S. Fayette’s Allen breakout star
South Fayette boasts a star hurdler/sprinter who is all about straight A’s.
Her name is Amy Allen. She’s an outstanding student.
And she’s had an A-plus start to her senior season.
Allen appears to be one of the WPIAL’s breakout stars, something that would have likely happened a year ago if it weren’t for COVID-19 forcing the season to be canceled.
“It was devastating,” she said. “I was supposed to have such a good junior year. At indoor states I got seventh in the 400. I was ready to go out in the hurdles. But I got that taken away from me. I was ready to get good times and go to a good college. But I’m still going to a good college. I worked hard and it’s definitely paying off.”
A Duquesne recruit, Allen was an all-state hurdler during indoor season, and finished 11th in the 400-meter run at the Adidas Indoor Nationals. Her second outdoor meet of the season came last Saturday at the South Hills Classic, and Allen shined, setting new personal records and winning titles in both events. She finished the 400 in 56.34 seconds and the 100 hurdles in 15.46. Allen’s 400 time would have been good enough to win a WPIAL Class 3A title in 2019.
“To come out and PR with really no one around her and no real pressure, it just kind of shows you how talented she is,” South Fayette coach Scott Litwinovich said. “She’s worked very hard through the whole shutdown, from last spring to now. She’s continued to work hard. She’s never taken any time off.”
As good as Allen is in the 400 and 100 hurdles, her best event might be the 300 hurdles. She didn’t compete in that event at the South Hills Classic due to it being contested directly after the 400. Allen placed third at WPIAL’s her junior year. Pine-Richland’s Danielle Bryant won the title, and like Allen is a senior this season.
“My goal is to win WPIAL’s in either the 400 or 300 hurdles, and obviously qualify for states,” said Allen, who was an all-section player in soccer her senior season.
Allen’s coach said he believes Allen can win not one, but both.
“The girl from Pine is really good, too,” Litwinovich said. “I would love to see those two in the 300 hurdles go at it, just for the sake of competition.”
The girl with the initials “AA” gets a lot of A’s in the classroom, as well. She holds a 3.8 GPA and plans on majoring in occupational therapy at Duquesne.
Best in the state
Last Saturday’s Butler County Classic saw a pair of local boys produce some blistering times.
Butler junior C.J. Singleton ran a 4:11.09 to capture the 1,600-meter title and Seneca Valley senior Aiden Kutchma ran a 39.14 to claim the title in the 300-meter hurdles. No runners in the state have posted times as fast as those this season.
Singleton’s time was especially speedy. It broke Butler’s school record set by Noah Beveridge in 2018 (4:12.58). Beveridge now runs at Syracuse. Singleton was the WPIAL Class 3A cross country champion last fall.
Both Singleton and Kutchma medaled at the WPIAL track championships in 2019. Singleton, who was then at St. Joseph, was fifth in the Class 2A 3,200 and Kutchma was sixth in the Class 3A 300 hurdles.
Singleton was actually one of two runners who broke school records in that 1,600 final at the Butler County Classic. Knoch senior Mike Formica finished second in 4:16.72, breaking a school record. Like Singleton, Formica was a WPIAL cross country champion last fall. Formica captured the Class 2A title.
Top pole vaulters
Bethel Park senior Megan Malecki and South Fayette junior Melana Schumaker produced pole vaults of 11 feet, 6 inches at the South Hills Classic (Malecki edged out Schumaker for first place based on fewer attempts). The two are now among only 30 girls in WPIAL history with vaults of at least 11-6.
Hempfield’s Larisa Debich ranks No. 1 all time in the WPIAL. She vaulted 13- 0 ¼ in 2012, but that record could be broken this season. That’s due to the return of Waynesburg’s Taylor Shriver. A senior, Shriver vaulted a careerbest 12-9 as a sophomore in 2019, which ranks third all time. Shriver has not yet reached 13 feet outdoors, but she has indoors. She produced a mark of 13-0 at a meet last month.
TSTCA championships
The Tri- State Track Coaches Association championships are Saturday at West Mifflin. Just like last week’s South Hills Classic, the meet will be broken into two parts — the girls portion begins at 9:15 a.m. and the boys at 3:15 p.m.
One of the highlights should be the boys sprints. Among the speedsters expected to compete are Butler’s Guinness Brown, North Catholic’s Trevor Paschall and Central Catholic’s Brandon Jackson.