Greensburg Central Catholic senior Jerry Davis three-peated as WPIAL Class 2A champion in the 400-meter dash Thursday at Slippery Rock University.
And he did it by the slimmest of margins.
In one of the closest races in WPIAL championship history, Davis edged North Catholic’s Logan Schade by a 1,000th of a second. Davis finished with a time of 48.969 and Schade 48.970.
What’s interesting is that Schade narrowly edged Davis in the race at last week’s WPIAL Class 2A team championships, with Schade finishing in 49.88 and Davis 50.00.
“It was close, but not as close as this,” said Davis, who was laying on the ground looking up at the finish-line scoreboard when he found out he had won.
“A lot of relief,” Davis added. “I’ve been thinking about this meet. And I put a lot of pressure on myself, so I’m just happy I was able to get it done.”
Davis, who ran a WPIAL championship record 48.32 last season, is the first boy to three-peat in the race since Rochester’s Derek Moye (2005-07).
Added Davis, “Derek Moye was an NFL player, so it’s good company to be in.”
While Davis won by a small margin, Quaker Valley junior Jonah Montagnese was the biggest winner of the day.
One of the top distance runners in the state, Montagnese captured Class 2A gold in the 800, 1,600, 3,200 and 3,200 relay.
“I’ve been hoping and dreaming for this the whole entire season. Its been a huge goal of mine,” Montagnese said. “Being able to step up and do this on the day … it’s a hard day. It’s not like states where you have two different days of competition. It’s all in one day. The weather wasn’t cooperating. It was nice to push through and still come out with that.”
Montagnese still had some gas left in the tank when he took part in his final race, the 3,200. He trailed North Catholic’s Jack Steineman for the first five of eight laps before taking the lead for good on lap six. Montagnese ran a time of 9:10.60 and Steineman finished second in 9:24.49.
“I surprised myself. I really just went after it and I was happy about what I was able to do,” said Montagnese, last year’s PIAA champion in the 1,600.
Quaker Valley won the 3,200 relay title for the fourth year in a row.
Quite a few sprinters posted excellent times in the regular season, and some of them certainly didn’t disappoint Thursday.
Deakyn DeHoet, a senior who attends Jefferson-Morgan but competes for Beth-Center, set a Class 2A championship record by running a 10.56 in his semifinal heat. That broke the record held by Aliquippa’s M.J. Devonshire, who ran a 10.67 in 2019.
DeHoet then took home the win in the finals when he finished in 10.68.
And the 10.56 wasn’t DeHoet’s only meet record of the day. He also set a record in the 200 following a time of 21.55, breaking the mark of 21.69 run by Clairton’s Trenton Coles in 2011.
“Coming here today and to be able to put up the numbers I did means a lot,” DeHoet said. “It just shows off the hard work I’ve done that people haven’t seen, but now it’s showing with the performances.”
It’s been a huge rise this season for DeHoet, a Cal (Pa.) football recruit. His personal records in the two events were 10.95 and 22.28 coming into this spring, this after finishing fifth in the 100 and eighth in the 200 at last year’s WPIAL championships.
DeHoet will now shift his focus to baseball. He’s a starting outfielder for a Jefferson-Morgan team that will play in Monday’s WPIAL Class A quarterfinals. DeHoet homered Monday in a first-round win over Union.
Gateway junior Jayden Stammer won the Class 3A 100 title. Stammer came in as the No. 2 seed and took home the top prize after his 10.79 edged out Northgate’s Savian Baptiste. McKeesport’s Kemon Spell, a Georgia football recruit, was fourth after running a 10.96.
Stammer became the first Gateway runner to win a championship in the 100 since Julius Rivera in 2013. Rivera is now one of Stammer’s coaches.
“That’s amazing,” said Stammer. “I broke the school record not too long ago. He’s really been helpful towards me, and I give a big shoutout to him for that.”
Franklin Regional junior Sean Cartwright had a memorable meet, winning Class 3A titles in the high jump and 300 hurdles and placing second in the 110 hurdles.
The golds came after Cartwright came up just short in the 110 hurdles. Another runner fell in the lane next to him, and Cartwright (14.49) ended up being defeated by Plum senior Owen Proskin (14.30). Proskin also earned gold in the long jump.
“I think it really drove me to do good in the other events,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright (6 feet, 9 inches) and Proskin (6-7) finished 1-2 in the high jump, while defending champion Dakari Payne of Seneca Valley tied for seventh (6-1).
Cartwright’s win in the 300 hurdles (39.13) was a surprise considering Canon-McMillan’s Aaron Taylor was the defending champion and owns the top time in the state. But Taylor was called for a false start in the final, disqualifying him from the race.
Belle Vernon senior Ryan Kent doubled in the Class 3A shot put (56-10 ½) and discus (180-1), and Laurel senior Kevin Mahoney did the same in Class 2A. Mahoney went 53-4 in the shot put and 161-9 in the discus.
Canon-McMillan junior Connor Rolek owns the state’s top pole vault mark this season (15 9 ½), and Rolek rolled to his first WPIAL Class 3A title via a winning vault of 14-9.