PITTSBURGH –– Brooke and Ashton McGriff each won a hurdle race to lead Bradford High in girls track Saturday at the 13th annual South Hills Classic at Baldwin High School.
“A very good way to open our season despite tough weather conditions,” Lady Owls head coach Larry Stillman said. “We had a number of excellent performances with Brooke and Ashton both winning the hurdle races. Their times are very good for this early in the season.”
Brooke McGriff took the 100-meter title after running a time of 16.52, finishing ahead of General McLane’s Sara Woods (16.93). Ashton McGriff claimed top of the podium honors in the 300-hurdles with a time of 47.57.
Stillman pointed out the performances of his sprinters – Ashton McGriff, Regan Johnson and Payton Kloss – who all ran well on the day. The coach was also happy with Alexis Huber’s “excellent” third-place pole vault performance and said Amanda Little had her best race in the 3200 while Morgan Tyger looked good in the 800.
Ashton McGriff, Johnson, Kloss, Little, Mikayla Bond and Huber all placed in the top eight of their respective events to earn medals. Ashton McGriff, Brooke McGriff, Kloss and Johnson each earned three medals on the day for the Lady Owls.
All three relay teams medaled, including third-place finishes by the 4×100 team (Brooke McGriff, Kloss, Huber and Johnson; 56.31) and the 4×400 team of Brooke McGriff, Kloss, Logan Sunafrank and Johnson (4:30.83). The 4×800 team of Amanda Little, Emily Little, Sunafrank and Tyger finished fifth (11:22).
Individually, Ashton McGriff had a quick turnaround after the hurdles and was just edged out for another first place, finishing just .01 behind Upper St. Clair’s Jane Madson for second place (26.78) in the 200-meter dash.
Johnson, a freshman, had the other second-place finish on the day, sprinting to a time of 13.60 in the 100-meter dash and was eighth in the 200 (29.08). Kloss sprinted to the medal stand with a seventh-place finish (14.17) in the 100 meters.
Amanda Little’s 12:49.55 was good for sixth in the 3200 meters.
Huber and Mikayla Bond led the Lady Owls in the field, with Huber clearing 8-00 in the pole vault for third place. Bond was fourth in the high jump with a leap of 4-04.50, while also coming in 14th in the triple jump (27-00).
Also competing for the Lady Owls on the track were Liz Miller (100 dash, 14.60; 200 dash, 31.34), Mikah Watkins (100 dash, 14.70; 200 dash 33.27), Tyger (800 run, 2:40.49), Conner Gracey-Dalton (800 run, 3:02; 1600 run, 6:54.35) and Alexandra Safran (100 hurdles, 21.19; 300 hurdles, 1:02.82).
Also competing in the field for Bradford High were Abby Coffman (shot put, 28-09.25), Sophia Oliver (shot put, 24-07), Alexis Brown (long jump, 14-03.50) and Gretchen Henneman (long jump, 13-00; triple jump, 27-07).
“In the long jump, Alexis Brown had a nice series of jumps and Abby Coffman had a solid start in the shot put,” Stillman said.
The Lady Owls are back in action Tuesday at St. Marys before heading to the Harbor Creek Invitational on Saturday.
