Alle-Kiski Valley athletes ready for rescheduled WPIAL track championship

"A goal is to also make it back to defend my state title. I just want to clear my first bar height and see where it goes from there."

Magness said it was a little chaotic last year, running back and forth to complete each event.

"Being able to run the 4×4 with my teammates last year (senior Pavana Bhat, junior Madison Sleppy and graduate Grace Kristine) and make it to states with them was the cherry on top of the whole meet. I am excited for this year to see what the 4×4 does but also what the 4×1 does. We have a great shot to make states in both relays. I am excited for that."

Conti seeks to compete at states for a fourth consecutive season. Last year, she was in two events at Shippensburg for the first time.

Second in the discus at the 2024 WPIAL meet, there was no one better than Conti last year as she won with a top toss of 137-0, 12 feet better than the runner-up, North Allegheny's Audrey Maxwell.

Conti also was third in the shot put (37-10.5).

She is seeded third in the discus Thursday (127-10) and ninth in the shot (35-3.5).

"Honestly, I am a little nervous, but some of the pressure has been taken off me now being committed to college (Allegheny)," Conti said.

"But I am really excited to try and qualify (for states) for a fourth year in a row. I am really hoping I get there again.

"I had been a little iffy at points in the season with not being in the right headspace, but I have felt that I am getting back to a good place, and I have had a couple really good days of practice with reps before (Thursday)."

A-K Valley athletes own a total of six top seeds among the more than three dozen seeded in the top eight.

Owen Proskin, the versatile Plum senior who claimed a national indoor pentathlon title in March, will go after gold as the top seed in the Class 3A boys 110 hurdles (14.06) and high jump (6-10).

He also is the third seed in the long jump (22-5) and will run as part of the second-seeded Plum 1,600 relay (3:22.92) with senior Luke Hoberg and juniors Niko Burrell, Eli Matolcsy and Kent Holmes.

Proskin was third in the 110 hurdles (14.62) at WPIALs last year and fifth in the high jump (6-5) and 300 hurdles (38.99).

Deer Lakes senior William Bagley was the fourth-best Class 2A boys 300 hurdler at WPIALs last year (41.15), but he has his sights set higher Thursday. He hopes to hold off the field as the top seed in the 300.

Bagley recorded a season-best and school-record 40.48 in taking sixth at the Butler Invitational on April 18. The record of 40.78 stood for 20 years.

Kiski Area sophomore Alaysia Bell has produced some eye-popping distances in the jumps this season, and she hopes to do more as a favorite in the Class 3A girls long jump and triple jump.

She is seeded first in the triple (37-8.25) and third in the long (18-3.5).

Last year, in her WPIAL debut, Bell took 12th in the triple (34-11). She didn't qualify in the long.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.