WPIAL boasts nine No. 1 seeds

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart has never had a state champion in boys track and field. Antonio Votour is the favorite to be the first.

The PIAA championships are Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University, and Votour is the No. 1 seed in the Class 2A boys 110-meter hurdles.

Votour, a senior, won the WPIAL title last week with a championship meet record time of 14.3 seconds. That gave him the No. 1 seed, just ahead of SteeltonHighspire’s Daquan McCraw, who ran a 14.5 at the District 3 championships.

Overall, athletes from the WPIAL are seeded No. 1 in nine events.

The only WPIAL athlete seeded No. 1 in more than one event is Mt. Lebanon’s Logan St. John Kletter, who is first in the Class 3A 1,600 and 3,200. The top four seeds in the 3,200 are all from the WPIAL. The others are North Allegheny’s Wren Kucler (No. 2), Montour’s Harley Kletz (No. 3) and North Allegheny’s Robin Kucler, Wren’s twin sister, at No. 4.

Brownsville’s Jolena Quarzo is seeded Class 2A No. 1 in the 1,600 and No. 2 in the 3,200. She is trying to win both events for the second year in a row and the 3,200 for the third consecutive year.

Quaker Valley’s Nora Johns is trying to pull off a first by a WPIAL athlete. Johns is seeded No. 2 in the Class 2A 300 hurdles. If Johns can win the title, she would be the first girl from the WPIAL to win the 300 hurdles three years in a row in either classification since the PIAA started the event in 1982.

Hempfield’s Liz Tapper is trying to win the Class 3A shot put and discus titles for the second consecutive year. She is seeded No. 1 in the shot put but No. 2 in the discus. Another Hempfield thrower, Peyton Murray, is seeded No. 1 in the Class 3A boys discus.

Other WPIAL athletes seeded No. 1 in events are Avonworth’s Hayzes Robinson (Class 2A 100), Butler’s Drew Griffith (Class 3A 1,600) and Moon’s Jacob Puhalla (Class 3A 800).