Schuylkill League star sprinters Luke Miller, North Schuylkill; Paiten LaPoint, Minersville; and Chase Guers, Blue Mountain, pose at Tuesday's Schuylkill League Track and Field Championships (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

Guers nips Miller in 200; 4 other races decided at wire

ORWIGSBURG — Luke Miller walked over to the scorer’s tent and watched the finish line camera for himself.

The North Schuylkill senior was amazed at what he saw: The feature boys’ event of Tuesday’s Schuylkill League Track and Field Championships at Blue Mountain’s Eagles’ Nest was decided by eight one-thousandths of second.

“Guers got me at the end,” Miller said. “That’s track.”

The boys’ 200 meters featured three of the state’s top sprinters in Miller, Blue Mountain’s Chase Guers and Minersville’s Paiten LaPoint.

RESULTS: Get the top six finishers in every event from Tuesday’s Schuylkill League Track and Field Championships: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2026/05/05/hs-track-schuylkill-league-championship-results/

The first and only matchup of the three superstar sprinters this season lived up to its billing, with Guers winning with a time of 21.742 seconds and Miller being clocked in 21.750. LaPoint was third in 22.50.

It was a nearly identical race to last year’s league meet, where Miller won in a photo finish in a league-record time of 21.43.

“It was definitely an exciting race. Me and Luke, we love running against each other. It’s great competition,” Guers said. “We’re always going to push each other.

“He got me in the 100. He’s coming off a great indoor season, kudos to him. He’s been ballin’.

“In the 200, me and him always have a dogfight. It always comes down to the wire. Leagues last year, he beat me by about the same margin as today.”

The race was one of several close finishes on a day where the Schuylkill League’s abundance of talent stepped to the forefront.

The state indoor champion in the 60 meters in March, Miller won the 100 meters in 10.67, with Guers a hair slower at 10.76. The St. Joseph’s-bound standout also anchored North Schuylkill’s 4×100 relay squad of Daniel Brake, Julian Nelson, Caden Mengel and himself to gold in 42.62.

The 100 meters was a flip from last year, when Guers won in a league-record 10.48.

“Me and Guers have been battling for the last two years,” Miller said of the 100. “I just came out and ran my race. Come in, not try to force my race, let my work show. You can’t really control how Chase runs, you have to worry about yourself. That’s what I did.”

Miller got excited when talking about the Spartans’ 4×1 relay.

“Just getting the guys together, working hard at practice,” he said. “Those guys are not the fastest guys in the league by any means, but Daniel Brake is a freshman up-and-comer, he’s worked his tail off this winter. Mengel and Nelson, coming off of basketball, just finding a spot on the team means a lot. Just working together, staying confident, running our race, that’s all we can do.”

In addition to the 200, Guers teamed with Francesco Carr, Rafael Liranzo and Brody Moyer to win the 4×400 relay in a school and Schuylkill League record time of 3:22.94.

The previous record was 3:23.89 set by Nativity in 2024.

Guers, a junior sorting through a double-digit number of NCAA Division I football offers, was also the top seed and defending champion in the triple jump. He scratched out of that event when the triple jump carried too late into the evening and conflicted with the 4×4 relay.

LaPoint, the defending PIAA Class AA champion in the 200, missed most of this season with a hamstring injury, only returning to full action last week. Tuesday was his first 200 race since the first meet of the season.

Committed to run track at East Stroudsburg University, LaPoint said he’s about 90 percent back to normal. He won the 400 meters in 50.40, holding off a late charge from Carr, who was clocked at 50.46.

“I feel good. It was a long process, with my trainer and going to the chiropractor,” LaPoint said of his recovery. “It was a long recovery time, but I’m just happy to be back running full speed.

“I knew there was a bunch of fast dudes in my heat. I was ranked fifth going into it. I just wanted to get a good start, relax down the back stretch, then bring it home and get a good finish. I was happy to get it.”

