WPIAL denies appeal for Waynesburg’s Layton

The WPIAL awarded Daniel Layton a scholarship at a banquet Monday morning.
Hours later, the district’s board voted to deny the Waynesburg hurdler’s request to fix a clerical error that will keep him from defending his title in the 110-meter high hurdles at the WPIAL Track & Field Championships Thursday at Slippery Rock University.
When finalizing a performance list last week, Waynesburg track coach Rick Layton, who is Daniel’s father, meant to remove his son from the 300 intermediate hurdles. Instead, when he submitted the form via his phone, he accidentally removed him from his strongest event, the 110 high hurdles.
The board voted 12-3 to deny the request.
“It’s a sad day when you penalize a kid (who) has done everything right,” Rick Layton said after hearing the decision.
School officials from Waynesburg were in the process of filing an appeal to the PIAA late Monday afternoon and declined to comment.
Layton won gold in the 110 hurdles in 14.73 seconds last year as a junior at the WPIAL Championships. His personal-best time of 14.46 seconds this season, which also was a school record, is nearly a full second quicker than the next-fastest time, making him a runaway favorite for a second straight gold medal.
Layton also had the best preliminary time in last year’s PIAA Championships at Shippensburg University before stumbling over the first hurdle and finishing in eighth place in the finals.
If the PIAA doesn’t grant Layton’s appeal, it would prevent him from running the 110 hurdles in the district and state championships.
Daniel Layton wanted scratched from the 300 hurdles in order to help Waynesburg’s 1,600 relay team qualify for the state meet. With the mistake, Layton will compete in the 300 hurdles, 1,600 relay and pole vault.