WILLIAMSPORT — Athens saw several athletes come up just short of making States at the District IV Track and Field Championships here Saturday.

It’s the first time in recent memory, dating back more than 15 years that no Athens track & field athlete advanced to the State meet.

For the boys, junior Jaden Wright (11.38 second) was sixth in the 100, less than 0.1 second away from the state standard. He also took sixth in the 200 in 23.30 seconds.

For the girls, freshman Sara Bronson (3,200 meters) and junior Emma Bronson (1,600 meters) both set new schools records.

Sara Bronson’s time of 11:29.32 was good enough for second. She hung with winner, Selinsgrove’s Shaela Kruskie (11:21.58) for seven laps, but Kruskie pulled away at the end.

WILLIAMSPORT — The Lady Wildcats, competing in Class 3A, brought home a trio of medals from Day 1 of the District 4 Track & Field Championships, while the Class AA Athens boys earned one medal.

GIRLS — CLASS AAA
The foursome of junior Emma Bronson, sophomores Thea Bentley and Mya Thompson, and freshman Sara Bronson had the best finish of the day for the Wildcats. They placed fourth in the 3,200-meter relay in a time of 10:10.79.

Seniors Olivia Bartlow and Taylor Walker earned the only individual medals of the day for the Athens teams.

Bartlow placed sixth in the shot put with a heave of 30-feet, 8 1/2-inches, and sophomore Emma Pernaselli was 12th at 27-feet, 6 1/2-inches.

Taylor Walker finished sixth in the triple jump with a mark of 31-feet, 7 3/4-inches, and sophomore Mya Thompson was seventh at 31-feet, 7-inches.

Senior Hannah Walker qualified for the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, running the seventh-fastest time — 17.16 seconds — in the preliminaries.

Freshman Hannah Earls was 10th in the high jump at 4-feet, 5-inches, and Pernaselli finished 12th in the javelin with a throw of 91-feet, 3-inches,

Junior Jenny Ryan was 14th in the 100-meter dash in 14.23 seconds, and freshman Addy Wheeler was 15th in 14.54 seconds.

BOYS — CLASS AA
The foursome of seniors Kyle Anthony, Sander Bertsch, and Ryan Thompson, and junior Ethan Denlinger scored the only team point of the day for the Athens boys. They teamed to finish eighth in the 3,200-meter relay in a time of 8:37.19.

Junior Jaden Wright qualified for the finals of the 100-meter dash. He ran the fifth-faster time in the prelims at 11.57 seconds, and the fourth-fastest time in the semifinals at 11.5 seconds.

Senior Levi Kuhns ran the 13th-fastest time in the prelims of the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 17.3 seconds. Kuhns finished 16th in the semifinals in a time of 18.76 seconds.

Freshman Kolsen Keathley finished 19th in the 100-meter dash in 12.08 seconds, while sophomore Josh Martin was 21st in the javelin with a throw of 130-feet, and freshman Ronel Ankam was 23rd in the 110-meter hurdles in 22.34 seconds.

Day 2 of the District 4 Championships is Saturday at Williamsport High School. The action begins at 9 a.m.

ATHENS — The Athens girls track and field team continued their dominance at the NTL Championships, pulling away late to claim the title with 159 points.

“The girls did a really great job tonight,” said coach Mike Bronson. “We asked a lot of them in the heat. We really loaded a lot of them up, and they came through. I couldn’t be happier with them, they’re a great group of girls here.”

Wyalusing was second with 117 points, while Towanda (111.5) also finished in the top three.

“They’ve worked so hard for this this off-season,” Bronson continued. “We came here, and kind of did what we talked about just coming here and doing what we’ve done all season at the podium.”

Distance runners Sara and Emma Bronson combined for 44 points between the 800-,1,600–, and 3,200-meter runs, while also helping the 4x800 to a win in 10:55.62, for another 10 points.

“We talked about trying to maximize what we could get points wise, and they came through,” Bronson said.

Sara won the 1600 in 5:35.60, with Emma (5:39.37) second. Sara (2:29.06) was second in the 800, while Emma (2:34.91) took fifth.

In the 2-mile Sara (12:51.27) was second, with Emma (12:59.68) third.

Hannah Walker was also strong in the hurdles, winning the 100 high hurdles in 16.65 seconds, and also winning the 300 hurdles in 48.59 seconds. She helped the 4x400 relay team to a second-place finish in 4:29.50.

“We knew she was a really good 300 hurdler, and she just a few weeks ago asked about doing the 100 hurdles,” explained Bronson. “She took to it pretty quick, then won the 300 hurdles, and, you know, then came back with a solid 200, and a really nice anchor on the 4x4. She’s just a great hard-working kid for us.”

Walker was fourth in the 200 in 27.61 seconds.

Other scorers on the track include Cassy Friend taking fifth in the 400 in 1:04.68, Thea Bentley finishing seventh in the 800 in 2:42.13, and Emily Henderson finishing fifth in the 100 hurdles in 17.64.

