Blinn, Funderlich sprint to district crowns
WHITEHALL — P.J. Blinn has been near the top all season. Marc Funderlich has been continuing his climb.
On Thursday at Baldwin High, both realized the dream of being a WPIAL champion.
Blinn, a senior sprinter for Seneca Valley, captured the WPIAL Class AAA championship in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.91 seconds, edging runner-up Brandon Ifill of Penn Hills.
Funderlich, a senior at Mars, surprised the crowd by winning the 400 with a personal-best time of 49.05.
"My start was really good," said Blinn, who won the event at several invitationals this season, as well as the WPIAL team playoffs and qualifiers. "I was halfway through and I thought I was in the clear.
"At the end, (Ifill) came up next to me. It was so close, I couldn't tell."
The start was the key to the victory, according to Blinn.
"He's so much taller than I am," said Blinn. "I knew I had to get a good start. I had to capitalize on that."
Blinn helped the Raiders' 1,600 relay finish second (3:21.19) and the 400 relay place third (43.56).
Funderlich had run at the Baldwin Invitational two weeks earlier, but didn't like his performance there.
"I thought I had a poor showing," said Funderlich, who will run next year at Allegheny College. "I knew I had to gut it out."
Funderlich went from a middle distance runner to a 400 runner when he pulled off a 51.0 in a split time while running the 1,600 relay.
To help get his time down, Funderlich trained against the Mars girls 400 relay team from time to time.
"I'd always win," said Funderlich with a smile. "They're running about 50 flat and that's what I was doing."
Apparently, it helped as Funderlich recorded his best time and thinks the sky's the limit, especially with the state meet next weekend.
"I feel like this is the time of year you pick your training up," said Funderlich. "There's nothing that says this is my peak."
The Raiders' pole vault tandem of Mitch Codd (14 feet, 9 inches) and Dylan Bilka 14-3) placed second and third while setting personal bests.Codd equaled the best effort of Kiski Area's Justin Harold best, but needed another attempt to do so. Both vaulters missed all three attempts at 15, so Harold was the winner."Justin came in and was some stiff competition," said Codd. "I was blown away how well he did. I thought I could do 15-0, 15-3."Bilka, who placed 15th in the event last year, said, "I felt really good. I thought I'd be in second, but Justin was strong at the end."Knoch's Paul Kletzli (second, 300 hurdles, 40.06) and Adam Tuzikow (third, shot put, 52-6½) led the Knights while Butler's Adam Marzullo was fourth in the pole vault (14-0) to lead other Butler County state qualifiers.The top four places in each event are guaranteed a state berth while those up to eighth place must meet the qualifying standard."Last year, I was .07 seconds from states," said Kletzli. "It made me work that much harder in the offseason."Butler didn't make as big a splash as it might have without injuries, but coach Rick Schontz was pleased with those who qualified."It was a real tribute to our boys that they overcame all the injuries and won the section title," Schontz said.
Knoch's Regina Robb had another strong performance, placing second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 100 hurdles. She also was a member of the fourth-place 1,600 relay team."I told (Robb) she finally got through the WPIAL championships," said Knoch coach Wess Brahler. "And, in every event, we had a (personal record)."Seneca Valley's Erin Lopresti placed second in the 800 (2:14.6), as did Butler's Bri Lumley in the shot put (a personal-best 40-8).Lopresti lost to Hopewell's Elise Farris for the second consecutive year but tried to put a positive spin on things."I'm glad she's in the race," said Lopresti. "It's great for competition."Lopresti also helped the Raiders' 1,600 relay place third. In all Seneca Valley and Butler qualified two relays each and Knoch had one.The Tornado girls had four state qualifiers in the field events: Lumley, Marina Gracik (a personal-best 127-5 in the javelin), Paige Rittelmann (high jump) and Meghan Studds (triple jump).
