State College boys’ track & field defends its 2019 PIAA championship title despite the lost season

They had to wait a year to do it, but State College’s boys’ track and field team successfully defended its 2019 Class 3A state championship team title on Saturday at Shippensburg University. This marked the team’s third PIAA title in five years, having also won in 2016.

The Little Lions had seven podium finishes, racking up 34 points. They were followed by Cumberland Valley in second place with 25 and Archbishop Wood with 24 points.

Head coach Artie Gilkes has experienced peaks and valleys with his team, from the high of winning both the indoor and outdoor state championships in 2019, to the low of watching the team lose last year’s outdoor season and this year’s indoor season due to COVID-19. Watching his team persevere through that challenge made the taste of victory so much sweeter this time around.

“It feels great,” Gilkes said. “It was a tough fall to go all of the way from last spring, summer and fall and we didn’t get an indoor season. So, we were really chomping at the bit to get everyone to hold it together. We set out each season to do this, we just knew that this year we have some different obstacles. This felt way better than the other two (championships). Not that the other two didn’t feel great, but this was a lot to overcome.”

Highlighting the Little Lions’ day were three silver medal performances. Conrad Moore placed second in the high jump (6-04.00), the 4x800-meter relay team of Bennett Norton, Sean Adams, Mathew Staniar and Brady Bigger finished second (7:55.69), as did the 4x100-meter relay team of Ryan Lindenberg, Carson Franks, Nolan Markowski and Eniyao Ogunranti (42.57).

Bigger, a senior, took home the most medals for State College with four. He also placed third in the 1,600-meter race in 4:18.23, sixth in the 800m in 1:55.92 and eighth in the 4x400m relay, in 3:25.37, along with Staniar, Adams and Nolan Markowski.

“Those guys are awesome,” Gilkes said. “It’s really cool, too, because a lot of these guys that are juniors and seniors now — Brady Bigger as a freshman, there’s really no way to figure that he’s going to become what he’s become. As much as you try to plan that, you don’t know that. Seeing their determination and how they took ownership of their process, their game, their sport (was amazing).”

Also making the podium was Ian Dorefice, who earned his seventh-place pole vault medal indoors due to the wet conditions.

State College’s girls’ team tied for eighth place with 16 points, and had four podium finishes, bringing the Little Lions’ combined medal count to 11. Central Bucks West was the winner on the girls’ side with 53 points.

Girls’ head coach Jennifer Evans watched her team fight through the cold and wet day at Shippensburg University. With the weather bearing down on them, the Little Lions competed with flair.

“Looking at the weather and seeing that it was only going to be 52 and raining all day and windy, it really made it anyone’s game because when it’s not optimal weather conditions, a lot of things change,” Evans said. “It affects a lot of different athletes and a lot of different competitions based on surfaces and how we’re able to show our best. I was so proud of our girls because everyone performed at their best today. We were pretty solid across the board.”

Shannon Mullin earned a silver medal in the triple jump, with a distance of 38-01.25. She narrowly missed the podium in the long jump, tying for ninth.

The rest of the Little Lions’ medals were won by their distance runners, who were as solid as they’ve been all season long, despite fighting through injuries. Evans was particularly proud of Jordan Reed and Grace Morningstar, who she said overcame injuries and tough situations to place in the state meet.

Reed finished seventh in the girls’ 3,200-meter race with a time of 10:55.34, and Morningstar was seventh in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:16.68. The duo were also part of the 4x800-meter relay team, along with Marlee Kwasnica and Karsyn Kane, that finished fifth (9:35.63).

“Jordan Reed is our senior who battled through and injury and came out competing in the 3,200-meter with a medal stand victory, and then came back and ran a fantastically strong leg in the 4x800 and also earned a medal,” Evans said. “It was a really powerful performance by Jordan.

“Grace Morningstar was also a double-medal stand victor for us today. She’s a sophomore and she ran a fantastic anchor leg on our 4x800 relay. She was racing the clock because we earned that time from the slower heat and had to watch the fast heat perform and hope that we would make it. That was a really great moment. Her 800-meter dash was gutsy. She got out, got a little boxed in and ran a tactical, strategic and heartfelt race.”

PIAA Class 3A Track & Field Championships

(Saturday at Shippensburg)

Individual results for State College were: Girls’ 3,200: Jordan Reed, 7th in 10:55.34; Girls’ 4x800m relay: State College (Marlee Kwasnica, Grace Morningstar, Reed, Karsyn Kane), 5th in 9:35.63; Boys’ 4x800m relay: State College (Bennett Norton, Sean Adams, Mathew Staniar, Brady Bigger) 2nd in 7:55.69; Boys’ 100m dash: Eniayo Ogunranti, 11th in prelims in 11.14; Carson Franks, 14th in prelims in 11.24; Girls’ 1,600m: Kwasnica, 11th in 5:07.46; Boys’ 1,600m: Bigger, 3rd in 4:18.23; Boys’ 4x100: State College (Ryan Lindenberg, Franks, Nolan Markowski, Ogunranti) 2nd in 42.57; Girls’ 800m: Morningstar, 7th in 2:16.68; Boys’ 800: Bigger, 6th in 1:55.92, Adams, 10th in 1:56.35, Norton, 21st in 2:01.36; Boys’ 200m: Franks, 9th in prelims in 22.16; Ogunranti, 15th in prelims in 22.47; Boys’ 4x400: State College (Staniar, Adams, Bigger, Markowski), 8th in 3:25.37; Boys’ 300m hurdles: Lindenburg, 15th in 40.28; Girls’ pole vault: Mia Iceland t12th 10-06.00; Girls’ triple jump: Shannon Mullin, 2nd, 38-01.25; Girls’ discus: Victoria Lesher, 21st in 90-03.00; Girls’ long jump: Mullin, t9th 17-01.00; Boys’ high jump: Conrad Moore, 2nd 6-04.00; Boys pole vault: Ian Dorefice, 7th in 13-03.00; Boys’ discus: Mitchell Maher, 15th in 140-06.00.

This story was originally published May 30, 2021 at 12:17 AM.