On a day in which the Butler Invitational turned 60, a girl who won’t turn 16 for another 10 days delivered a breakthrough performance.
Winchester Thurston sophomore Alexis Bansah was one of the top performers at the 60th annual Butler Invitational, one of the largest regular-season meets in the state that drew 94 schools to Art Bernardi Stadium on Thursday.
Bansah entered the meet as the top seed in the triple jump after producing a personal record leap of 38 feet, 7½ inches at the TSTCA championships five days earlier, but nobody, not even Bansah, envisioned that she would do what she did Thursday. On her final jump, Bansah soared to a mark of 40-1½ to take home first-place honors. Bansah became only the third girl in WPIAL history to reach 40 feet, according to historian Jim Faiella. South Park’s Nikita Lewis jumped 41-2½ in 1998 and Canon-McMillan’s Rose Kuchera went 40-9 in 2023.
The leap stunned Bansah, who cried in her father’s arms following the jump.
“I screamed,” she said. “I know the Upper St. Clair coach from summer track. She ran over and said, ‘40 foot 1.’ My eyes widened. I screamed. I was in shock.”
Added Bansah, “Everyone was telling me, ‘You’re easily a 40-foot jumper.’ I was consistently jumping 38. I have never even touched a 39 before today. So I don’t know how. Only God.”
And Bansah needed just about every inch of her big leap with Quaker Valley senior Jay Olawaiye hot on her heels. Olawaiye, the reigning WPIAL Class 2A champion, had a top jump of 39-0½. Olawaiye’s PR of 39-5½ set back in 2023 ranks ninth in WPIAL history.
Bansah’s giant jump now has her readjusting her goals.
“I was thinking 40 by the end of senior year. So, if we’re at 40 now, I’m thinking 45?,” Bansah said with a smile.
As good as Bansah’s leap was, it didn’t set a meet record. McDowell’s Sheena Gordon leaped 40-6 in 2002. Gordon went on to jump at UCLA.
Derry’s Sophia Mazzoni broke a meet record Thursday … her own. A year after producing a winning throw of 144-5, Mazzoni, a senior who signed with Auburn, unleashed a throw of 160-10 to repeat as javelin champion. The throw was the best in the state this season and one of the top nationally. It was also Mazzoni’s season best and fell just 1 foot short of her PR.
“I was trying to get around my PR. That would make me happy,” Mazzoni said. “I’m glad I could get that number so early in the season. I’ll take it.”
Mazzoni, last year’s WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A champion, will continue her pursuit of 180 feet. Connellsville graduate Madison Wiltrout is the only WPIAL thrower to ever hit the mark. Wiltrout had a career-best heave of 185-8.
“That is my goal,” Mazzoni said. “I just want to build up to there. It’s definitely out there. That’s a big number, but based on my performance for the last couple of years, I think I can do it depending on my conditioning, my strength training and just staying consistent.”
North Allegheny senior Jack Bertram is another elite level athlete who had a strong performance. Bertram capped what had been a busy and highly successful six days by running a time of 4 minutes, 11.76 seconds to win the 1,600-meter run. This past Saturday, Bertram set a school record in the 3,200 after finishing in eighth place at the loaded Arcadia Invitational in California. Bertram also owns the school record in the 1,600.
“It’s been really awesome,” said Bertram, a Notre Dame recruit. “It feels good to come back to Pittsburgh and run a time that I’m pretty happy with. And especially in front of the Pittsburgh crowd, it was awesome. Just to go from California to Pittsburgh in a week and I ran two pretty good times, I’m happy with it.”
New Castle’s Kaevon Gardner sprinted to the title in the 100. Gardner, a senior who won the WPIAL Class 3A title his sophomore season, ran a 10.76 in preliminaries before finishing with a time of 10.84 in the final. The trip to Butler went much better for Gardner than last season when he ran an 11.28 to place third.
“I just really wanted to get out strong,” said Gardner, a Clarion football recruit. “If I start off strong, the rest of my race will carry. So that was my goal. And I just came in with a whole better attitude than I did last year. And as you can see, my results are better.”
McKeesport’s Kemon Spell, one of the nation’s top sophomore football players and a Penn State recruit, was the runner-up courtesy of a time of 10.99. Last year’s Butler Invitational and WPIAL Class 3A champion, Woodland Hills’ Scoop Smith, did not compete, nor did reigning WPIAL Class 2A champ DeJuan Croumbles of Neighborhood Academy. Both are nursing minor injuries.
“I wanted to race my boy Scoop, but I know he’s having some complications,” Gardner said. “I’m looking forward to when he comes back. I’ve been getting ready and I’m feeling good this year.”
Another McKeesport sophomore football star, Javien Robinson, took home top honors in the 200 with a mark of 22.20.
Hickory junior Josslyn Hancock won the girls 100 following a time of 12.14. Upper St. Clair junior Sadie Tomczyk was second (12.36) and Plum senior Gabrielle Layne third (12.50). Tomczyk bounced back to win the 200.
Delaney Schumaker, a junior at South Fayette, repeated as champion in the 100 hurdles after producing a PR of 14.75, which edged out Norwin senior Brandi Brozeski (14.77). Schumaker narrowly eclipsed the 14.79 she ran at the TSTCA championships. She had sprinted to a top time of 15.47 at last year’s Butler Invitational. Schumaker then added a second consecutive title in the 300 hurdles.
“I knew there was going to be good competition today,” Schumaker said. “I knew what I needed to do, and I did it.”
Three other athletes left with gold medals in two individual events. West Allegheny junior Grace Fritzman won the 1,600 and 3,200, Quaker Valley senior Davin Gartley claimed titles in the 110 and 300 hurdles, and Grove City junior Jonah Stucchio won the long jump and triple jump.
One of the day’s top performances was turned in by Quaker Valley sophomore Jonah Montagnese, who set a meet record in the 3,200 after edging out Mohawk senior Jaxon Schoedel, the defending PIAA Class 2A champion in the event. Montagnese finished in 8:56.66 and Schoedel in 8:59.09.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.