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No laying low for PT relay team

4 min read

WEST MIFFLIN – What Kylie Knavish and the rest of Peters Township’s 4×800-meter relay squad did yesterday was hardly conventional for a track and field meet such as the WPIAL Class AAA South Qualifier.

Or, some might argue, advisable.

In an event where the mantra tends to be “survive and advance,” Knavish and her teammates threw caution to the wind – in this case, literally – by chasing the school record, forget whatever else may happen.

“We were one second away from breaking the school record, so I was kind of putting all my energy into that race,” said Knavish. “We ended up breaking it by four seconds, so I was happy with that.”

Kristen Czajkowski, Nicole Hume, Carly Johns and Knavish toasted Mt. Lebanon’s quartet by more than 11 seconds with a time of 9:45.58, proof again that many tend to keep a little in reserve here.

Knavish later finished fifth and fourth in the 1,600 and 3,200 runs, respectively, though both times were partially affected by her all-out effort in the 4×800.

“It probably did a little bit, but I wanted to go out hard and get the record,” Knavish said.

The top-eight finishers from yesterday’s event – one of three in Class AAA, plus two more in Class AA – advance to the WPIAL individual championships next week at Baldwin High School.

Canon-McMillan’s Riley Leisman qualified in the 100 and 200 dashes, finishing second in the 100 and winning the 200 with a time of 26.46.

Kathleen Davey was tops in the shot put at 37 feet, 4 3/4 inches, as the Canon-McMillan girls team advanced four of its throwers.

On the boys side, Canon-McMillan sophomore Jonathan Weese established himself on the season’s biggest stage, coming out of nowhere – for casual fans, anyway – after he opted out of the Washington-Greene County Coaches Meet because of a church commitment.

Weese took first in the boys 1,600 with a time of 4:35.89 and appears to be peaking at the right time.

“I was a little nervous in the beginning because it was a pack, and it was really fast,” Weese said. “I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to make it; I wanted to save a little juice for the end, and I was able to come out on top.”

Trinity’s Marcus Chadwick, according to his coach, lobbied to avoid the 1,600 and focus entirely on the 800. That request was denied. And now Chadwick will run both at WPIALs.

Chadwick finished sixth in the 800 in 2:03.27, third in the 1,600 in 4:38.77.

“He was very hesitant to run it,” Trinity coach Sherrie MacKinney said of the 1,600. “He wanted to put all of his eggs in one basket. But we convinced him that it was better for him to try a couple races, and it paid off. He ran his best time today, and I’m glad he decided to heed our advice.”

Canon-McMillan’s 4×800 relay team took first with a time of 8:13.79, and its 4×400 squad was second in 3:29.60. Mark Tilley anchored the 4×800 team – which also consisted of Ryan Davey, Jake Alauzen and Caden Meier – and couldn’t be happier after transitioning away from running the 1,600 and becoming more of a middle-distance guy.

“Even last year, we were one second away from medaling at WPIALs,” Tilley said. “I was so focused on that this year. I don’t want to say I wasn’t focused in the mile, but we have a chance at states in the 4×800, and I really wanted to focus on that.

“I just want to get redemption.”

Canon-McMillan’s Alec Rideout was first in the discus (153-00) and second in the shot put, while Peters Township’s Christian Nossokoff qualified in three field events: the high jump (tied for first at 5-10), the long jump (fourth, 19-10 1/2) and the triple jump (seventh, 40-10 1/2).

None, Nossokoff insisted, were his best work, which is common for this meet, though not if you watched Peters Township’s record-breaking bunch.

“I wasn’t expecting to qualify in the long jump,” Nossokoff said. “It’s not usually my best event. I didn’t do as well as I would like to in triple, but I made it. That’s pretty much all that matters to me.”

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