Track and field teams set for annual AIC section championships

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 | 12:27 PM

After several weeks of head-to-head matchups in dual meets, the track and field teams from Section 7-AA gather Wednesday at Freeport High School to crown champions and award medals at the fifth annual Allegheny Interscholastic Conference individual championships.

Individual athletes and relay teams from the host Yellowjackets, Burrell, Apollo-Ridge, North Catholic, Deer Lakes, Leechburg and Valley will compete in an unofficial beginning to the stretch run to the WPIAL championships May 16 at Slippery Rock University.

Several of the athletes at the meet find themselves at the top of the WPIAL performance lists for Class AA. Included in that is Leechburg senior Bret Kardos, the owner of the top mark in the boys shot put this season at 48 feet, 6 inches.

The meet is set to begin at 3 p.m. with events on the track as well as in the jumps and the throws.

AIC, in its young history, has featured close competitions each year. Two years ago, Riverview’s Adam Walker and Valley’s Darius Johnson, both double winners at the meet, battled in the long jump and ended up finishing separated by one inch. Johnson won at 21-1, while Walker was second at 21-0.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Leechburg, North Catholic, Valley