ADAMS TWP — It's been quite a week for Seneca Valley track and field coach Wayne Roccia.

After an emotional ceremony honoring his 31 years as the head of the Raiders program Wednesday, his squad took the Mars Invitational by storm Friday.

The girls team won six of 18 events, including the 3,200 and 400 relays, and placed second in the 1,600 relay on its way to defending its team title from last year.

The Raiders' 85 points outdistanced runner-up Knoch (51), which also posted strong performances in both the girls and boys meets.

In fact, the Raiders boys team nearly made it a sweep, but Wheeling Park won with 78 points to Seneca Valley's 74.

"I'm proud of both of them," said Roccia, who is coaching his final season at Seneca Valley. "It would have been nice if the boys won, too, but our philosophy for invitationals is that the kids have fun and let them do the events they want."

Senior Da'Lynn Mills helped lead the way, winning the 200 (26.29 seconds), the high jump (a meet record-tying 5-foot-4), and was the anchor leg of the meet record-breaking 400 relay team (50.53), as well as runner-up in the 1,600 relay (4:15.94).

"I'm trying to stay relaxed," said Mills. "I come into every meet trying not to put pressure on myself. If you do, you can become a head case."

The Raiders' 400 relay team had its first true test, with Mills outkicking Plum's anchor leg to pull out the win.

"This was the first time our (relay) team had competition," said Mills. "It's the first time we actually got pushed, and that helps drop our times."

Boyd also had a big meet, earning the Girls Field MVP award in the process with 24 points. Boyd won the triple jump, was second in the high jump, third in the long jump and was on the runner-up 1,600 relay team.

Freshman Erin Lopresti won the 800, was on the winning 3,200 relay and was a member of the 1,600 relay team, while fellow freshman Kate Kelly was on those aforementioned relays and was fifth in the 800.

Knoch's Carol Cress won the shot put (38-11) and was third in the discus and fifth in the javelin. Teammate Sarah Cooper won the discus (101-3) and was sixth in the shot put.

"Carol's been throwing some state-qualifying marks the last couple of weeks," said Knoch girls coach Tom Hoffmann. "She's confident, and that's what you want going into the WPIALs."

Alyssa Kunkel earned a pair of medals, placing fourth in the 1,600 and fifth in the 3,200. while three other Knights athletes earned individual medals.

The Karns City girls team also had some great performances, highlighted by Xandria White, who placed third in the 100 and fourth in the 200.

Moniteau's Kendra Hall was second in the shot put and fourth in the discus, while Freeport's Maurielle Blake (long jump) and Merrissa Malcolm (pole vault), and Karns City's Stephanie Stoughton (discus) all placed second in their respective events.

In the boys meet, Seneca Valley placed second, thanks to first-place performances by Cam Stauffer in the 1,600 (4:27.68), Frank Campisino in the 200 (22.74) and Conor Barrett in the high jump (6-4), as well as one by the 400 relay team (43.97).

"I always want to go as high as I can," Barrett said. "I wanted to go 6-6. ... I thought I had it on my third attempt, but I hit my heel."

Tim Miles earned the Boys Field co-MVP award by placing second in the discus and third in the shot put. Other second-place showings by the Raiders included Chris Cipro in the 3,200 (9:38.74) and the 1,600 relay. Cipro lost to Wheeling Park's Ryan Beabout by more than 13 seconds.

"Chris ran into a buzz saw," said Roccia. "Chris was taken aback by it, but I told him to take that as a wonderful learning experience. I think (Beabout's) a (West Virginia) state champion. You have to learn to run against the best, and he did a good job staying with him."

Brian Tackett and Ben Hutterer led the charge for Knoch, starting off as members of the winning 3,200 relay with a time of 8:10.2.

"We have a nice group of boys this year who are working their butts off," said Knoch boys coach Wess Brahler. "At this point, actually, we're already ahead of last year's (school record) pace.

Hutterer was second in the 1,600 behind Stauffer and was fourth in the 3,200, while Tackett was second in the 800, (losing to Lakeview's Noah Palicia by one-half second), was third in the 1,600 and was a member of the sixth-place 1,600 relay team.

Freeport's Brian Zimmerman was the area's other champion, claiming the javelin crown with a winning throw of 168-9 while Knoch's Seth Montgomery was second, Mars' Dan Lynch third and Knoch's Zac Gross fourth.

Host Mars was led by its relay squads, earning second place in the 400 behind Seneca Valley and a pair of third-place performances in the 3,200 and 1,600 relays.

The Planets' Justin Piocquidio was second in the long jump and was on the that 400 relay unit.

Notes: Terhea Doaty of Pine-Richland was named the Girls Track MVP with 20 points. Miles shared the Boys Field MVP with Goosby of Quaker Valley (14).