Connellsville grad Wiltrout caps comeback
Competing in the NCAA Division I track and field championships for the first time, Connellsville graduate Madison Wiltrout didn’t have a long list of expectations when she made the trip to the University of Texas last week.
In fact, there was just one. “For it to be really hot, and that happened,” she said, laughing.
What also happened was Wiltrout putting the finishes touches on one of the best comeback stories in college track and field this season.
After an elbow injury caused her to take a year off of throwing, Wiltrout, a redshirt freshman at North Carolina, proved she is one of the best college javelin throwers in the country after a third-place finish last Friday in Austin.
“I think this was my breakthrough season,” said Wiltrout, who won the ACC title last month. “I had a few years of trouble with the injuries and I wasn’t able to be what I wanted to be. I let go of the past and showed that I’m on a new journey.”
Wiltrout, a four-time PIAA Class 3A champion at Connellsville and one of the top high school throwers in U.S. high school history, was one of three former WPIAL stars to earn first-team AllAmerican recognition and top-four finishes last week. Knoch’s Jordan Geist was third in the shot put and Hempfield’s Bridget Guy fourth in the pole vault.
It was an emotional championship debut for Wiltrout, who is pain-free from the right elbow injury she sustained four years ago, one that required Tommy John surgery and stunted her rapid ascent in the sport. Wiltrout redshirted her first year at North Carolina. She went a year between competitions before taking part in the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships last June.
With family members, teammates and coaches cheering her on last week, Wiltrout unleashed a throw of 181 feet, 1 inch on the second of her six attempts. It was her best throw of the meet, placing her only behind Stanford senior Mackenzie Little (195-0) and Auburn junior Kylee Carter (185-0).
Wiltrout’s finish was the best at the NCAA outdoor championships by a North Carolina women’s javelin thrower since 1992 and the best by any North Carolina woman in an event since 2007.
She already has expectations for next season.
“I left there saying, ‘You will not see me get third again,’” Wiltrout said. “I didn’t like standing on the third podium. I realized I was not the best there, but I’m going to do all I can to be the best.”
Wiltrout said she will compete in one of two events next month: the University Games in Naples, Italy or the USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.
Geist places third
Jordan Geist, a sophomore at Arizona, capped a strong season with a thirdplace finish in the shot put. Geist owned the No. 1 qualifying mark, but his best throw of 66-7¾ was topped by Texas sophomore Adrian Piperi (69-3¼) and Georgia senior Denzel Comenentia (68-1 ¾). Comenentia was the defending champion.
Geist, winner of three PIAA Class 3A titles at Knoch, earned first-team All-American status for the fourth time. This season’s Pac-12 outdoor champion and Field Athlete of the Year earned fifth-place finishes at this year’s NCAA indoor championships and last year’s indoor and outdoor championships.
Top-5 Guy
For the third time in her career, Bridget Guy, a senior pole vaulter at Virginia, earned first-team All-American honors and a top-five finish at the national championships. Guy placed fourth after tying for fourth last year. She was fifth at this year’s indoor championships.
Guy, who won the ACC outdoor title her final two seasons, cleared the bar on her second attempt on the first three heights she attempted. Her jump of 14-7¼ was a season best.
One of the final four competitors, Guy failed to clear 14-9½, which would have been a personal record. Arkansas senior Victoria Hoggard took first place with a jump of 14-11½.
Guy won the PIAA Class 3A title as a senior at Hempfield.
High jump dooms Owens
Win three events in the decathlon, and there’s a very good chance you’re going to finish very highly, if not win it. That was not the case for former North Allegheny star Ayden Owens, whose struggles in one event made for a frustrating championship debut.
Owens, a freshman at Southern California and the Pac-12 champion, came in with the top qualifying mark and made a huge statement in the first event by winning the 100 in 10.55 seconds and earning the 963 points that came with it. He then sat in fourth place heading into the fourth event, the high jump. That’s where Owens found trouble. He elected to start at 6-1¼, but missed on all three attempts. He was given a “NH” (No Height) and no points, plummeting him to last place.
But Owens finished the first day of competition strong by winning the 400 in 47.10, and started the second day in a big way by claiming the top spot in the 110 hurdles in 14.09. He followed that by placing third in the discus and 11th in the pole vault before withdrawing from competition due to right knee discomfort. He earned 5,853 points in the seven events he finished. Georgia sophomore Johannes Erm captured the title after amassing 8,352 points.
Other local participants
• Hempfield graduate Hayden Fox (Navy) finished 20th in the men’s javelin. Fox, the runner-up at the Patriot League championships, had a top heave of 21111. Mississippi State sophomore Anderson Peters (2842) was the champion.
• Summer Thorpe, a Shady Side Academy graduate and junior at Notre Dame, competed in the championships for the first time after earning the final qualifying spot in the 100 hurdles at the NCAA East Regional. In Austin, Thorpe fell short of reaching the final after placing seventh in her preliminary heat.
• In the women’s 400 hurdles, Pitt freshman Sydni Townsend finished seventh in her preliminary heat and did not qualify for the final. A Neumann-Goretti graduate, Townsend was the first Pitt athlete since 2017 to qualify for the championships.