The best of the best competed at the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference Championships at Saint Francis University on Monday. Both the boys and girls placed well in their first appearance in the LHAC Championship.
Kole Dickinson led the way for the Blue Devils by winning the 110 hurdles and placing third in the 300 hurdles. In the 110 semis Dickinson didn’t have his best performance placing 4th with a time of 16.13. In the finals Dickinson pushed through with a time of 15.63 and it was enough to get the win.
Coach Nick Lovrich was proud of Dickinson’s performance against the tough competition,” I’m impressed with Kole’s performance, I mean there was so much talent at this meet and he ran a great race,” said Lovrich.
In the 300 hurdles he ran a time of 41.88.
In javelin, both Cayden Pellegrine and Chance Schreier placed with throws of 44.17 and 43.41 meters respectively. Pellegrine’s throw was a new PR and Schreier recorded his season best.
Dalton Poorman placed 4th in pole vault with Brady Hostler finishing right behind him in 6th.
Jeffery Waite broke the freshman triple jump record with a jump of 39-03.50. The former record was set by Jake Burch in 2014.
The boys got 2 points from the 4×400 relay team with a 7th place finish and one point from the 4×800 relay with a 8th place finish. Holden Schreier and Conner Bardell were a part of both relays. The other two members of the 4×400 were Gabe Thompson and Kole Dickinson. McCauley Corle and Daniel Riley were the other two pieces of the 4×800.
On the boys side the Blue Devils placed 6th out of 22 teams in attendance. They were able to beat Tyrone, Central, and Bellefonte who they formerly lost to in dual meet earlier in the season.
In a predicted virtual meet Bellwood was projected to finish in 11th place.
On the girls side of things, the Lady Devils placed 13th as a team.
The highest finisher for the girls was Julie Kraft who finished 3rd in the 800 with a PR time of 2:27.87.
Avah Hassler placed 4th with a PR in the 400. Chloe Stoltzfus placed 7th in the 300 hurdles with Ava Kensinger not far behind, finishing in 9th.
In the pool vault, Ava Worthing placed 6th with a PR height of 9-00.00 and Emma Taneyhill earned a 7th place finish in discus with a PR of 29-09.00.
Lily McNelis, Marissa Cacciotti, Rylie Andrews, and Julie Kraft placed 8th in the 4×100 relay.
“I feel we’re in a good place heading into districts and I’m excited to see how the kids perform,” said Lovrich when asked how he felt heading into districts after their success in the LHAC Championships.
Those who qualified will head to districts on Tuesday, May 14th and Wednesday the 15th.
