District 11 Girls’ Track: Seniors lead Schuylkill League gold rush
Schuylkill Haven's Isabella Hughes races to victory in the Class AA girls' 100 hurdles Thursday at the District 11 Track and Field Championships at Whitehall (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers).
WHITEHALL — It was a senior showcase for Schuylkill League girls’ athletes Thursday at the District 11 Track and Field Championships.
Six Schuylkill League seniors — Pine Grove’s Viktorya Luckenbach, Schuylkill Haven’s Anna Schaeffer and Isabella Hughes, Nativity’s Sara Spolski, Blue Mountain’s Makayla Keck and Tamaqua’s Samantha Plasha — captured individual gold medals on Day 2 of the district championships at Whitehall’s Zephyr Athletic Complex.
Minersville’s Maggie Hoffman-Long, Pottsville’s Alexa Giuffre, the Pine Grove 400 relay and the Schuylkill Haven 1600 relay team also climbed to the top of the medals stand on what was a dominating day by Schuylkill League girls’ athletes.
In all, Schuylkill League girls won 11 events Thursday, including all but one of the Class AA track races, giving the Schuylkill League 13 golds over the two-day competition. Counting relay members, 19 Schuylkill League girls qualified for the PIAA Track and Field Championships set for May 23-24 at Shippensburg University.
There were countless storylines Thursday.
Let’s start on the track.
Luckenbach garnered three golds, winning the Class AA 100- and 200-meter dashes and teaming with Bella Kassab, Aubrey Aungst and Molly Drumheller to win the 400 relay. All three times broke District 11 records.
The speedster won the 100 in 11.77 and the 200 in 24.05, dramatically dropping her preliminary times of 12.24 and 25.14 posted Tuesday. She eclipsed the previous records of 12.12 in the 100 set by Kaila O’Connor of Jim Thorpe in 2023 and her own mark of 24.62 in the 200 set last year. The Cards’ relay time of 49.27 broke Palmerton’s previous record of 49.70 set last year.
Schaeffer also left Whitehall with three gold medals, adding two more Thursday to the one she captured Tuesday in the 3200. In the Class AA 1600, Schaeffer won in 5:21.07, 17 seconds ahead of Pen Argyl’s Sophia Markopoulos (5:38.93).
Schaeffer then anchored the Haven 1600 relay team to victory, combining with Audrey Hutchinson, Ava Terefencko and Hughes to win in 4:09.98. She’s the only Schuylkill League girl athlete to qualify for states in four events.
Hughes won the Class AA 100 hurdles in 16.52, easily beating Catasauqua’s Julia Harth (17.40) and Mahanoy Area’s Hailey Mroczka (17.54) to the tape. Hughes was second in the 300 hurdles Tuesday and will compete in three events at states.
Spolski remained the only Class AA female in District 11 to break the 1-minute mark in the 400 this season, grabbing gold in 59.78. Marian’s Alizabeth Pikitus was second in 1:02.56 and Haven’s Terefencko took third in 1:03.59.
Spolski had a strong day, also placing third in the 200 and fifth in the 100.
In the field, Hoffman-Long earned her second District 11 gold medal of this year’s championships, winning the Class AA triple jump with a top jump of 37 feet, 0.5 inches. The junior won the long jump Tuesday and was third in the 100.
Plasha was the only girl in either classification to clear 10 feet in the pole vault, winning gold in Class 3A. The Class 3A girls’ pole vault started Tuesday but wasn’t completed due to weather. District 11 elected to restart the entire pole vault competition, and Plasha dominated Thursday.
Keck also dominated, heaving the javelin a District 11-record 162 feet, 8 inches to win the Class 3A event by 25 feet over second-place Emma Repsher of Lehighton. Keck’s throw broke the previous district record of 154-8 set by former teammate Rosalind Gergely last year.
It was a much closer finish for Giuffre, whose best leap of 18 feet, 9.5 inches in the Class 3A long jump nipped Palmerton’s Nataly Walters (18-9) by a half-inch.
Giuffre was also second in the Class 3A 100 hurdles in 15.21, meaning she’s qualified for states in three events after getting into the 300 hurdles on time Tuesday.
Marian’s Olivia Thomas rounded out the Schuylkill League state qualifiers, placing second in the Class AA shot put.
Here’s a look at the girls’ results from Thursday’s District 11 Track and Field Championships:
District 11 Track and Field Championships
At Zephyr Athletic Complex, Whitehall HS
Participating Schools: Allentown Central Catholic (ACC), Bethlehem Catholic (Beca), Bethlehem Christian School (BCS), Bethlehem Freedom (Free), Bethlehem Liberty (Lib), Blue Mountain (BM), Catasauqua (Cat), Dieruff (Dier), Easton (Eas), East Stroudsburg North (ESN), East Stroudsburg South (ESS), Emmaus (Emm), Jim Thorpe (JT), Lehighton (Leh), Lehigh Valley Academy (LVA), Mahanoy Area (Mah), Marian (Mar), Minersville (Min), Nativity (Nat), Nazareth (Naz), Northern Lehigh (NL), Northampton (Nhmp), North Schuylkill (NS), Notre Dame-Green Pond (NDG), Palisades (Pal), Parkland (Park), Palmerton (Palm), Panther Valley (PV), Pen Argyl (Pen), Pleasant Valley (PlV), Pine Grove (PG), Pocono Mountain East (PME), Pocono Mountain West (PMW), Pottsville (Potts), Salisbury (Sal), Saucon Valley (Sau), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Shenandoah Valley (SV), Southern Lehigh (SL), Stroudsburg (Str), Tamaqua (Tam), Weatherly (Wea), Whitehall (White), William Allen (Allen), Wilson Area (Wil)
