As Baldwin Invite’s meet director, Rich Wright strives to honor late coach Ed Helbig

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, May 3, 2025 | 4:11 AM

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On the night before the Baldwin Invitational, track coach Rich Wright talked with longtime friend Ed Helbig on the drive home from the stadium. The two Baldwin coaches had run the event for years as a terrific tandem.

Helbig died in August after a difficult battle with esophageal cancer, but Wright said he still talked to him often in the run up to Friday.

“I said, ‘Edward, you need to do a couple of things,’” Wright said, explaining how his first request was to “go easy on the rain.”

This was the first Baldwin Invitational held without Helbig in almost 50 years. Wright, who inherited the job as meet director, said he felt a responsibility to run an event that would’ve met Helbig’s standards.

But Wright also was determined Friday to honor Helbig however he could.

This year’s event was held on “Ed Helbig Memorial Track at Baldwin Stadium,” a dedication made by the school district last fall. One of Helbig’s favorite sayings, “Get one day better every day” is painted in a prominent spot inside the stadium, and the medals awarded Friday included his initials.

On the track, the Helbig Two Mile races were added to the schedule. Wright said Helbig’s family, including his wife, Lynne, were there to present awards to the winners. His brother Chuck Helbig volunteered again as a clerk for the meet.

This would’ve been Helbig’s 50th season as a track coach at Baldwin including the past 30 as head coach. The Baldwin Invitational was founded by his predecessor Chuck McKinney, but Helbig grew the event.

“I would change it from the Baldwin Invitational to the Ed Helbig Invitational as far as I’m concerned,” Wright said.

At 73, Wright said he’s not certain how long he’ll serve as meet director. But finishing this one successfully — despite an extended lightning delay in the middle — was important to him.

“I just felt we had to do it,” he said. “For Ed.”

Seeing double

A year after finishing third in both events, Upper St. Clair’s Sadie Tomczyk swept gold in the girls 100- and 200-meter dashes. The junior won the 100 in 12.28 seconds and the 200 in 25.23.

But Tomczyk wasn’t the only USC athlete to win two individual events Friday. Junior Anna Engelman won the long jump (18 feet, 2½ inches) and pole vault (11-0) with a personal best in both.

Last year, Engelman placed 19th with a vault of 9-2.

Upper St. Clair was the top-scoring girls team with 95 points.

North Allegheny led the boys with 113.

Lifetime achievement

The Tri-State Track Coaches Association presented lifetime achievement awards to former West Mifflin coaches Greg Rozgonyi and Phil Shar.

Rozgonyi coached West Mifflin’s cross country team for 26 years and was an assistant track coach for 35. He coached two WPIAL champions in the 100-meter dash and a 400-meter relay team that won gold at states.

He has also served as a PIAA official for 25 years.

Shar coached track and cross country for more than 30 years starting in 1970 at West Mifflin South. His West Mifflin teams won WPIAL titles in 1986 and ’87. Three of his athletes won individual state titles: Fran Berry (cross country), Paul Rozgonyi (110 hurdles) and Richard Ayers (triple jump).

Easy as 1-2-3

The Mt. Lebanon girls swept the top three spots in the 300-meter hurdles led by junior Lily Cramer, who won the event in a personal-best 44.81 seconds.

Blue Devils teammates Lucy Tang and Lauren Krebs, both juniors, finished second and third. Tang crossed the line in 46.75 seconds and Krebs’ time was 46.82.

Runaway win

Canon-McMillan hurdler Aaron Taylor celebrated one of the biggest leads of the night.

The junior won the boys 300-meter hurdles by more than a second and a half. Taylor reached the line in 38.20 seconds. His closest competitors were North Allegheny teammates Sam Cohn (39.77) and Greg Lowman (40.02) who ran in the same heat at Taylor.

The McKinney Mile

Penn-Trafford’s Jake McGhee and West Allegheny’s Grace Fritzman won the McKinney Mile titles, two marquee races named in honor of Baldwin’s former coach. McGhee won in 4 minutes, 15.71 seconds. Fritzman’s time was 5:02.96.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

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