Bridge diary: track and field athletes prepare for the WPIAL meet

By: Michael Love

Sunday May 12, 2024 | 11:01 a.m.

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As for the WPIAL Class 3A track and field championships at Slippery Rock, there were several qualifying locks among Gateway’s boys and girls teams.

There were also a few in the bubble who were hoping to make the championship as the WPIAL places in the top 24 in every Class 3A event.

Norwin and West Mifflin host the traditional Last Chance Meets each year to give individuals and relays the opportunity to give one last chance either to strengthen their position in their event’s field or to record a time, height or a distance that will bring them to eligible status.

Gateway coach Tom LaBuff said 25 were scheduled to travel to Norwin or West Mifflin last Thursday or Friday, respectively.

“We normally only attend one of them, but there are some conflicts with AP tests and prom, so we sent a few to a second meet,” LaBuff said.

Those last-ditch efforts, LaBuff said, hopefully led to a strong field of Gators athletes at the championships Wednesday (May 15).

The entry lists were published on Monday.

Senior Kiki Pitts, LaBuff said, secured her spot in the 100-meter hurdles with a number of standout performances, particularly in the final two weeks of the regular season.

LaBuff said the same thing for the girls 400 free relay that was scheduled to take place Friday at West Mifflin in hopes of making it final.

Junior Kenny Lewis entered the final week of WPIAL preparation, LaBuff said, with a lock in the 100 and 200 sprints, alongside senior Caleb Bell in the 400, senior Austin Lockhart in the triple jump and junior Dino Nadarevic in the shooting and discus.

The boys 400 relay also entered the WPIAL championships with a top-10 time.

The Baldwin Invitational is a staple of the Gateway track calendar each year, and there are always several season records or high-profile results from Gators athletes at this prestigious event.

Nadarevic won silver twice by shooting a personal best 168 feet, 3 inches in the discus, just four feet short of the school record of 172-3 set 51 years ago.

He was a little behind his best shot of the season as he shot 52-3½. His best attempt was just seven inches from the title. Hempfield senior Peyton Murray won with a throw of 52-10.5.

Nadarevic’s best shot was a 57-6 in winning the event at the South Fayette Invitational on April 27.

Pitts finished sixth in the 100 hurdles with a season-best 15.84, a half-second off the school record of 15.3 set by Andresa Snyder in 1985 and Jahniah MCallister in 2014.

She went under 16 seconds after running a 16.10 (seventh) in the preliminaries and was just 14 hundredths of a second out of fourth place.

Pitts also eclipsed 48 seconds in the 300 hurdles as she ran a season-best 47.93 to place eighth overall.

As he did earlier in the season, Lewis topped 11 seconds in the 100m. His 10.99 in the final placed him sixth overall in a lightning-fast field separated by 38 hundredths from first (10.90) to eighth (11.33).

Lewis won bronze in the 200, clocking 22.62, just behind his season-best time of 22.52 in a sectional tri-meet with Franklin Regional and Woodland Hills.

Bell turned it up a notch in the 400m, taking third place with a season-best time of 50.64.

He and Lewis helped in the 400 relay with Jonathan Nelson and Carlos Diggs fifth (43.28).

The 1,600 relay of Bell, Diggs, Michael Howard and Lemuel Nortey (seventh, 3:33.83) also took podium honors.

Gateway baseball sweeps Penn Hills

It wasn’t quite the season players on the Gateway baseball team had hoped for, but a sweep of Penn Hills on May 6-7 to conclude Section 1-5A play allowed the Gators to overtake the Indians and find themselves tied for fifth with Armstrong in a rugged 1-5A section.

Gateway opened the first game with seven runs in the bottom of the first. Junior center fielder/pitcher Myles Beavin cleared the bases with a triple in the blast, while senior Ahmad Harris, sophomore Grady Dunsmore and freshman Jon Saunders added RBIs .

The Gators were kept off the scoreboard for the rest of the game, but the seven runs were more than enough for senior Noah Colberg, who gave up three hits and two walks while striking out five taken in six innings. Beavin came on to strike out the side in the seventh to earn the save.

Saunders (five innings) and Beavin (two innings) combined to scatter five hits and strike out nine with just one walk in Gateway’s 6-0 Game 2 victory. The Gators offense produced 10 hits.

Dunsmore went 3 for 4 with two doubles and two RBIs, while Harris doubled and drove in a run for Gateway who scored once in the second, three times in the third and twice in the fourth.

Gateway and Armstrong split their season series and both finished 3-9.

The Gators were 4-11 overall heading into their season finale Thursday against McKeesport.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs. A Clearfield native and Westminster (Pa.) graduate, he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at Clearfield Progress. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Keywords: Gateway