Success in women’s javelin is local thing
In recent years, Washington County girls have done well in the javelin competition at the WPIAL and PIAA Championships, bringing home gold medals with regularity. That success has carried over into college with Wake Forest’s Jessie Merckle, Pitt’s Taylor Slaney, South Florida’s Mira Carrozza, Central Florida’s Jenna Lucas and Kent State’s Anna Lombardo.
Merckle, a junior from Hickory and a Fort Cherry graduate, recently won the javelin competition at the Spec Towns National Team Invitational hosted by the University of Georgia. Merckle had a winning throw of 163-5. It was the second win of the season for Merckle, who also finished in first place at the Wake Forest Open last month with a toss of 168-10. The former PIAA Class AA champion also had a good showing against a strong field at the Florida Relays, placing fifth with a throw of 161-6.
Slaney, a senior from Canonsburg, finished in second at the Tennesse Relays in Knoxville when she threw 151-10. The Canon-McMillan graduate placed fourth last weekend at the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville with a throw of 150-10. Slaney competed in the Wake Forest Open and placed fifth with a toss of 154-8, which gave Washington County two of the top-5 finishers. Slaney has a personal-best throw of 155-10.
Lucas, Merckle’s teammate at Fort Cherry and also a former PIAA champion, placed third at the UCF Black & Gold Challenge in Orlando with a school-record throw of 142-3½. Lucas, a McDonald native, is a freshman at Central Florida. She has been sidelined for much of the season with an injury.
Corrozza, a Canon-McMillan graduate and a junior at South Florida, won the USF Invitational in Tampa last month with a throw of 134-6½. The former WPIAL Class AAA champion was the only competitor to throw at least 125 feet.
It was the second career win for Corrozza, who finished in first place in the Texas Invite as a sophomore, throwing 145-4. Following a freshman season that was marred by a back injury, Corrozza finished in 11th place last year at the American Athletic Conference Championships. Corrozza was a WPIAL Class AAA champion and PIAA runner-up.
Lombardo, who was a teammate of Corrozza’s at Canon-McMillan, is a redshirt sophomore at Kent State and recently placed eighth at the Tennessee Relays with a throw of 124-10¾. The Canonsburg native also placed 13th at the Raleigh Relays, throwing 127-3, which is a personal best.
Tanner Sutton made an impact in his first season at Lock Haven. After taking a redshirt season last year, the former Chartiers-Houston standout had a 12-14 record this season but displayed an ability to finish an opponent. Sutton led all Lock Haven wrestlers in falls with 10. He competed in the 149-pound weight class.
Giorgiana Zeremenko, the catcher on Canon-McMillan’s 2013 PIAA Class AAA team, has played in 36 games for Pitt, which has a 30-16 record.
Zeremenko, a catcher for the Panthers, is batting .250 with four doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI.
Carlee Wickstrom, a sophomore from Venetia, is one of the top hitters in the PSAC’s West Division. The Peters Township graduate is batting .403 for Seton Hill and leads the Griffins in on-base percentage (.458), triples (3) and home runs (4). A shortstop and leadoff hitter, Wickstrom is 11th in the PSAC in batting average. Wickstromg has committed only five errors in 117 chances.
Shawn Johnson, a former standout at Canon-McMillan and junior college national champion, continues to have an outstanding initial season at Auburn.
Johnson has been competing in multiple jumping events and finished third in the triple jump at the Auburn Tiger Classic. Johnson’s distance of 51-11¼ was a personal best and ranks eighth nationally this season. In the high jump, Johnson placed third at the Alabama-Mississippi Border Clash in Starkville, Miss., clearing 6-10½.
Johnson will compete Friday in the high jump and Saturday in the triple jump at the Penn Relays.
Quorteze Levy, a former multi-sport athlete at Washington, has qualified for the national junior college championships in the 400-meter hurdles.
Levy, a freshman and the WPIAL Class AA champion in the 400 hurdles last year, set the Coffeyville Community College school record twice, most recently last weekend at the Kansas Relays. Levy ran 53.24, breaking his own record by .52 seconds. Coffeyville’s record in the 400 hurdles had stood since 1994.
Mikayla Sonneborn, a junior at Tulane, won the 3,000-meter steeplechase last weekend at the LSU Alumni Gold Track Meet in Baton Rouge, La. A redshirt sophomore from West Finley and West Greene graduate, Sonneborn won the event with a time of 11:22.32 and a winning margin of six seconds. It was her second win of the year. Sonneborn also finished first at the McNeese State Invitational.
Andrew Brannen, a junior at Westminster, is having a good season as a pole vaulter for the Titans.
A Peters Township graduate, Brannen recently finished in first place at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Quad North meet, clearing 13-3½. Last weekend, Brannen cleared 13-11 ½ at the Dave Labor Invitational at Slippery Rock. He finished in eighth place.
Brannen won the PAC indoor championship, clearing 13-11 ¼ at the conference meet that was held at Youngstown State.
Allegheny’s Amanda Balzer, a sophomore hurdler and Chartiers-Houston graduate, beat the Gators’ school record in the 100-meter high hurdles last weekend but isn’t the school record-holder in the event.
Confused? Here’s what happened: Balzer ran 15.32 at the Kenyon College Spring Invitational but was edged by teammate Josie Niovich by .2 seconds. Niovich previously held the Allegheny record.
At the North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Championships, Balzer ran a career-best 9.55 in the 60-meter hurdles to finish in eighth place.
One of the leading hitters on the Bethany baseball team is senior outfielder Zac Edmiston. The California graduate has started each of the Bison’s first 27 games and is batting .313. Edmiston leads Bethany with nine doubles and 20 runs and his 42 total bases is tied for the team lead.
A second team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference selection last year as a utility player, Edmiston also pitches and has made six starts on the mound. He has a 2-4 record but is allowing less than one hit per inning and has struck out 26 batters in 32 1/3 innings.
Edmiston led Bethany’s hitters in triples, RBI and runs last year.
John Hlavinka, a junior outfielder from Venetia, is having another big season for Penn State Behrend.
Hlavinka is batting .360 and with a team-bests of 32 hits and seven doubles. His seven stolen bases rank second on the team. The Peters Township graduate’s best game was April 14 against Hilbert when he went 4-for-4 and drove in two runs.
Last season, Hlavinka was a third team All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference selection after hitting .349. He was a second team all-conference pick as a freshman.
One of the top freshmen pitchers in the Ohio Athletic Conference is Otterbein pitcher Stevie Yuran. A Peters Township graduate, Yuran has a 4-0 record in seven outings for the Cardinals and has struck out 15 batters in 15 1/3 innings. Opponents are batting only .200 against Yuran.