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Waynesburg dominates early as Behm breaks record

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Eleanor Bailey/Observer-Reporter

Will Behm of Waynesburg clears the bar on his record-setting pole vault during the WPIAL Track and Field Championships.

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Eleanor Bailey/Observer-Reporter

Discus throwers will be competing Friday at Peters Township in the Washington-Greene County Coaches Track Meet. Throwers and high jumpers will compete Friday while the rest of the events will be held Saturday at Canon-McMillan.

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Eleanor Bailey/the Almanac

Daniel Layton won last year’s 110-meter high hurdles during the WPIAL Class AA Track & Field Championships with a time of 14.73 seconds.

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Eleanor Bailey

Will Behm of Waynesburg has the second-best Class AA pole vault height in the state.

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Will Behm celebrates breaking the WPIAL record in the pole vault.

BALDWIN – Failing to qualify for the WPIAL Track & Field Championships during his freshman season, Waynesburg High School pole vaulter Will Behm still made the trip to Baldwin at the request of longtime Raiders vaulting coach Butch Brunell.

The next year, in 2015, when Behm qualified for the event as a sophomore, he watched Riverview’s Evan Lesnick sail over the bar at 14-9 to break the WPIAL Class AA record.

“I knew 14-9 was the record from the time. I watched (Lesnick) clear it,” Behm said. “I thought ‘Good for him, but it’s my turn to break it.’ It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.”

It was finally Behm’s time Thursday afternoon at the WPIAL event when no other competitors remained.

By Luke Campbell
Staff writer
lcampbell@observer-reporter.com

Will Behm

Having already won the gold medal, Behm, the Raiders’ senior vaulter, had the bar placed an inch above Lesnick’s record-breaking mark. Two jumps later, Behm forced changes to the record book by clearing 14-10 without even grazing the bar.

“After being here that day as a freshman, watching everyone vault, was something that got to me,” Behm remembers. “That’s when I knew I wanted to take it to the next level.”

The entire Waynesburg team took it to the next level only 15 minutes into the finals as the Raiders won four medals – Behm’s gold in pole vault, a silver by junior Scott Benco in the javelin (162-0) and a pair of medals from Daniel Layton, who finished second in the pole vault (13-6) and first in the 110 high hurdles (14.73).

The only other local finisher for the boys to earn gold was Washington’s Myckel Brown, setting a personal best with a throw of 49-11 1/2 in the shot put.

“We are as back country as you can get,” Layton joked. “We were showing up and cleaning up. It’s really cool.”

Layton, who was injured for the Washington-Greene County Coaches Meet, finished second at the WPIAL Championships in the 110 hurdles a season ago. A strong race had him in first place from the beginning.

By Luke Campbell
Staff writer
lcampbell@observer-reporter.com

Daniel Layton

“My start was the best it’s ever been,” Layton said. “I’m usually the third or fourth person by the first hurdle then pick it up in the middle. But today I just came out strong and finished strong.”

But unlike most of the season, when Waynesburg would collect points in the vault because nobody in its section had competitors in the event, Thursday offered an opportunity for Behm and Layton to blow away the rest of the competition. No other finishers in Class AA cleared 13-6.

“There is no competition (throughout the season),” said Brunell, who is coaching in his 46th season. “Being able to go to West Virginia University and vault indoors has been a huge help. Will is what I call a tenacious competitor, but you can’t tell that by looking at him. He is quiet but inside he wants it really bad. You can’t teach that.”

Behm didn’t reach his personal best of 15 feet but has dominated in the events he’s competed in over the last several weeks. He won the county meet and the South Fayette and Baldwin invitationals before taking home gold Thursday. He also had the highest vault in both classifications, topping North Allegheny’s Jono Pelusi’s 14-9 in Class AAA.

“I’m happy but if I’m being completely honest I know that I can go higher,” Behm said. “There are a lot of things that I can fix at the top end of my vault. That’s what is in my head right now, but I’m extremely proud, too. Not only did I break the record that I’ve been looking at for a long time, but I was able to do it in front of everyone that has helped me all the way. That was the most special part about all of it.”

Five other local athletes placed in the top 3 of their respective event:

In Class AAA, Canon-McMillan’s Kamden Martin finished tied for third in the 100-meter dash (10.96). South Fayette senior Silas Mays was third in the 800 (1:55.27) to qualify for the state meet for the first time. In Class AA, Washington’s Isaiah Schoonmaker finished in third in the javelin (158-10), Jordan Blackburn of Beth-Center placed third in the discus (146-9). and Michael Berdar, also of Beth-Center, was third in the high jump (6-0).

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