Cavanaugh dominates, overall MVP at coaches track meet
McMURRAY – Here is how talented Brenna Cavanaugh is in track:
The senior from Bentworth High School just took up the triple jump, starting practicing the difficult event last week.
With only two practices under her belt, Cavanaugh not only entered the event at the Washington-Greene County Coaches Track Meet at Peters Township High School Saturday but won it … by nearly three feet over Julia Chakos of Trinity.
Cavanaugh won the 100-meter hurdles, not a surprise considering she is the defending PIAA Class AA champion, won the long jump and took third in the 100-meter dash to earn the Overall MVP of the meet.
Stephanie Keelon of Canon-McMillan won the Track MVP by finishing first in the 800 run, 1,600 run and 3,200 relay and placing second in the 3,200 run.
Caroline Fyock of Peters Township received Field MVP honors by winning the shot put and placing second in the discus.
Canon-McMillan won the girls Class AAA team title with 179.5 points, 55.5 more than Trinity. Fort Cherry won the girls Class AA team title with 70 points, 26 more than runner-up Chartiers-Houston.
Cavanaugh’s triple jump was 37-5 1/2, which surpassed the state qualifying standard of 35-6 by nearly two feet. The jump would have been good enough to take second place in last year’s PIAA Class AA Championships at Shippensburg University.
“I jumped on Thursday but that was adult practice. Friday was my first day of (high school) practice,” said Cavanaugh, who will attend Eastern Michigan University next fall. “I was nervous. I was really nervous after Friday because I jumped only 30 feet. … After the first jump, I knew I had it.”
Cavanaugh registered a time of 15.59 in the 100 hurdles, well off her sub-15 second times last year, but strong enough to win the event by nearly a second over Emily Clopp of Canon-McMillan, who turned in a 16.33. Cavanaugh won the long jump with a leap of 18-4, which was 1-2 1/2 better than Chakos. Cavanaugh’s time of 13.11 in the 100 was good enough for third place. Faith Gandy of Trinity won the event with a time of 12.94.
“I was comfortable with my events,” Cavanaugh said. “I was upset with my 100 but I was pretty tired. I ran them back-to-back. It seemed tougher this year to do than last year. My hurdling still needs work but there haven’t been many meets to process.”
Keelon had a time of 2:31.62 to win the 800 run and 5:43.02 to cross first in the 1,600. Keelon joined Serena Esquivel, Rachel Kohler and Theresa Webb to win the 3,200 relay in 10:21.45. Jen Massucci of Peters Township stopped Keelon from a clean sweep by finishing 34 seconds ahead in the 3,200 run.
“With all these other schools, I never race against them so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Keelon, a sophomore who gave up soccer last year to concentrate on running. “You run so much in soccer. I love to run.”
Massucci and Keelon are friendly rivals and have raced against each other numerous times. Massucci crossed in 11:59.69.
“She was able to beat me as we both anchored in the 3,200 relay but I beat her in the 2-mile,” said Massucci. “I knew it was going to be a hard race to beat her because she is a great competitor. I knew I had to run my race. Today was a PR. I finally got under 12 minutes.”
Fyock’s winning put of the shot went 37-7, 1-6 past the second-place effort of Savannah Wheeler of Chartiers-Houston.
Fyock hit a personal record of 110-34 to finish second in the discus and was 10th in the javelin.
“I fouled on my first two throws in the shot put, so I needed to get a mark in there,” Fyock said. “I’m OK with 37-7 but I know I can do better. I started throwing in middle school and my dad wanted me to try it. He was a thrower, too, at Westmont Hilltop High School.”
Taylor Shriver, a freshman from Waynesburg, opened some eyes by hitting 10-6 in the pole vault.