Top 10 Stories: No. 3 – Schuylkill gold rush at PIAA track meet
Pine Grove's Viktorya Luckenbach crosses the finish line to win the girls' Class AA 200 meters Saturday at the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers).
One by one they took their marks and raced to state track and field gold.
Nativity’s Noah Dolbin.
Pine Grove’s Viktorya Luckenbach … twice.
Minersville’s Paiten LaPoint.
The Schuylkill League shined brightly at the 2025 PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University, bringing home a bevy of hardware that included four gold medals and a second-place finish by the Nativity boys in the Class AA team race.
Dolbin, a senior, brought home four top-three medals during the two-day state championships, taking first in the Class AA 110-meter hurdles (14.10), third in the long jump, third in the 300 hurdles (37.94) and then teaming with Nolan Daynorowicz, Liam Messina and Michael Stank to take second in the 1600 relay in 3:22.05.
Daynorowicz was ninth in the 800 meters, Stank placed ninth in the 400 and the quartet of Messina, Nash Stehr, Stank and Daynorowicz placed 13th in the 3200 (8:19.11), helping the Green Wave take second in the overall team standings.
STORY: DOLBIN’S BIG DAY HELPS GREEN WAVE TAKE 2ND IN TEAM RACE (LINK)
Luckenbach, a senior, went virtually the entire season without getting beaten in the sprint events. At states, she won the girls’ Class AA 100 meters in 11.81 seconds, then took the 200 gold in 24.57. She capped her day by teaming with Bella Kassab, Aubrey Aungst and Molly Drumheller to place fifth in the Class AA 400 relay in 49.57.
LUCKENBACH FEATURE (LINK)
STORY: LUCKENBACH CAPS CAREER WITH PAIR OF GOLDS (LINK)
LaPoint, a junior, correctly predicted he would win the Class AA 200 after taking second in the 100 earlier in the day. He was clocked in 10.85 to grab silver in the 100, then won gold in the 200 in 22.16.
STORY: PIAA TRACK ROUNDUP (LINK)
The three gold-medal winners weren’t the only Schuylkill League track and field athletes to excel in Shippensburg.
Minersville’s Maggie Hoffman-Long was fourth in the Class AA triple jump (37-3), Blue Mountain’s Chase Guers took seventh in the Class 3A 200 meters (21.87), Pottsville’s Alexa Giuffre was seventh in the girls’ 3A long jump (18-2) and Blue Mountain’s Makayla Keck took 10th in the 3A girls’ javelin after breaking the District 11 record the week before (162 feet, 8 inches).
The state meet was the final chapter in a blazing-fast track season by local athletes. The Schuylkill League won 25 gold medals at the District 11 Track and Field Championships and qualified 40 athletes for the state meet.
Schuylkill Haven’s Anna Schaeffer and Isabella Hughes, Nativity’s Sara Spolski, Tamaqua’s Samantha Plasha, Luckenbach, Hoffman-Long, Giuffre and Keck captured individual gold medals on the girls’ side at districts, while North Schuylkill’s Luke Miller, Schuylkill Haven’s Niko Carestia, Minersville’s Kolin Long and Dante Carr, Dolbin, Stank, LaPoint and Guers were champions on the boys’ side.
The Blue Mountain boys’ 400-meter relay team of Kole Luckenbill, Chase Guers, Gaige Guers and Cole Swick was among the fastest in the state and nation during the course of the season, breaking several records.
District 11 Track and Field story links:
Girls’ Day 1: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2025/05/14/district-11-girls-track-havens-schaeffer-miners-hoffman-long-grab-gold-on-day-1/
Boys’ Day 1: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2025/05/14/district-11-boys-track-schuylkill-league-parade-to-podium-yields-5-golds/
Girls’ Day 2: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2025/05/15/district-11-girls-track-seniors-lead-schuylkill-league-gold-rush/
Boys’ Day 2: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2025/05/16/district-11-boys-track-sprinters-guers-lapoint-miller-stank-dolbin-race-to-d-11-gold/
