Apr 25, 2025 3 min read

By Jerin Steele

and Joe Tuscano

There are park-at-your-own-risk signs plastered around most area baseball and softball fields and now maybe track and field should be added to the list.

Instead of a foul ball, it was a foul disc that caused some havoc.

A one-in-a-million discus throw resulted in a broken windshield at the Washington-Greene County Track and Field Championships Friday at Canon-McMillan High School’s stadium.

California thrower Matt Miller let go of a disc a little too early and somehow it managed to elude the netting surrounding the throwers.

The disc kept on a sideways trajectory and cleared a six-foot fence before hitting the windshield of a Jeep.

California coach Joe Ogrodowski said he had never seen that happen at a meet before.

Canon-McMillan coach Lance Vallee agreed.

“In my 21 years I’ve never seen anything like that,” Vallee said. “Definitely a first for me.”

Trinity wins boys title

A balanced day with points throughout the lineup helped Trinity win the boys team title. The Hillers scored 128 points, beating Canon-McMillan by 10.

Trinity boys athletes won three individual titles. Jake Phillips won the 400 with a time of 50.10. Devin Junko won two events, the 1,600 and 3,200. It was the second consecutive win in the 1,600 for Junko. He finished third in the 3,200 last year.

“It feels pretty good,” Junko said. “I’m only a sophomore, so I have two more years to keep improving.”

Fort Cherry finished third place overall with 81 points and was the top Class 2A finisher.

FC relay rounds into form

Only one returning runner from last year’s Fort Cherry 400 relay team that won state gold participated at the Washington-Greene Meet, but the Rangers still looked very fast.

The Rangers’ team of Eli Salvini, Joey Barna, Shane Cornali and Gavin Grace won the 400 relay, finishing 43.73, which was a personal best for that group. Cornali was the only returner that participated Friday. Matt Sieg typically is on the team, but he was sidelined with an injury.

“Matt’s hurt right now, but the other three guys are stepping up,” Cornali said. “I’m pretty happy with it. We’re coming together well and getting the handoffs down and everything.”

Cornali was named the overall boys MVP at the meet.

Fellin leaves ’em in dust

It’s easy to tell a strong runner from the rest of the pack. There is an unmistakable quiet that follows her around the track. That’s what it felt like when Madison Fellin made her way through traffic in the 3,200-meter run Friday.

Fellin blew away the field by nearly a minute in staking claim to elite status. Felllin, only a freshman at Peters Township, set a personal record of 5:38 in the 1,600 meter run. She broke her previous record of 5:41 at Tri-States a few weeks ago.

Fellin began running with her fathers prodding and is now blossoming into one of the best distance runners in the county.

“My dad inspires me,” said Fellin. “I have a passion for running. I think I’ve always had that.”

MVPs

Trinity’s Ella Sammel was named the girls Overall Track MVP.

Sammel was second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.61 and won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.25. Sammel won the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.80 and took the high jump with an effort of 5-4.

Ella Neil of California won the field MVP. Neal won the triple jump with a 34-5 1/2 effort and finished third in the long jump going 16-0. Peyton Mermon of Burgettstown won the Track MVP by taking the 200-meter dash (26.46), and the 400 dash (59.60) and placing second in the 100 dash (12.96).