Kiski Area’s Miller ready for final shot at winning WPIAL track gold

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 | 9:14 PM

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Eliza Miller has a faint memory of her first WPIAL event as a freshman in the fall of 2020 amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

“I think it was a meet at Kiski against Norwin,” the Cavaliers senior three-sport standout said Tuesday on the eve of what will be her final WPIAL-sanctioned event in a decorated four-year high school career. “It’s been a really long journey, and I am really excited to compete at WPIALs one more time.”

Miller is the defending champion in the Class 3A girls 800-meter run and the No. 1 seed heading into Wednesday race at Slippery Rock.

“I’ve been running in high school meets for so long, and I am definitely going to miss it,” she said. “But there is still a lot I can do, and I want to have my best WPIAL meet.”

Miller recorded the Class 3A girls’ top 800 time this season (2 minutes, 13.37 seconds) at the Baldwin Invitational on May 3.

While she is the defending 800 champion, it is the first time she will run at the WPIAL track championships as a No. 1 seed.

“It does make me a little bit nervous just knowing what it will take to hold that spot,” Miller said. “It also is very motivating.”

Last year, Miller went into the 800 seeded second to North Allegheny’s Wren Kucler, but she dropped more than a second from her seed time to finish with gold in 2:14.71.

Kucler added more than 4 seconds and medaled in sixth.

Miller said this time around, she knows a lot of runners in the 800 field, including No. 2 seed Jenna Lang from Bethel Park (2:13.98) and No. 3 seed Amelia Barilla from Penn-Trafford (2:15.93), will be right on her heels.

Barilla defeated Miller for the title at the Westmoreland County meet April 25, and Miller edged Lang by a half second for the title at Baldwin.

“I know the whole field will be ready to run and will be fast,” Miller said. “I’ve raced with a majority of these girls already, so I know what it is going to be like.”

While Miller is going after a second WPIAL 800 crown, she is chasing her all-time best time in the event, a 2:10.88 run in taking fifth at last year’s PIAA meet in Shippensburg.

Miller leads a large contingent of runners, hurdlers, jumpers, and throwers who will represent the Alle-Kiski Valley at Wednesday’s Class 3A and Class 2A championships.

A total of 56 A-K Valley boys and girls entries combined in both classes are top-eight seeds. There are numerous athletes who qualified among the top eight in two individual events. There again are, at most, 24 entries in each Class 3A event and 16 in each Class 2A event.

Miller hopes to break five minutes in the 1,600, where she is seeded fourth with a season best of 5:02.96. She took sixth in the event last year with a 5:00.76. The top five finishers were 4:57 or faster.

Defending 1,600 champion, senior Logan St. John Kletter from Mt. Lebanon, is the top seed with a time of 4:46.70.

The top four finishers in each Class 3A boys and girls event automatically qualify for states set for May 24-25 at Shippensburg. For Class 2A boys, it is the top five, and for Class 2A girls, it’s the top six.

Also, up to the eighth-place finisher across the board will head to states provided any of those individuals or relays meet or surpass the pre-set qualifying standard set by the PIAA.

Some of Wednesday’s events could be affected by the 40% chance of rain for Slippery Rock. Temperatures will start out in the mid 60s and could top 70 by the meet’s anticipated end at around 7 p.m.

Miller is not the only No. 1 seed from the A-K Valley as first-year thrower Karter Schrock will go after WPIAL gold.

The Apollo-Ridge senior, who enjoyed successful football and basketball seasons after coming back from a severe knee injury, decided this spring to give track and field a try.

He said the javelin, with some similarities to his motions as a throwing quarterback, was a good fit for him.

Schrock’s strength and technique helped make him a natural, so much so that he is the No. 1 seed with a season-best throw of 163 feet, 1 inch recorded April 30 in a meet at Burrell.

“I am very surprised to be the No. 1 seed with it being my first year in track and first year throwing the javelin,” Schrock said. “There are a little bit of nerves, but not much. I am just super excited to see what happens. I just want to go out there and do my best.”

Schrock will have some Apollo-Ridge company in the javelin as sophomore Jaden McCray is seeded fifth (146-0), and junior Frank Krezolek is seeded sixth (145-11).

“We’re all good buddies, and it is great that we get to experience WPIALs together like this,” Schrock said. “To have three from Apollo-Ridge in the top eight seeds, that’s pretty neat.”

Five from the A-K Valley head to WPIALs as No. 2 seeds, and that includes Freeport junior Michael Braun in the Class 2A boys 1,600 run (4:18.61) and 3,200 run (9:02.76).

Braun hopes to be able to defend his WPIAL title from last year in the 3,200 (9:23.64) and also break nine minutes.

Fox Chapel senior Anna Troutman is the second seed in the Class 3A girls high jump (5-4), and Apollo-Ridge senior Sophia Yard is seeded second in the Class 2A girls high jump (5-5).

Freeport freshman pole vaulter Mackenzie Magness makes her WPIAL debut hoping to improve on her school record of 11-9 set at the WPIAL team semifinals two weeks ago.

Knoch has the second and third seeds in the Class 2A girls javelin as junior Karlee Buterbaugh owns a school-record distance of 131-5, and sophomore Neah Ewing has a season-best 118-0.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.