Freeport pole vaulter seeking repeat among A-K Valley athletes set for WPIAL meet

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 | 12:01 AM

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Mackenzie Magness capped her first varsity track and field season last year with a WPIAL Class 2A pole vault championship and a trip to states.

She has not slowed down this spring, and the Freeport sophomore who extended her own school record with a top attempt of 12 feet, 3 inches in winning the Butler 9 and 10 Invitational on April 24, is set to defend her WPIAL title Wednesday when the district’s best gather at Slippery Rock University.

Magness’s 12-3 puts her as the No. 1 seed. She said she feels pretty confident.

“All the work I’ve put in hopefully is going to continue to pay off,” said Magness, who also will compete in the long and triple jumps and run as part of the 1,600 relay.

“It has already paid off with the results this year. I’ve been staying consistent. That is one of the main reasons for my confidence going into this. A lot of good competition in the pole vault will help push me. My goal for every meet is to PR, so that is something I also will be looking for at WPIALs.”

Magness is seeded 13th in the Class 2A girls long jump (17-4¹⁄₂) and eighth in the triple jump (35-8¹⁄₂).

The Freeport girls 1,600 relay is seeded seventh (4:14.12).

Magness is not alone in her quest to bring home a WPIAL championship. Numerous Alle-Kiski Valley athletes are ready to go for gold, podium finishes and trips to the PIAA championships May 24-25 at Shippensburg University.

Other top seeds Wednesday are Springdale senior Garrett Myers in the boys Class 2A discus (169-10), and Plum senior Gabrielle Layne in the girls Class 3A 200 dash (24.68).

Layne said she is ready to sprint to the top in her final WPIAL meet and return to states. She medaled in both individual sprints at WPIALs last year, taking second in the 100 (12.23) and fourth in the 200 (25.40).

“There are a little bit of nerves for (Wednesday), but that is normal,” Layne said. “I just want to treat it like any other meet. I’ve been there. I know what I have to do and what is expected of me.”

Layne recorded her 200 season best in taking first at the WPIAL team semifinals April 30 at North Allegheny.

“I was surprised with getting the No. 1 seed because I knew the three girls behind me were all going under 25, and I thought, at best, I would be second or third,” Layne said.

“It did put a little bit more pressure on me to keep that spot. Those girls will be fighting for it, but I will be too.”

She is the No. 2 seed in the 100 dash with a 12.11 recorded in winning the event at the Pine-Richland Invitational on May 2.

“My biggest thing right now is to get that win in the 100,” Layne said. “I know I have to push through the prelims and get to the finals. I have to push through every single race tomorrow.”

Layne also will run as part of the fourth-seeded girls 400 relay (49.62).

Myers has made significant strides in the discus this spring. He earned a silver medal at WPIALs last year with what was then a personal best of 146-2.

His best this year of almost 170 feet came April 30 when he won the discus at a meet at Burrell.

Myers also is seeded sixth in the Class 2A shot put (47-7¹⁄₂ at the Pine-Richland Invitational).

Wednesday’s events begin at 11 a.m. with several jumping and throwing events, the preliminaries of the 100, 200 and 100/110 hurdles as well as the finals of the 3,200 relay.

The top five finishers in Class 2A events and the top four in Class 3A automatically earn berths to states. Others in the top eight will also qualify for states if their times, heights or distances meet the PIAA’s preset qualifying standards.

The weather forecast for Slippery Rock on Wednesday calls for cloudiness in the morning giving way to a 40% chance of showers in the afternoon with a high of 73.

Freeport senior Michael Braun has again been dominant in the middle to long distances this season. He will go after WPIAL titles in the 1,600, where he is seeded second with a 4:14.23 after winning the Pine-Richland Invitational, and the 3,200, where he is the third seed with a time of 9:02.25 recorded in taking third at the Butler Invitational.

At WPIALs last year, Braun was a double automatic state qualifier in the 1,600 (third, 4:29.37) and 3,200 (second, 9:27.58).

“I am really looking forward to WPIALs,” said Braun, a Penn State commit. “I am only running the mile and two mile, so I just have to focus on those events and do my best to win.”

Braun said he hopes the weather doesn’t interfere with the normal running of the meet. Last year, Braun ran the 1,600 on the first day but had to wait a day to run the 3,200 when the WPIAL postponed some events because of bad weather.

Another No. 2 seed is Knoch senior Kate Fennell in the Class 3A girls triple jump at 38 feet from the WPIAL team semifinal playoff at North Allegheny.

She also is third in the pole vault after reaching a season-best of 12-3 in a first-place finish at the Pine-Richland Invitational.

Fennell’s senior teammate, Karlee Buterbaugh, hopes to make waves in the javelin, where she is seeded second with a 144-4 scored in winning at Pine-Richland.

Plum junior Sloan Humphries hit 45 feet in the triple jump at the Northern Last Chance Meet last Thursday at Pine-Richland, and it was good enough for the second seed in boys Class 3A.

Fox Chapel junior Claire Conte is in a competitive class of contenders as the second seed in the girls Class 3A discus with a 126-9. She got that mark and finished runner-up to Kyndra Seddon from District 10’s Lakeview (127-10) at the Pine-Richland Invitational.

She also is the third seed in the shot put at 37-6, which she achieved at a dual meet at North Allegheny on April 22.

Junior high jumper Tristan Zalenski returns Leechburg to the WPIAL Class 2A championships. He is the first Leechburg athlete to qualify for WPIALs in six years.

He is seeded 12th with a season-best leap of 6 feet, 0.5 inches posted in taking second at the Norwin Last Chance Meet last Thursday.

“He barely missed (6-2.5) at Norwin,” Leechburg coach Michael McKee said.

“He was content with just making it to WPIALs to give Leechburg someone here for the first time in six years. That is pretty special. I told him that he has nothing to lose. There is no pressure on him now. He can just go out there and compete. He can have his best day and others can have their worst day. You just never know.”

Zalenski’s height in the high jump is a school record, and he also set school records this spring in the 100 dash, 200 dash, 400 dash and as the anchor of the 400 relay.

“Tristan has had some weight on his shoulder all season with what he has accomplished and the records he has broken,” McKee said. “He’s understood that. After the Norwin meet, he understood he could take it to the next level.”

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.