In the field, Mya Thompson (16-feet, 8 1/2-inches) won the long jump, while Friend (14-feet, 5 1/2-inches) was seventh, and Taylor Walker (14-feet, 4-inches) took eighth.

Thompson returned to win the triple jump at 33-feet, 6 1/4-inches, with Taylor Walker (31-feet, 5 1/4-inches) seventh.

Olivia Bartlow (96-feet, 1-inch) won the discus, while Emma Pernaselli (79-feet, 2-inches) was fourth, and Rachel Jelliff (77-feet) came in seventh.

Pernaselli (96-feet, 9-inches) won the javelin, with Bartlow (88-feet, 2 1/2-inches) sixth. Bartlow (29-feet, 1/2-inch) was third in the shot put, and Pernaselli (27-feet, 2 1/2-inches) came in eighth.

On the boys’ side, Jaden Wright had himself a day with wins in the 100 (11.24 seconds) and the 200 (23.50).

“I feel it was pretty amazing,” said Wright. “I PRed in pretty much every event today, and I ran a state qualifying time for the 100, so if I can do that at districts, I’ll be in good shape.”

Wright’s hoping the added competition at districts next week will push him to go even faster.

“I’m focusing on block starts, because my block starts right now are kind of bad,” Wright said. “My topping speed is just kind of carrying me through the 100.”

Athens was third as a team with 100 points.

Kolsen Keathley (11.58) was fourth in the 100, while running 24.0 to take fifth in the 200.

Kyle Anthony medaled in the 800 (2:07.87) with a fourth-place finish, and the 1,600 (4:42.62) in fifth. Ryan Thompson (2:09.38) was sixth in the 800, while Ethan Hicks (5:00.67) came in sixth in the mile.

Hicks (11:19.04) was fifth in the 2-mile.

Levi Kuhns (16.03) was second in the 110 hurdles, with Ronel Ankham (17.66) sixth. Ankham (44.13) was third in the 300 hurdles.

Their 4x800 relay (8:48.35) won, their 4x400 relay (3:40.66) was second, and their 4x100 relay (45.99) came in third.

In the field, Ethan Denlinger (5-feet, 6-inches) was fourth in the high jump, with Josh Martin (139-feet, 6-inches) third in the javelin.

“This is the best tracking we’ve had all season, so it feel good to run good times in this weather,” said Wright.

ATHENS — Junior Jaden Wright was a four-time winner, and senior Kyle Anthony was a triple-winner to lead Athens to wins over Northeast Bradford and North Penn-Mansfield here Tuesday afternoon in NTL track & field action.

Athens tallied 94.67 points, while North Penn-Mansfield had 50.33 points, and NEB collected 38 points.

“The kids did a lot of good things tonight across the board,” said Athens coach Scott Riley. “It was a really nice team showing as we wrapped up our dual meet schedule.

“Now, we have some time to focus on some good workout between now and the NTL meet,” he added.

Wright won the 100-meter dash in 11.64 seconds, while freshman Kolsen Keathley was second in 11.93 seconds, and freshman Carter Lewis was third in 12.05 seconds

Wright also won the 200-meter dash in a time of 23.79 seconds, while Lewis was second in 24.19 seconds, and Keathley was third in 24.3.

Wright also collected a win in the long jump with a leap of 18-feet, 5-inches, while senior Cameron Whitmarsh was third at 17-feet, 9-inches, and Keathley was fourth at 17-feet, 8 1/2-inches.

Wright teamed with senior Levi Kuhns, Keathley, and Lewis to win the 400-meter relay in 46.17 seconds.

Anthony won the 1,600-meter run in a time of 5:00.91, while freshman Ethan Hicks was third in 5:05.16, and Bertsch was fourth in 5:27.03. Anthony finished second in the 800-meter run in 2:08.18.

Anthony teamed with seniors Sander Bertsch and Ryan Thompson, and junior Ethan Denlinger to win the 3,200-meter relay in a time of 8:59.7.

Anthony teamed with freshman Ronel Ankam, Lewis and Thompson to win the 3,200-meter relay in a time of 3:47.76.

Kuhns won the 110-meter hurdles in 16.54 seconds, while Ankam was third in 18.12 seconds, and Congdon was fourth in 20.11.

Ankam won the 300-meter hurdles in 46.22 seconds, and Kuhns was second in 46.42 seconds.

Hicks won the 3,200-meter run in a time of 11:11.63, and senior Izaak Hobday was third in 12:12.53.

Denlinger won the pole vault, clearing the bar at 8-feet, 6-inches.

Thompson finished second in the 400-meter dash in 56.4 seconds, and Denlinger was fourth in 58.07 seconds.

Sophomore Josh Martin finished third in the discus with a toss of 110-feet, 9-inches. He finished fourth in the javelin with a throw of 117-feet, 10-inches.

Freshman Peter Jones finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 36-feet, 3-inches, and Brendan Jones was fourth at 31-feet, 7 1/2-inches.

Congdon was third in the high jump at 4-feet, 10-inches, while Brendan Jones and Connor Brown tied for fourth at 4-feet, 8-inches.

Athens returns to action May 13 at the NTL Championships.