SHIPPENSBURG — Michael Braun of Freeport was the top medalist from the Alle-Kiski Valley in Friday’s action at the PIAA track and field championships. Braun took a bronze medal in the Class 2A boys 1,600-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 11.97 seconds.

The race was a competitive event to kick off the festivities at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium. Two familiar faces, Jonah Montagnese of Quaker Valley and Jaxon Schoedel of Mohawk, were first and second with a 4:11.06 and a 4:11.47, respectively. Those were the top three at the WPIAL meet, though in a different order.

Braun was in first at the 800-meter mark with a 2:06.77 and finished comfortably ahead of fourth-place Jonathan Hess of Lewisburg, who posted a 4:13.70.

Braun entered the event seeded second. His splits Friday morning were 1:02.18/1:04.38/1:03.50/1:01.80. That fourth-lap split was the fastest among the lead pack, but he was not quite able to make up the difference to catch Montagnese and Schoedel.

Garrett Myers of Springdale needed to come up big in a do-or-die moment in Class 2A boys discus to snare a fifth-place medal. After fouling on his first two attempts of preliminaries, he threw 153 feet to qualify for finals. A 160-1 on his first attempt of those finals improved his standing.

“My first two throws, I was over rotating out of the back,” said Myers, a senior. “I talked to my coach … she told me to slow down, not over rotate and get my right foot where it belonged. Then, had one right down the middle.”

Nolan Carey of Corry Area won the event with a 189-5.

Field competitors

Apollo-Ridge’s Jayden McCray reached the finals of the Class 2A boys javelin, but the sophomore came up just short of the medal stand with a ninth-place finish at 164-10. Matt Orbin of Riverview was 13th with a 158-8.

Sloan Humphries of Plum was 10th in the Class 3A boys triple jump with a 44-7½.

Similar to McCray, Mackenzie Magness of Freeport made it to the Class 2A girls long jump but finished short of the medal stand with a 17-3¼. Right behind Magness was Lily Liotta, the top finisher not to make finals, with a 10th-place 17-2¾.

Juliette Brun of Riverview was 11th in the Class 2A girls javelin with an 111-5.

In 2A girls high jump, Tessa Hollibaugh of Deer Lakes finished 17th with a 4-10.

Claire Conti of Fox Chapel was 15th in the 3A girls shot put with a 36-3¾.

Track preliminaries

Other than the aforementioned 1,600, the events on the track Friday were preliminaries to qualify for Saturday’s finals. In most events, the top eight advanced.

In 3A boys, Braden Miller of Kiski Area ran a 15.16 for 23rd place in the 110 hurdles.

Austin Friedline of Knoch was 19th in the 300 hurdles with a 40.32.

In 2A boys, William Bagley of Deer Lakes was 22nd with a 42.88 in the 300 hurdles.

In 3A girls, Gabrielle Layne of Plum was 16th in the 200 with a 25.82. Layne was also 21st in the 100 with a 12.69.