PIAA Girls’ Track: Cards’ Luckenbach caps career with pair of golds, relay medal

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).

SHIPPENSBURG — Viktorya Luckenbach crossed the finish line and let out a yell.

It was an emotional day for the Pine Grove senior sprinter and she wasn’t afraid to show them Saturday at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.

Luckenbach capped her high school career with gold medals in the girls’ Class AA 100- and 200-meter dashes at Shippensburg University, then teamed with Bella Kassab, Aubrey Aungst and Molly Drumheller to place fifth in the Class AA 400 relay.

From start to finish, it was all smiles for the 5-foot-1, 18-year-old dynamo.

“After last year, I knew I wanted to come in here and run my heart out and that’s exactly what I did,” Luckenbach said. “I felt confident, I pushed and I could not be happier right now.”

The 200-meter state champion as a sophomore, Luckenbach failed to make the finals in the 100 and was fourth in the 200 last year at states. She dedicated herself through weight training and other workouts to improve and get better for this season, and it paid off this weekend.

The top seed in both events, Luckenbach won Friday’s 100 preliminaries in 11.95, then went 24.89 in the 200 prelims later in the day at Robb Stadium.

Saturday she went even faster, winning the 100 in 11.81 and the 200 in 24.57.

In the 100, she picked up the pace a couple of steps in and blew past the competition. Wellsboro’s Piper Hoprich was second in 11.99, followed by Hickory’s Josslyn Hancock (12.05) and Conemaugh Township’s Izzy Slezak (12.11).

“The goal was honestly, I just told myself, ‘Run your race, don’t worry about anyone else,’ ” Luckenbach said after winning the 100. “I saw the other girls out of my peripherals. I knew where I had to separate from the rest of the pack and that’s exactly what I did.”

She followed the same goal in the 200, taking the lead coming around the curve and blazing down the frontstretch en route to the gold. Slezak was second in 24.89, with Hoprich third in 24.96 and Central Columbia’s Kendra Stout took fourth in 25.00.

Prior to states, Luckenbach talked about how precious her previous state medals were to her and how driven she was to add more.

Now she has two more state gold for her collection.

“It was such a relief, such a weight off my shoulders,” Luckenbach said. “I did tear up a little bit. I was so excited. Words could not even express.”

In the 400 relay, the Cards’ foursome was clocked in 49.57 in Saturday’s finals after placing sixth in Friday’s prelims in 49.76.

The relay also rebounded from a disappointing performance at states in 2024, when it didn’t make the finals and was 13th in 50.09.

North Catholic won the 400 relay in 48.06, followed by Annville-Cleona (48.46), Lewisburg (48.66) and Quaker Valley (49.12).

Pine Grove finished seventh in the Class AA team race with 24 points. Quaker Valley and Lewisburg took the top two spots.

For a roundup of how the other Schuylkill League track athletes fared Saturday, visit https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2025/05/25/piaa-track-roundup-miners-lapoint-calls-shot-races-to-gold-in-aa-200/

For a look at the big day by the Nativity boys, visit https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2025/05/25/piaa-boys-track-dolbins-big-day-helps-nativity-take-2nd-in-aa-team-race/