Penn-Trafford’s Kate Schall wins WCCA title, eyes school record in 400

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, May 7, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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If Penn-Trafford senior Kate Schall wanted to pursue a track and field career at Penn State, her high school coach Eric Reger believes she would continue to find success.

“I think she would do very well if she decided to run,” Reger said. “She probably would run the 400 and 800. She does that for us.”

Schall added: “I’m thinking about it. My coach said I should at least talk to the Penn State coaches.”

Schall recently won the 400-meter dash at the Slippery Rock University Invitational and Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association Track and Field championships, finishing under a minute at both races.

It was the first time she won the county title.

“She almost broke her school record (58.75) by running a 58.9 at the county meet,” Reger said. “I expect her to break her record this season.”

Schall also anchored the winning 1,600-meter relay team of Amelia Barilla, Vienna Kearns and Olivia Weishaar in 4:08.81.

The girls’ team title at counties came down to the 1,600 as Norwin and Hempfield were vying for the title. But it was the Penn-Trafford girls who won the race as Hempfield edged Norwin for second place. Norwin, however, still won the team title.

“Winning the county is something I’ve been working towards,” Schall said. “It’s something I really wanted to win. It was also nice to anchor the 1,600. It’s really exciting to have a good group of girls running, and it was nice to beat Hempfield and Norwin. I knew it would be a great race.”

She placed third in the WPIAL in Class 3A in 2022 and qualified for the PIAA championships.

“I want to place top three at WPIALs and qualify for states and place there,” Schall said. “I really want to break my school record in the 400.”

Reger said he feels Schall can do even better this season. The WPIAL individual championships are set for May 17, at Slippery Rock.

“Kate is a lot more experienced in running races and is more confident,” Reger said. “I’m excited to see how she does.”

Schall also played volleyball at Penn-Trafford and was a finalist for the Excellence Award at the Westmoreland Scholar/Athlete banquet last month.

She was named first team All-Section, All-WPIAL and All-State in volleyball.

On the volleyball team, she was one of the top players while playing for her dad, James Schall.

She plans on majoring in the medical field at Penn State.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford