North Allegheny track and field grabs WPIAL medals aplenty

By: Josh Rizzo
Thursday, May 23, 2019 | 9:02 PM

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North Allegheny’s distance runners put forward a strong performance in the 3,200-meter race at the WPIAL Class AAA championships at Slippery Rock two weeks ago.

On the boys side, Zach Kinne captured the WPIAL title by finishing in 9 minutes, 13.47 seconds. Teammate Dan McGoey finished five seconds behind him to clinch a berth in the PIAA championships.

Hannah Lindgren (11:05.78) finished in third place, 18 seconds behind Bethel Park’s Emily Carter.

“I thought that was fantastic,” North Allegheny coach John Neff said. “Zach, Dan and Hannah are big fans of each other. They feed off each others’ success.”

Casey Burton also had a big day for the Tigers, winning the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 9 inches. Burton also placed third in the 100 dash with a time of 12.30 and helped the North Allegheny 400 relay team — along with Emily Naughton, Bailee Miara and Morgan McConnell — place third at WPIALs and earn a state bid.

Neff was impressed with how Burton and Kinne, who finished second in the 1,600 as well, performed in the district’s most important meet.

“The competition is tough at WPIALs,” Neff said. “My hat’s off to Zach and Casey. It’s tough enough to medal, and they were able to go out and punch their ticket to states by winning. They handled it with poise and confidence.”

North Allegheny had a number of athletes earn medals. Joey Porter finished second in the 200 dash and helped the 1,600 relay team including Jacob Porter, James Huber and Brennan Donovan finish sixth.

Donovan Rice placed fourth in the high hurdles, and Keeley Misutka placed seventh in the 1,600 run. North Allegheny’s 3,200 relay team — Luke Tukovich, Connor Foody, McGoey and Kinney — finished second.

“It was a good performance,” Neff said. “It never goes according to plan. There were a few surprises, but top to bottom we were strong. You never know what’s going to happen. A lot of the kids who qualified had strong showings during the big meets during the season.”

Tags: North Allegheny