PIAA Track & Field – Friday Highlights

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, May 22, 2015 | 11:41 PM

Three athletes from the WPIAL won championships on the first day of the PIAA track and field championships Friday at Shippensburg University. Two have national reputations.

One was certainly a surprise champion.

The three winners were Connellsville sophomore Madison Wiltrout in the Class AAA javelin, Knoch sophomore Jordan Geist in the Class AAA discus and – get this – Trinity Christian junior Tyler Carter in the Class AA triple jump.

Wiltrout winning was practically a given. She set a national high school record a few weeks ago.

Geist winning was also a good possibility. Even though the shot put is his best event, he was also the No. 1 seed in the discus.

But Carter? From Trinity Christian? The small school in Forest Hills (near Woodland Hills) hasn’t been in the WPIAL that long. And Carter was the fifth seed for the championships. But at the end of the day, Carter was wearing a gold medal just like Wiltrout and Geist.

Carter’s title was much more dramatic. He won on the final attempt of the event, just after defending champion Kobren Frederick of Huntingdon Area had taken over first with a jump of 46-3.

“I just kept telling myself,” Carter said, “when he was about to jump ‘you’ve got this. This is your moment. Hold that second phase of your jump like you’re supposed to, and you’ll win.’”

He did.

Wiltrout already was in the national record book and she put herself in the state record book on her first throw of the meet when she threw 182-8. It was a state championship meet record, smashing the mark of of 158-0, set 11 years ago by Ruby Radocaj of Williamsport.

Wiltrout’s throw was only three feet short of her national record. But there was a downside to her day. She pulled out of the meet after her three preliminary throws, scratching for her three throws in the finals. The reason was a right elbow injury, sustained on her third throw in the preliminary round.

Preliminary round marks also count and Wiltrout was so far ahead, she didn’t need to throw again. The second-place finisher was also named Madison, but New Oxford’s Madison Smith had throws that looked nothing like Wiltrout’s. Smith’s best was 135-2.

“I was trying to beat the wind and I didn’t focus on what I needed to do,” said Wiltrout. “So I dropped my arm and it kind of tweaked the muscle in my elbow. As soon as I let go of the throw, I could feel it. It wasn’t something that would completely shut me down, but I never felt that before. So we thought it better to just stop.”

Wiltrout said she didn’t think the injury was serious, but it had her concerned. It was the second year in a row Wiltrout won the javelin. Her throw this year was more than 30 feet better than last year.

For Geist, he won the discus with a personal-best throw of 186-2. It was impressive, considering his best event is the shot put. Geist will participate in the shot put Saturday. He is one of the best shot putters in the country this season.

The state championship record in the shot put is 70 feet by Ryan Whiting of Central Dauphin in 1975. Geist threw 69-1 at the Baldwin Invitational a few weeks ago.

“I’m definitely shooting for 70 feet, but anything that would be my PR, I would be ecstatic with,” said Geist.

Half of the field event finals were held Friday. The other field events will be staged today, as well as all of the running finals.

In other highlights Friday involving WPIAL athletes, Kittanning’s Nick Bowers almost became the first state champion in school history. Bowers, who is a Penn State football recruit, finished second in the Class AA shot put with a throw of 54-8. Joey Mundell of Schuylkill Valley won with a mark of 54-10 ¼. It would have been quite a way for Bowers to go out – and Kittanning to go out. The school will close next month.

Hempfield’s Lauren George lost the Class AA long jump by ¼ inch. George finished second with a leap of 18-2 ¾. Khaysi Caldwell-Adams of Pocono Mountain East won with a leap of 18-3.

The WPIAL had two of the top three finishers in the Class AAA boys pole vault. North Allegheny’s Bobby Upton was second at 15-0 and Hempfield’s Hayden Fox third, also at 15-0 (Upton got second with fewer misses). Valley View’s Ryan Wilkes won at 15-6.