Pottsville's Alexa Giuffre races to the finish line in the girls' 100-meter hurdles at Tuesday's Schuylkill League Track and Field Championships at Blue Mountain (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers).

Tide senior sweeps hurdles, captures long jump, triple jump

ORWIGSBURG — Alexa Giuffre felt the pressure.

The Pottsville senior never let it get to her.

Giuffre stole the show at Tuesday’s Schuylkill League Track and Field Championships at a windy Blue Mountain Eagles’ Nest, continuing her season-long dominance by winning four gold medals.

The Duquesne University commit pulled away late to win the 100-meter hurdles, won the 300 hurdles by more than a second, broke her own Schuylkill League record in the long jump and leaped to victory in the triple jump.

Last year, Giuffre won three gold medals, taking first in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and long jump.

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

“It feels awesome,” Giuffre said after she donned all four gold medals for a photo. “I was a little nervous coming into it just because I had a lot of pressure on me.

“I started off good in the long jump, then I went to hurdles. That was a good start to everything. I think triple jump could have went a little better, but overall I think I did pretty well.”

The Schuylkill League condensed what had originally been scheduled as a two-day competition to one day due to heavy rain forecasted for Wednesday. That prompted the league to hold the entire meet Tuesday and put a little more pressure on Giuffre to complete the four-win sweep.

Fortunately for Giuffre, the pit where the long jump and triple jump were being held was located right by the finish line of the track events. She was easily able to bounce back and forth from the track to the pit, with the long jump and 100 hurdles being held simultaneously to start the meet at 2:30 and 3 p.m. and the 300 hurdles and triple jump both starting around 6 p.m.

Giuffre won the 100 hurdles in 15.25, then took the long jump in 18 feet, 6.5 inches. The time in the 100 hurdles was just a tick slower than her league-record time of 15.18 set last year. In the long jump, she bested her own mark of 18-0 set last year.

After the break on the track, Giuffre cruised to victory in the 300 hurdles in 45.93, then walked over to the triple jump and won that event with a best jump of 36-8.25.

“I kind of like how it’s go-go-go all the time because it doesn’t give me a second to think too much about it or get too nervous about anything,” Giuffre said. “It also helps I don’t have to keep warming up … I kind of always stay warm. That’s a good thing.”

Giuffre plans to compete in all four events at the District 11 Track and Field Championships slated for next Tuesday and Wednesday at Whitehall’s Zephyr Complex. Last year, Giuffre won the Class 3A long jump (18-9.5), was second in the 100 hurdles (15.45) and third in the 300 hurdles (44.75), qualifying for states in all three events.

At the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University, Guiffre was seventh in the long jump (18-2), 17th in the 100 hurdles (15.36) and 18th in the 300 hurdles (45.43).

She said last year’s success has kept her humble and more mentally strong heading into the postseason this year.

“For something like this, something more of a smaller meet, (last year’s success) helps,” Giuffre said. “Going into districts and hopefully states, I try not to think about that and give myself an ego boost. I just want to go in humble and confident in myself.”

Giuffre was one of four girls to win multiple individual events at Tuesday’s league meet as Blue Mountain’s Sophia Spolski, North Schuylkill’s Genevieve Dando and Minersville’s Avery Miller each captured two gold medals.

Spolski swept the sprints, winning the 100 meters in 12.72 seconds and the 200 in 26.16 seconds. She added a third gold medal when she teamed with Madeleine Dalkner, Jaclyn Easparro and Breilly Lazur to win the 4×100 relay in 50.67 seconds.

For the junior, Tuesday’s league meet served as a major reward for the hard work and effort it took her to overcome a hamstring injury that hampered her at last year’s league meet.

“Since freshman year, this has always been a goal for me,” Spolski said of the two sprint golds. “It’s surreal to have it completed. There was definitely some good competition.

“It definitely took a lot of work, a lot of offseason work as well. Last year I had a hamstring injury and I didn’t place. It definitely took a lot of hard work to come back.”

Dando, a freshman, has been the Schuylkill League’s dominant girls’ distance runner the entire season and she reinforced that position Tuesday.

She dominated the 1600, winning in 5:32.25, more than seven seconds ahead of second-place Vanessa Frasnelli of Blue Mountain. Dando outlasted Frasnelli in the 3200 as well, taking gold in 12:28.23.

In both races, which were four and eight laps, respectively, Dando burst from the starting line and quickly built a big lead over the rest of the field, allowing her to set her own pace.

“I was definitely excited and a little nervous as well,” Dando said. “Overall, it was a lot of fun.

“That’s how I like to go out in my races … go out (fast) and hold on.”

Miller won the discus with a top throw of 103 feet, 1 inch and the javelin with a best attempt of 118-8. She was also third in the shot put (33-10.75) behind Tamaqua’s Ceanna Gormley (34-9) and Pine Grove’s Rieleigh Purcell (34-8).

Miller entered the day seeded first in the javelin and second in both the discus and shot put. A senior, she made major improvements after just taking third last year in the javelin.

“It feels good. I worked hard,” Miller said. “I knew I had a lot of competition coming here, especially in discus and shot put. I just wanted to stay consistent with my throws throughout the season and get a good mark to start.”

Other girls’ winners included Pottsville’s Jes Siminitus in the 400, Tamaqua’s Shaylee Gormley in the 800, the Pottsville 4×400 relay, the Blue Mountain 4×800 relay and Minersville’s Alyssa Cook in the pole vault.

Minersville’s Maggie Hoffman-Long ended the day with four silver medals, placing second in the two sprints behind Spolski and second in the long jump and triple jump behind Giuffre.

One of the better competitions of the day came in the girls’ high jump, where North Schuylkill’s Lauren Powis and Blue Mountain’s Evangelina Fisher were the only ones out of 18 entries to clear 5 feet. Both girls took three attempts at clearing 5-2 but were unsuccessful.

Powis earned the gold because she cleared 5 feet on her first attempt while Fisher reached that height on her second attempt.

It was the first time Powis had ever cleared 5 feet in the high jump.

” I’ve attempted it multiple times at various meets throughout the year, but this was my first time clearing it,” Powis said. “It was honestly rewarding. I’ve worked so hard for the past two years to clear and work my muscles just to get to that height. So, clearing it felt very rewarding.

“It’s amazing. The Schuylkill League is so competitive every year, I’m just really proud (to win gold).”