Day one of the LL League T&F Championships kick off at 4pm today.
The boys team race should be close and at least 4 teams have a chance at walking away with the championship title. We detail this further below.
For the girls, three of the states top athletes will kick off their busy weekend schedules – Leah Graybill of Warwick, Sydney Horn of Manheim Township, and Jane Livingston of Conestoga Valley.
Sprints/Hurdles – Both Graybill and Livingston will be looking to not only win multiple events, but potentially set multiple meet records in the process. The Warwick sprint trio of Graybill, Meghan Quinn, and Lily Palacio-Lewis will be looking to sweep the 100m and 200m events. Graybill and Quinn are also seeded 2nd and 3rd in the 400m. Donegal’s Taylor Nissly could stand in the way of this happening as she is the #3 seed in the 200m and is the top seed in the 400m.
Field Events – Horn set a new personal record in the Pole Vault at a Township dual meet earlier this week when she cleared 13-6. She will also be competing in the 100mH prelims today. Sophomore Jayln Clow and Cedar Crest senior Hannah Woelfling should have a competitive battle in the discus, both throwing better than 130-feet this season. In the girls triple jump, 5 athletes have reached further than 36 feet this season led by CV’s Aviona Saunders (38-01.25) and Warwick’s Juliette Delmotte (37-05). Delmotte just edged out Saunders at last year’s championship, 37-01.75 to 37-01.25.
Boys Team Race
Today is critical in the overall team race on the boys side. Warwick, Manheim Township, JP McCaskey, and Lampeter-Strasburg all have a chance to walk away with the team title. How important is today? Lets take a look at the action on the track and the field for today. Below you will find the athletes competing from each of these four schools by event. The field events will all be finals today, so will the 3200m on the track. The 100m, 110mH, and 200m events will determine who advances to Saturday’s finals.
The first prelim of the day will be the 100m and will have a significant impact on the team race. Mellinger is the clear favorite, but McCaskey, Warwick, and Manheim Township will all try to advance 2 athletes to finals. Warwick and Manheim Township appear to have the most to gain if someone ahead of them falters. Township’s Russinko has been injured for large parts of the season and will be making a comeback today. Mellinger (1st), Russinko (4th), and Cox (6th) are returning place winners from last year’s meet.
The 110mH features 4 athletes relatively closely bunched. Township’s Wayne Robinson and McCaskey’s Dejon Manning have identical seed times of 15.24 heading into the championships. Robinson (7th) is the only returning place winner amongst these four from last years meet. Dejon Manning has been a force at 300mH all season and has continued to improve at the 110s. Lampeter Strasburg’s Josiah Zehr is close behind with his 15.46. Tanner Haines has run 16.09. Running a clean prelim will be critical to all 4 athletes in their efforts to move onto Saturday’s finals.
7 of the top 8 seeds in the 200m come from the 4 teams figuring into the team title discussion. Advancing to the finals is mission #1. Keep a close watch on this race as the #2-#8 seeds have all run between 21.94 and 22.94 seconds. Once again, Mellinger is the clear favorite to win this event. Cox (3rd) and Russinko (5th) are the only two returning medal winners from last year. Mellinger did not compete at 200m at the league meet in 2018.
In what has been a continued theme since XC, Manheim Township and Warwick are expected to battle for key points in distance events. It starts with the 3200m, set to go off at 6p this evening. This race will likely be a battle between Township’s Miller, Ephrata’s Andrew Foster (2nd seed), and the Warwick tandem of Martin and Shields. If the race is left to the kickers you can’t count out Cedar Crest’s Jake Barrett who is seeded 5th. The McCaskey duo of Miller and Schousen have had strong sophomore seasons and will be looking to cap of their league year on the medal stand. Manheim Township freshman Tyler Stevens has run 10:02 and is seeded 9 seconds behind 8th place going into the meet. L-S’s David Helms has run 10:30 and will look to improve upon his 17th place seed. Returning medal winner’s from last season include the defending champion, Andrew Foster, Ian Miller (3rd), and Lancaster Mennonite’s Logan Horst (4th).
The Javelin is an event where seeds could get messy. Only 10-feet separates the top 6 seeds, which means Manheim Township’s Jack Rodenberger and L-S’s Alex Stoeffler should both be eyeing an individual title. Those points would be a big pick-up for their respective teams if the event plays out that way. Likewise, McCaskey’s Juan Vazquez-McPherson is only seeded 10-feet behind the Stoeffler’s 6th place seed. This event is too close to call, but could have large implications on the team race. Warwick’s Coomer will have a larger impact in the shot and discus where he is seeded top 4 in each event. Stoeffler (5th) and Rodenberger (8th) are the only two returning medal winners.
Warwick and McCaskey are best positioned to walk away with big points in the high jump competition. 10 athletes in the league have cleared 6-feet this season and all figure to be in position to medal this afternoon. Warwick’s Good is one of only 2 athletes to have cleared 6-4 this season, the other is Joe Cardina from CV who is seeded first with a 6-5. Hess, Aleong, and Binner have all cleared 6-2. L-S’s Emmerling is just a sophomore and Twp’s Cammauf is only a freshman. Both figure to gain valuable experience competing at this season’s championship. Cardina (2nd), Good (4th), Aleong (5th), and Donegal’s Matt Brown (8th) are the returning medal winners.
Mellinger will hope to make it 3/3 in individual event championships this weekend. His toughest competition could come in the long jump as he faces off with Manheim Central’s Will Rivers. Rivers has jumped within 6 inches of Mellinger’ season best 24-1.25. Only 9-inches separates the 4th seed Cox from the 10th seed Robinson. Mellinger is the defending champion. Cox (2nd), Rivers (4th), and CV’s Obed Bawmungwa (7th) are the other returning medalists.