Rivals compete in different classes in 2017

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Without the other sprinter in the adjacent lane, Hunter Robinson of Avonworth/Northgate and Burrell’s Nikki Scherer were in a league of their own.

Each distinguished sprinter dominated all three sprints in their respective classes, both winning the girls 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes Thursday at the WPIAL track and field championships at Baldwin High School.

Robinson finished with gold-medal-winning times of 12.09, 24.56 and 54.49 in the 100, 200 and 400. Her 400 time is a WPIAL championship record. Scherer’s slightly slowertimes were 12.36, 24.79 and56.69 in each race.

“I’ve worked the last four years for this,” said the Class 2A champ Scherer, who also helped Burrell win a 400 relay, bringing her gold-medal total Thursday to four. “To see this all happen today, it’s awesome.”

Robinson echoed Scherer’s elation-filled sentiments, saying it felt “really good to sweep” with a wide smile.

Just a year ago, Robinson and Scherer were unable to win all three sprints because both competed in Class 2A. Robinson earned gold in the 100 and 400, and Scherer was victorious in the 200 at the 2016 WPIAL championships.

But with Avonworth/ Northgate moving up to Class 3A, the door to a sweep for each was opened — a move that Scherer believes lowered her quality of running Thursday.

“I love racing against her,” Scherer said of Robinson. “She beats me, but she makes me get the most out

Laurel Highlands’ senior Casey Phelan repeated as the Class 3A girls pole vault champion, setting a WPIAL record of 12-9½.

“It feels so good to go out like this my senior year,” said Phelan, who has committed to South Florida, where she will continue her pole vaulting career. “After jumping 11 to qualify, I knew it was within reach to break the meet record.”

That meet record was 12-

Vincentian Academy’s Marianne Abdalah closed out her WPIAL career with a gold medal in her best event, the 3,200 run.

Abdalah, who won the event in her freshman and sophomore seasons, was surprisingly the runner-up in the event a year ago at the WPIAL championships, despite going on to win gold at the PIAA championships. Her winning time of 11:07.16 was more than 19 seconds faster than runner-up Gionna Quarzo of Brownsville.