In what might sound like a broken record, Laurel junior Tori Atkins dashed to another sprint double Thursday at the WPIAL Class 2A track and field championships.
But just because she has done it three years in a row to give her a total of six career WPIAL gold medals doesn’t mean that it has become boring.
“It’s definitely still pretty exciting,” Atkins said. “There’s always new competition.”
New competition, same results.
Make it three doubles in a row for Atkins, who followed up her victory in the 400-meter dash Wednesday by winning a third consecutive title in the 200 Thursday at Slippery Rock University. The meet concluded Thursday after weather conditions late Wednesdayh forced it to be suspended.
Atkins has been so consistently good that her winning time in the 200 of 24.89 seconds was identical to the time she ran to win the title a season ago. It also was enough to squeak past Freedom’s Shaye Bailey (25.03) and Winchester Thurston’s Monroe Law (25.09), who finished in second and third place, respectively.
Atkins fell a little short of her personal record (24.75), but that wasn’t the case Wednesday when she set personal and meet records in the 400 after running a blistering time of 55.54. Only seven girls in WPIAL history have run faster, per historian Jim Faiella. Atkins’ previous career-best was 56.41.
“That felt really good,” said Atkins, who was fifth Wednesday in the 100. “I wasn’t expecting that at all.”
Atkins next turns her attention next week to the PIAA championships, where she will try to win a state title for the first time. She placed second in the 400 and fifth in the 200 a year ago.
Another gold for Robinson
Say this about the Robinson sisters. They’re fast and they love gold.
Hayzes Robinson continued the family business of producing gold-medal performances by running a leg on Avonworth/Northgate’s winning 1,600 relay team that registered a time of 3:56.48 to beat runner-up Winchester Thurston (4:01.29). Robinson, a senior, claimed consecutive 100-meter titles Wednesday.
A Pitt recruit, Robinson upped her career WPIAL gold-medal count to three while increasing her family’s collection to 20. All three of Hayzes’ older sisters also won WPIAL gold medals for Avonworth/Northgate, with Hunter winning nine, Hayden seven and Harris one. There’s a chance that number could go up one day, too. Harper, the youngest of the five Robinson sisters, is in seventh grade and ran track for the first time this season. Like her sisters, she is a sprinter.
Hartman adds a third gold
Chelsea Hartman will attend college at Brown, but this Shady Side Academy distance star was all about gold at these WPIAL championships.
Hartman, a senior, added a third gold medal to her collection Thursday by coasting to a win in the 3,200. Hartman’s time of 10:48.33 was over a half-minute faster than runner-up Alexis Abbett of Aquinas Academy, who finished in 11:20.43.
A day earlier, Hartman captured a title in the 1,600 while also running the anchor leg on Shady Side’s winning 3,200 relay team. Last season, Hartman placed second in the 3,200, third in the 1,600, and helped the Bulldogs to a runner-up finish in the 3,200 relay.
Schoedel shines
In the Class 2A boys distance events, the biggest story wasn’t the Jackson 5, but rather the “Jaxon 2.”
Mohawk junior Jaxon Schoedel grabbed his second gold medal from this year’s championships courtesy of a first-place finish in the 3,200. Schoedel finished in 9:16.03, while Freeport’s Michael Braun was second (9:27.58). It was a convincing win for Schoedel, who was involved in a tighter race Wednesday in the 1,600. Schoedel won in 4:26.74, just over 2 seconds faster than runner-up Clark LaLomia of Quaker Valley (4:28.91).
Schoedel’s second gold added to what has been a terrific junior season. Schoedel won WPIAL and PIAA Class 1A cross country titles in the fall, and a month ago ran to a 10th-place finish in the 3,000 at the Penn Relays. As a sophomore, Schoedel placed second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 at the WPIAL championships.
Schrockman can jump, man
Burgettstown senior Zack Schrockman picked the perfect time to unleash the best high jump of his career. He needed every inch of it to unseat the defending champ and win his first WPIAL title.
Schrockman produced a career-best leap of 6 feet, 5 inches to claim the gold medal. The 2023 champion, John Jablunovsky of Ligonier Valley, also jumped 6-5, but he needed two attempts to do it and Schrockman just one. Those two were the only competitors to move on to 6-7, but both failed to successfully soar over the bar in their three attempts.
Schrockman’s previous best had been 6-4, while his top jump of 5-11 at the 2023 WPIAL championships tied him for third place. Schrockman averaged 20 points per game and was an all-section pick in basketball this past season.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.