NA’s Owens ready for more medals
Tri-State Sports & News Service
North Allegheny junior Ayden Owens is the best hurdler in the state.
He has a PIAA gold medal to prove it.
And while Owens is the favorite to win WPIAL and PIAA gold in the Class 3A 300-meter hurdles again this season, what makes him so intriguing is his potential to do so much more.
Owens is a jack of all trades who is beginning to master some of them, too.
“He’s a once or twice in a lifetime athlete for a coach,” North Allegheny coach John Neff said. “Really, the sky’s the limit. He’s already been a state champ, so anything short of that would be selling him short. But it will be really fun to see what he can do in the other events.”
The “other events” include just about anything and everything. Owens can do it all. He won the decathlon in his age group at the USATF Junior Olympics in Sacramento in July. Earlier this month, he placed third in the heptathlon and gained All-American status at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in New York. He set personal records in the high jump and long jump. Both of those marks would have qualified him for the PIAA championships last year. His second-best event is likely the 200-meter dash. As a sophomore, he placed second at the WPIAL championships and eighth at the PIAA championships. At the PIAA meet, he ran the 300 hurdles in a schoolrecord 37.48 seconds.
“I definitely have some pretty big goals this year in terms of what I want to do,” Owens said. “I’m running at the Penn Relays. I want to win the 400 hurdles there. I want to double at states this year. Possibly triple. I’m just not sure what the other event will be. I’d like to try to bring back two or three gold medals at states. And in the summer, I want to try to win the decathlon at outdoor nationals.”
Track is Owens’ only sport. He played football his sophomore year, but elected not to play last season in order to train for track. He is part of an athletic family. His sisters — twins Melina and Makena — are senior standouts on the North Allegheny girls track team. Their father, Michael, played basketball at the University of Virginia and started alongside Hall of Famer Ralph Sampson his senior season.
Owens is already garnering college interest from top schools from across the country, including Stanford, North Carolina, Texas and California. He said some schools are recruiting him as a hurdler and others as a decathlete.
Said Neff: “You don’t ever know what the future holds, but if he continues in a linear fashion, he could be one of the best athletes to ever come out of North Allegheny.”
No qualifiers
The biggest change this season is the elimination of WPIAL qualifying meets. In the past, athletes had to finish in the top eight in their events at the one-day qualifiers (held at three locations in 3A and two in 2A) to advance to the WPIAL championship meet. Not anymore. Athletes can now qualify throughout the regular season at dual meets and invitationals. The top 24 marks in 3A and the best 16 in 2A will qualify for the championships.
“I think it’s really going to help your superstars,” Neff said. “They don’t have to qualify on that one day. Every coach in the WPIAL has a horror story about a superstar who didn’t make it out of qualifying because of one bad day. I personally think it’s a great move.”
Returning PIAA champions
Owens is one of six returning WPIAL athletes who won gold medals at last year’s PIAA championships.
Knoch senior Jordan Geist, an Arizona recruit, is the two-time defending 3A champion in the shot put and discus. Connellsville senior Madison Wiltrout is a North Carolina recruit and three-time defending 3A champion in the javelin. Geist (shot put) and Wiltrout are considered the best in the country in their events. Vincentian senior and West Virginia recruit Marianne Abdalah is the two-time reigning champion in the 2A 3,200-meter run. Avonworth junior Hunter Robinson (2A 400-meter dash) and New Brighton senior Anthony Milliner (2A triple jump) are also defending champions.