Nativity’s Shane Meyer was the day’s biggest winner, grabbing individual gold medals in the 1600 and 3200 and anchoring the Green Wave’s gold-medal-winning 4×800 relay team. In another close race, Meyer used a late surge to nip Blue Mountain’s Moyer at the finish to win in 8:14.84. The Eagles were clocked at 8:14.89.

Meyer won the 1600 in 4:40.12 and the 3200 in 10:25.74. He was also third in the 800 in 2:04.13. In that race, Minersville’s Grady McGovern passed Pottsville’s Colin McGinley in the final 10 yards to grab gold. McGovern’s time was 2:01.85; McGinley’s was 2:01.90.

“I’m pretty excited,” Meyer said of his day. “I came into this meet with high expectations … I was hoping for four (golds) but they changed the meet to a one-day event, lot of fatigue in the legs. I tried my best. Good meet overall.”

The final photo finish of the day on the track came in the 300 hurdles.

Pottsville’s Donovann Durham and Blue Mountain’s Liranzo waged a pair of battles in the two hurdle events. Durham won the 110 hurdles in 14.72. He led the 300 hurdles until the final 10-15 yards as Liranzo used a final stretch at the finish to win.

In a race just as close as the 200, Liranzo won in 38.93, with Durham second at 38.94.

In the field, Schuylkill Haven’s Ethan Kline was a double-winner, taking gold in the shot put and discus. Kline repeated as champion in the shot with a top throw of 53 feet, 11 inches. He won the discus at 149-11.

Kline committed to throw at Division I Rider University a couple of weeks ago. He’ll look to continue his strong season at next week’s District 11 Track and Field Championships at Whitehall, hoping to qualify for states.

“Last year I only got second in discus,” Kline said. “Losing discus really made me want it more and all year long that was really the goal. That’s what I put my mind to.

“Working really hard every day, putting the technique in these past few days and then seeing it happen, it feels great.”

Other field winners included Minersville’s Aidan Ryan in the high jump and Chase Zimerofsky in the triple jump, Pine Grove’s Dane Hannevig in the long jump and and Blue Mountain’s William Shaner in the javelin and Noah Lechleitner in the pole vault.

Ryan won the high jump by clearing 6-2. Zimerofsky outlasted Marian’s Jacob Tom to take the triple jump, posting a top jump of 44 feet. Lechleitner outdueled teammate Dalton Minnick, with both clearing 12 feet, 1 inch.

Hannevig is a unique story.

The starting shortstop on Pine Grove’s baseball team, Hannevig has participated in both sports for the past two years but only competes in the long jump in track.

He’s made a noticeable improvement this season, with his best jump Tuesday of 21-0.5 winning gold. Hannevig has had the best jump on the T102 Sports Now weekly top times / distance list for most of the season at 21-10.5.

“Obviously it’s super tough,” Hannevig said of juggling two sports. “I try my best to make it work. Both of my coaches have been just amazing, being able to work with me.

“Track coach, letting me do my work after baseball, just letting me come down to the track whenever I need to and whenever I can. Baseball coaches, just being there for me and just letting me do what I want to do and letting me have fun with my high school season.

“I’ve made massive improvements since last year. My PR last year was only 19 and a half. I’ve gained two feet since then. I’m doing a lot better this year.”

Shaner has also been dominant throughout the season. The senior posted a season’s best throw in the javelin of 180-10 in his first meet of the spring but has struggled to reach that mark since.

Despite Tuesday’s windy conditions, Shaner blew past that standard with a best throw of 183-4 that was nearly 30 feet more than second-place Niko Carestia of Schuylkill Haven (154-9).

It was Shaner’s second straight gold in the javelin after winning last year with a top throw of 156-7.

“Going into it, you’re always wanting to go for a PR,” Shaner said. “There was a point in the season where I was in a slump and only throwing 160s.

“Throwing javelin is like hitting a golf ball. There’s one day where you can pure a 6-iron and hit it 200 yards and there’s also another hit where you can hit it 50 yards into the woods. It depends on the day.

“As long as you get the technique right and you’re able to throw, it’s going to be a good day.”