Track notebook: Canon-McMillan’s Taylor has career end in heartbreak
Track notebook
Canon-McMillan senior Aaron Taylor was the top seed and defending champion in the WPIAL Class 3A 300 hurdles, but he left Thursday with a disappointing finish to his career.
Taylor, a Villanova recruit, fell in both the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdle finals and not only did he fail to win at the WPIAL Track and Field Championships Thursday at Slippery Rock University, he did not qualify for states in either event.
In the 110 hurdles, Taylor finished eighth in the final after a fall early in the race. He had a similar fate in the 300 final and did not receive a time because he was disqualified for hitting a hurdle outside of his lane.
Taylor was the state runner up in the 300 hurdles last year and finished fifth in the state in the 110 hurdles.
Ricciuti edges Lunger
Waynesburg freshman Nate Ricciuti has been battling Charleroi’s Braedin Lunger in the 110-meter hurdles all season.
They raced each other at the Washington-Greene meet, a couple section meets and at the section championship and both have been victorious.
So, Ricciuti, a freshman, was pleased to cross the finish line first at WPIALs.
Ricciuti edged out Lunger to win the Class 2A 110 hurdles championship.
“It’s really cool,” Ricciuti said. “I’ve raced him five times this year, and he’s beaten me a couple of times, so it felt good to beat him here.”
He finished with a personal best time of 14.61 compared to Lunger’s 14.73.
They’ll race each other again next weekend at the PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University. Ricciuti’s Waynesburg teammate, Mason Mankey, also qualified for states. Mankey finished fourth at 15.48
Nothing seemed to bother Ricciuti. Not the cold temperatures or the drizzly rain in his debut at the WPIAL championships.
“I felt a little bit of jitters, but nothing special,” Ricciuti said. “Since I’m only a freshman, I have another four years to get even better.”
Both Ricciuti and Lunger fell short of qualifying for the 300 hurdles. Ricciuti placed ninth and Lunger did not finish.
Ricciuti’s older brother, Jack Ricciuti, qualified for states in the Class 2A high jump with a fifth place finish.
Three-peat for Fort Cherry
Matt Sieg and Shane Cornali are now at West Virginia, but the Fort Cherry 400 relay team is still fast without them.
The Rangers won the WPIAL Class 2A 400 relay championship for a third year in a row.
They finished at 43.26 to best second place North Catholic’s 43.28.
Chester Irby, Joey Barna, Christian Yanosko and Eli Salvini kept Fort Cherry’s standard of gold going.
“This is phenomenal,” Salvini said. “It’s a surreal experience. Our mindset going into this race is that we were going to win it.”
The Rangers were not the top seed going in. They were seeded third behind North Catholic and Neshannock, but were at their best when it mattered most.
“We had battled some injuries coming up to WPIALs,” Yanosko said. “This was really the first time this year that the four of us had got to run together in a race.”
Now they’ll look for redemption at the state meet. The Rangers were one of the favorites going into last year’s meet as the defending champion, but were disqualified for a violation on a handoff in their preliminary race.
Repeat for SF
The South Fayette girls 3,200 relay team returned to a familiar spot.
On top of the winners’ podium.
For the second straight season, the Lions dominated the event, taking first place and turning in a time of 9:25.5.
“I’m not going to lie, (assistant coach) Joe Winans is our distance coach,” said South Fayette head coach Scott Litwinovich. “I don’t take any credit for this. Joe does a fantastic job. He’s with them all year, indoor track, outdoor track and cross country.”
The four runners on the Lions team in order are Nina DiMartini, Ellena Gibbs, Maddie Stock and Angela Zeng.
“They are easy to coach,” said Winans. “They are open to getting better and working hard every day.”