m (10:20.50) and second in the 800m (2:07.13), and Alden Wetzel finished second in the 400m (50.37) and javelin (151-02) and first in the high jump (6-00.00).
For the Lady Panthers, Lexi Fluharty had an incredibly strong showing, sweeping her three track events by placing first in the 800m (2:27.19), 1600m (5:26.90) and 3200m (12:14.05) races.
Callie Wetzell placed first in the 100m hurdles, (16.67) and 300m hurdles (48.67) with teammate Megan Zelch finishing close behind, placing second in both events.
Emma Thellman excelled in the field events, finishing first in the pole vault (7-08.00) and high jump (4-06.00) while Sydney Hale (1st, discuss, 117-02) and Carlee Crawford (1st, javelin, 101-06) joined her with 1st place finishes for Riverside.
“It was a great team win,” says girls head coach Royann Winfield. “We had eight personal bests. Alexis Fluharty was awesome!”
Both boys and girls track and field team next travels to Peters Township to defend its WPIAL title.
“We [girls] are looking forward to the WPIAL championship meet,” says Winfield. “We feel we have a good chance if we perform to are abilities.”
The Panthers Boys have won four straight championships and have won 11 of the last 14 according to reports.
“It [the title defense] will be difficult, but that was the goal we had for the season,” says Kordecki. “If it doesn’t pan out that way, we can walk away knowing we put our all into it and move on to individual qualifying.”
The WPIAL 2A Team Championships are scheduled for Wednesday, May 11th at Peters Township High School. Tickets are $10.00 at the gate or online at GoFan: www.gofan.co/wpial
WPIAL 2A/3A Individual Championships are then held May 18 at Slippery Rock University. The Panthers collected four medals in 2021.
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