May 12, 2026 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

Deakyn DeHoet has been one of the fastest sprinters in the state the last two years.

Now he’s hoping to turn that speed into gold at his final WPIAL meet.

DeHoet is one of the favorites in strong Class 2A 100 and 200-meter dash fields at the WPIAL track and field championships, which take place Thursday at Slippery Rock University.

The track and field championships were originally scheduled for Wednesday, but the WPIAL moved the event back a day because of the threat of inclement weather.

Last year DeHoet, who runs for Beth-Center and is a student at Jefferson-Morgan, finished fifth in the state the 100-meter dash. That came after he also finished fifth in the 100 at WPIALs.

After winning the 100 and 200 at the Washington-Greene County Meet for the second consecutive season last month, DeHoet felt pretty good about his chances at WPIALs.

He’s seeded second behind Jeziah Montanez of New Brighton and is tied for the first seed in the 200 with Quaker Valley’s Kieran Cain at 21.75.

“(Montanez) is actually ranked above me with a 10.6-flat and I’m at 10.62, so it’ll be good competition this year going into WPIALs,” DeHoet said. “Last year there was good competition, but not as many people with times as fast as there are this year.”

DeHoet is one of several top seeds in Class 2A

Nate Ricciuti of Waynesburg is the top seed in the 110 hurdles at 14.62, narrowly ahead of Charleroi’s Braedin Lunger, who’s at 14.64.

Charleroi’s Mason Brumley is the top seed in the 400. He has a time of 1:00.32. Leechburg’s John Cook is second at 1:00.35.

On the girls side, Waynesburg’s Katie Behm ranks first in the 300 hurdles at 1:01.31. Brentwood’s Tafssira Gambari Garba is second at 1:01.38.

Fort Cherry’s Sophia Holmes is the defending champion in javelin and is seeded second behind Sophia Conti of Laurel.

Conti’s top throw this year is 127-5 and Holmes’ is 122-8.

Class 3A

Canon-McMillan’s Aaron Taylor and South Fayette’s Delaney Schumaker will look to repeat as champions in the hurdles.

Taylor, a Villanova recruit, won the 300 hurdles last year, while Schumaker swept the 100 and 300 hurdles.

Schumaker is the top seed in both hurdle events. Taylor is seeded first in the 300 hurdles by a wide margin and is third in the 110 hurdles behind Plum’s Mason Proskin and Franklin Regional’s Sean Cartwright.

Taylor also ran the 200 last year and medaled, but is only entered in both hurdle events this year.

Canon-McMillan’s Connor Rolek is the top seed in the pole vault. He’s cleared 16-4.75 and no one else entered has made it to 16 feet.

Belle Vernon’s Ryan Kent, a Shippensburg recruit, is aiming to finish his WPIAL career by winning at least one title and maybe two.

He’s the top seed in the discus by a large margin. His top throw is 179-6 compared to 162-10 by second place Mason Switala of Chartiers Valley.

In the shot put Kent is the second seed. Connellsville’s Glen Strickler has the top throw at 57-4. Kent is 57-0.

“I’m definitely hoping to come home with two golds, but coming home with any medals at WPIALs feels pretty special,” Kent said. “I medaled last year and my sophomore year, so it’d feel pretty good to win two golds this time.”

Peters Township’s Katie Froelich, a freshman, and defending champion South Fayette’s Angela Zeng, a sophomore, are the top two seeds in the girls 1,600 and 3,200. They are very close on times in the 1,600. Froelich’s seed time is 4:48.01 and Zeng’s is 4:49.12.

In the 3,200 Froelich has a bigger margin. She is at 10:23.07 compared to Zeng’s 10:44.40.

Taylor Farabee of Trinity is the top seed in the girls 400 at 1:00.03, slightly ahead of Mt. Lebanon’s Ella Harkiewicz, who has a best time of 1:00.16.

Trinity’s Ella Sammel, who won four events at the Washington-Greene meet, is seeded sixth in the 100 hurdles, second in the high jump, and sixth in the long jump.