County coaches meet offers room to run … and throw
Baseball and softball are not the only high school sports affected by the weather.
Track and field teams, which have a reputation for competing in adverse conditions, found meets cancelled or postponed because of the cold, wet weather.
“It’s been horrendous,” said Waynesburg coach Rick Layton.
But today’s daylong Washington-Greene County Coaches Track Meet at Peters Township High School should offer a respite from the bad weather and give teams an opportunity to compete outside, shaking off the restrictions from indoor practices.
Finals are expected to get underway at 1 p.m.
“It’s been bad,” Bentworth coach Jerome Nixon said. “We have had to stay inside and that is just not as productive as being outside.”
Bentworth has competed in just three meets since opening day, March 27. It took two weeks before the Bearcats’ first meet was held.
“We’ve been working inside, doing a lot of plyometrics (jump workouts), a lot of core body work, a lot of running steps,” Nixon said.
But every difficult situation has some bright spots. The postponements and cancellation of meets allowed Brenna Cavanaugh a chance to rest from a demanding indoor track season. Cavanaugh, a senior at Bentworth, is the defending PIAA Class AA outdoor champion in the 100-meter hurdles and has been bothered by shin splints in the past.
“She can’t hurdle when we’re inside but we have her do a lot of drills and pool work,” Nixon said. “But it’s been hard.”
Cavanaugh finished third in the 60-meter hurdles and seventh in the long jump in the indoor championships. In the first edition of the WPIAL track performance sheets that track times and distances, Cavanaugh is first in the 100-meter hurdles (15.14), sixth in the 100-meter dash (12.94) and second in the long jump (17-4) in Class AA.
Waynesburg ran back-to-back tri-meets this week in order to complete its section schedule, not an ideal situation, Layton said.
“It’s tough on all the kids,” he said. “I’ve never had a spring like this.”
Innovative ideas helped, such as putting distance runners on treadmills and even setting up a hurdle exercise.
“It will really be nice to get outside,” he said.
Layton’s son, Daniel, is ranked first in the Class AA 110-meter hurdles (14.76) and Will Behm tops the pole vault (14-3).
Other local athletes high on the performance sheets in Class AA are:
- Savannah Wheeler of Chartiers-Houston, second in shot put (34-8);
- Miranda Schramm of Burgettstown, second in the discus (111-08);
- Mykael Brown of Washington, second in the shot put (45-6);
- Jordan Blackburn and Ron White of Beth-Center, who are 1-2 in the discus (147-5, 145-1).
Local athletes high on the performance sheets in Class AAA include:
- Julia Chakos of Trinity, second in the long jump (16-10);
- Hunter Martin of Belle Vernon, first in the long jump (16-11).
Coaches had to submit marks in order for athletes to be ranked on the performance sheets, which come out weekly.