After missing a good chunk of the season due to a hamstring injury, Woodland Hills speedster Scoop Smith made his long-awaited season debut Friday.
When he hit the track, Smith ran like the Scoop of old.
Very, very fast.
Smith’s victory in the 100-meter dash was one of the highlights of the Baldwin Invitational, the big annual meet right off of Route 51 that turned 51 this year.
Smith, a junior and the defending WPIAL Class 3A champion in the 100, weathered the storm — the meet included a two-hour weather delay — to take home the title in what was his first meet of the season. Smith had been nursing a hamstring injury suffered playing 7-on-7 football.
After running the top time in preliminaries, Smith scooted to a time of 10.78 seconds in the final to top the field that included runner-up Connor Stokes of Elizabeth Forward (10.91) and reigning Class 2A champion DeJuan Croumbles-Booker of Neighborhood Academy, who placed fourth (11.05). Stokes rebounded to win the 200.
“I’m very excited,” said Smith, one of the WPIAL’s top all-around athletes. “Going into it, I definitely had a lot of thought in my mental about running and about what my hamstring could feel like. But at the end of the day, I just put my trust in God and just hoped whatever he has planned for me is going to happen. So I went out here running and when I got into my first 10 to 20 meters, it just felt like I was back last year. I didn’t have any worries about the hamstring. It was just run, run, run.”
Smith called the performance a big confidence boost with the WPIAL championships less than two weeks away. He ran a personal record time of 10.62 at last year’s meet, and his goal is to run even faster this season.
“I’m trying to get into the 10.4’s,” he said. “I came in today telling my dad, it probably won’t happen, but I’m trying to run a 10.2. You know, dream big. If I push to run a 10.2, you never know where it will get to.”
Another junior, Upper St. Clair’s Sadie Tomczyk, starred in the sprints on the girls side. Tomczyk claimed wins in both the 100 and 200, finishing in times of 12.28 and 25.23, respectively. Tomczyk won the 200 by more than a second. She had placed third in both races a season ago.
“It feels great winning,” she said. “The rain delay threw me off a little bit, but I was able to come back, get my mindset back and win the race.”
The Baldwin Invitational features a pair of signature races, one being the McKinney Mile. Penn-Trafford senior Jake McGhee and West Allegheny junior Grace Fritzman captured titles Friday, with McGhee’s effort being particularly impressive. McGhee trailed nearly the entire race before moving ahead of Grove City senior MJ Pottinger with about 100 meters left. Pottinger was the defending champion and McGhee had never before beaten him. McGhee finished in 4:15.71 and Pottinger in 4:17.32.
“I started catching up to him in the last 200,” McGhee said. “I knew it would have been dumb to kick the last 200 because that would be more work for me. I knew if I got close enough to him the last 100 meters I could outkick anyone. So I gave it all I got.”
It made the experience worthwhile for McGhee, who chose to compete instead of attending his senior prom.
“I skipped prom today just to come out here and have a great day. It was a little bit rainy, but I knew I could come out and get it done,” said McGhee, a California (Pa.) recruit.
The event also included the debut of the Ed Helbig Two Mile, named after the meet’s longtime director and former Baldwin coach who passed away last August following a battle with esophageal cancer. Winchester Thurston senior Charlie Routledge claimed the title in the boys race and Fritzman topped the field in the girls race.
One of the WPIAL’s most productive running backs leaped to a PR and big win in the long jump. California senior Lee Qualk, the reigning WPIAL Class 2A champion, faced some top competition from some much larger schools and produced a school record leap of 23 feet, 5½ inches. Qualk ran for 2,145 yards and 36 touchdowns on the football field his senior season.
“I’m incredibly happy,” he said. “I couldn’t be more happy to break my PR by a foot and a half. Last year I PR’d big and broke into the 22’s at this meet. I felt like with this competition I’d be right up there with some of these guys.”
North Allegheny senior Nicholas Humphries (23-3) was second and Penn Hills senior Ronald Porter third (22-11½).
Upper St. Clair senior Tayla Kurzawa also starred in the jumps, winning both the triple jump (37-10) and high jump (5-3). Kurzawa placed third in the long jump (17-6¼), an event won by senior teammate Anna Engelman (18-2½). Engelman was also a double winner, as she took top honors in the pole vault (11-0).
Aaron Taylor, a junior at Canon-McMillan, swept the hurdles, winning the 110 in 14.65 and the 300 in 38.20.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.