Brian Hagberg
OIL CITY, Pa. – Sheffield, Youngsville, and Warren came home with nine medals from the 33rd annual Oil Country Invitational in Oil City on Saturday.
Warren’s Lindsay Madigan and Alexa Bowers, and Sheffield’s Emily Foster each had the best county finish for the day, taking third in their respective events. Madigan was the county’s lone dual medalist.
Madigan finished third in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump. Bowers was third in the 300 hurdles, and Foster third in the high jump.
The Hickory girls and Grove City boys captured the team titles. Hickory finished with 72 points, ahead of second-place Cranberry (56). Grove City, meanwhile, had 75 points, while second-place Meadville had 62. There were 19 boys’ teams competing and 18 girls’ teams.
Charlotte Keeports and Samuel Lindell each took fourth in the girls’ and boys’ 1600. Hugh Harrison took sixth in the event.
The Sheffield boys 400 relay team of Michael Mihalic, Leihdon Wotorson, Dylan Hardwick, and Landon Mead finished fifth. Hardwick is typically a distance runner but filled in for Lucas McNeal on the sprint relay.
“The Wolverines typical relay team was without its usual standout anchor Lucas McNeal as he was taking his SATs,” Sheffield coach Jason Snell said. “As were many of the Sheffield standouts on Saturday, but Dylan Hardwick who is not typically a sprinter was up for the challenge and filled in great.”
Youngsville’s Julia Bojaczko finished sixth in the 3200.
Sheffield athletes now turn their attention to the Northern Tier League Championships set for Friday at Coudersport.
“Though the great turnout of athletes from Sheffield competing Saturday may not have brought home many medals, the PRs and the experience against top-notch competition against 21 other teams will be great preparation for the Northern Tier League Championships,” Snell said.
Warren closes out its dual meet schedule this week at Meadville on Tuesday, where the girls will vie for the Region 3 title, and will host Titusville on Thursday.
Youngsville finishes its dual meet schedule with a trip to cross-county rival Eisenhower on Tuesday.
