South Park’s junior star wins all 3 throwing titles
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The WPIAL track and field championships were held at Baldwin High School, which sits along a stretch of Route 51 that had shut down for several hours Wednesday after heavy rains wreaked havoc on the area.
Thursday, South Park’s Maura Huwalt flooded the meet with goldmedal winning performances.
Huwalt didn’t run or jump into the history books … she threw her way into them. Huwalt won all three throwing events — discus, shot put and javelin — which had not been accomplished in Class 2A or 3A since 1999.
“It means the world to me,” Huwalt said. “I’ve been dreaming ever since I was younger just to win one event, and to win all three is a dream come true.”
Huwalt, a junior, came up big after coming up short her sophomore season when she finished as the runner-up in all three events.
“Last year, I got second in all three, and that kind of stung a little bit, but it motivated me to work harder to win all three this year,” she said.
Huwalt threw 137 feet, 8 inches in the discus, 43-5 in the shot put, and 135-5 in the javelin.
Robinsons dominate
Avonworth’s Hunter Robinson once again put forth a monster showing in the Class 3A sprints, winning the 200- and 400-meter dash titles for the second year in a row. But unlike last year, Robinson was joined by her two sisters — Hayden (she missed the meet last year with a hamstring injury) and freshman Harris — on the medal stand.
Hayden Robinson won the 100, and all three Robinson sisters ran on the winning 400 relay team that posted its fastest time of the season. Hayden and Hunter also helped Avonworth sprint to a win in the 1,600 relay with a meet record time of 3:50.99.
Hunter Robinson, a senior who will run in college at Tulane, has won nine WPIAL gold medals in her career.
“It’s very special. Not many girls have done this,” she said. “To do it in such a short time. I only moved here sophomore year. I think it’s a really great accomplishment for me and my team.”
Freshmen shine
Beaver’s Emma Pavelek and South Park’s Maddie Raymond are only freshmen, but they made a big imprint at their first WPIAL championship by each winning two Class 2A gold medals.
Pavelek claimed titles in the 400 and high jump; Raymond won the 100 and 200.
The bright lights weren’t too much for either, especially Pavelek, who was a starter on the Beaver basketball team that played in the WPIAL Class 4A championship at Petersen Events Center.
“I didn’t expect to be this successful. I actually came out just because I really liked to do the high jump and I guess it went farther than I expected,” Pavelek said.
Pavelek also anchored Beaver’s winning 400 relay team.
Salek holds on
West Allegheny senior Maddie Salek successfully defended her Class 3A title in the 800, but it wasn’t easy after running in what was one of the most-loaded fields in recent memory.
Salek, an Oklahoma State recruit, held a solid lead heading into the final 100 meters. Greensburg Salem’s Malia Anderson, however, put forth a big finishing kick and nearly unseated Salek as champion. Salek finished in 2:11.34 and Anderson in 2:11.60. To put those times into perspective, the WPIAL record in any meet is 2:10.09.
Even Salek thought she had a bigger lead as the finish line neared.
“I thought I did and then whenever I heard the footsteps right when I crossed, I was like, ‘Oh, that was close.’ It was scary. I consider it almost a tie,” said Salek.
Records and repeats
Three girls set meet records, all in Class 3A — Oakland Catholic’s Jayla Ellis in the 100 hurdles (14.12), Oakland Catholic’s Hannah Schupansky in the 3,200 (10:33.66) and North Allegheny’s Casey Burton in the long jump (193¾). Ellis ran one of the fastest times in WPIAL history. The record is 14.01.
In addition to Hunter Robinson and Maddie Salek, repeating as champions were Upper St. Clair’s Savannah Shaw (1,600) in Class 3A, and Bentworth’s Brenna Cavanaugh (100 hurdles and long jump) and Greensburg Central Catholic’s Lauren Ritenour (pole vault) in Class 2A.