Solid performances by Durham, Liranzo, Ryan, Kline come up just short

SHIPPENSBURG — Blue Mountain’s Chase Guers and North Schuylkill’s Luke Miller stood together under a giant media tent, staring through the raindrops at the gigantic scoreboard atop Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.

The two Schuylkill League sprint stars had just battled each other side-by-side in the first of four heats in the boys’ Class 3A 200-meter preliminaries Friday at the PIAA Track and Field Championships, finishing the race 1-2.

After walking through the turf football surface to the middle of the field, they watched the final three heats of the 200 together, waiting to see if Miller’s time of 21.76 would be fast enough to advance them to Saturday’s finals and clinch a top-eight state medal.

By winning the first heat in 21.58, Guers had automatically clinched a berth in the finals.

Miller’s time, they both thought, was going to be close.

“I’m going to need to sneak in, I think,” Miller said.

“We need a slow heat,” Guers said.

COMPLETE RESULTS: Get a complete rundown of how the Schuylkill League qualifiers fared on Day 1 of the PIAA Track and Field Championships: https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2026/05/22/piaa-track-field-championships-complete-day-1-local-results/

When the final times were posted on the big board and they realized they had both made the finals, the two stars shook hands, celebrated and embraced, happy their friendly rivalry gets to continue for one more race.

Miller made it by .03 seconds, grabbing the eighth and final spot. Guers was third behind Matthew Gregory of Owen J. Roberts (21.45) and Parkland’s Radnor Rowlands (21.55).

“Running against Luke all year, he’s a hell of a kid,” Guers said. “He’s got me in the 100, I’ve got him in the 200. It’s just fun to race against him.

“Tomorrow, I expect a dogfight. We’re both going to go for gold.”

Miller said having Guers running next to him in the preliminaries helped him.

“Knowing that I’ve raced him in 200 … he’s got me all year … having him there, you know it’s going to be a dogfight. I love racing Guers … going to miss that next year. I like having him next to me.”

The Class 3A 200 prelims were the highlight of the opening day of states for the Schuylkill League’s boys’ contingent, which had several impressive performances that fell just short of medals.

Guers headlined the morning session, earning the top seed in Saturday’s 100-meter final with a personal-best 10.52 seconds. A junior, Guers will race for gold in both the 100 and 200 on Saturday. The 100 is scheduled for 10:45 a.m., with the 200 slated to start at 3:15 p.m.

“It felt good. We’ve been training that all week, technique, technique,” Guers said of the 100. “My coach believed in me. He’s like, ‘If you run your race, you have it.’ I ran my race, got to do it again tomorrow.

“Hopefully come up with a gold, but nothing is guaranteed. The job is not done. That’s what my mindset is. You have to finish the job.”

Miller, who was seeded second in the 100 after winning District 11 gold in 10.62, struggled in Saturday’s prelims. His time of 10.76 slotted him in 10th, missing the finals.

Later in the day, Miller teamed with Daniel Brake, Julian Nelson and Caden Mengel to place 23rd in the Class 3A 4×100 relay prelims in 43.11 seconds.

“It felt good,” the St. Joseph’s-bound senior said of reaching the 200 finals. “The morning has been hard for me, honestly. It’s definitely been a mental struggle, I think. I just had to suck it up, man up and get after this 200.

“I thought the 100 was going to be my race, just how (fast) my 60 is. I’ve run it well all season, I just didn’t show up today in the 100. It feels great to be able to run tomorrow. Just get after it and have fun with it.”

While Guers and Miller locked up medals, several other Schuylkill League boys came up just short.

Donovann Durham of Pottsville and Blue Mountain’s Rafael Liranzo each finished 10th in the 110 high hurdles and 300 hurdles, respectively, just missing the finals.

In the 110, Durham was clocked in 14.65 while Liranzo was 25th in 15.40. In the 300, Liranzo was 10th in 39.23 with Durham 17th in 39.76.

Minersville’s Aidan Ryan was 11th in the Class AA high jump after clearing a season-best 6 feet, 2 inches. Ryan was one of 13 jumpers to clear 6-2, getting it on his final attempt after easily clearing 5-10 and 6-feet on his first try.

The junior, who entered the competition seeded 27th, was unable to clear 6-4 on three attempts and was eliminated.

Schuylkill Haven senior Ethan Kline took 12th in the Class AA boys’ discus with a top throw of 146-5.

After fouling on his first attempt, Kline notched throws of 142-11 and 146-5. The Rider commit will compete in the Class AA shot put Saturday.

Other Schuylkill League performances included:

** Pine Grove’s Dane Hannevig (20-11.5) was 15th and Marian’s Jacob Tom (20-9) took 19th in the Class AA long jump. Tom will compete in the Class AA triple jump Saturday.

** Nativity’s Aiden Becker placed 20th in the Class AA javelin at 139-6.

** Nativity’s Kyle McCormick took 21st in the Class AA 400 with a time of 51.56.

** Schuylkill Haven’s Brody Walchak was 25th in the Class AA 110 hurdles at 17.49.

** Blue Mountain’s Noah Lechleitner wasn’t able to clear the opening height of 13-3 in the Class 3A pole vault and was eliminated.

** With spots in the 100 and 200 finals secured, Guers was pulled out of the Eagles’ 4×400 relay team, as was Liranzo. The quartet of Francesco Carr, Brody Moyer, Tyler Buchman and Quinnion Tremaglia took 20th in 3:30.33.