A year later, it was Eberhart standing on the top of the podium. The year changed, but a Warrior still was the district’s best pole vaulter.

A year after taking 18th, Eberhart cleared 10 feet, 6 inches to win the District 4 title at Milton High School on Saturday afternoon. Her height of 10-6 matches her PR from this year and season-best height.

The Warrior was one of just three athletes to go 10-0 or higher as Towanda’s Marin Maynard placed second with a height of 10-0 and Olesia Cieslukowski of Warrior Run took bronze with 10-0. Eberhart passed until 9-0 where she cleared 9-0, 9-6 and 10-0 on each of her first attempts. After a miss on 10-6 on her first attempt, she cleared it on her second.

Now she’s headed to Shippensburg as Montoursville’s lone state qualifier, girls or boys.

Piper Hoprich of Wellsboro wins the girls 200m during the District IV track & field championships at Milton High School Saturday afternoon. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

FRIENDS ON THE TRACK

Loyalsock’s Danny Dowell and Hughesville’s Spencer Stine lined up on the track at Milton High School on Saturday morning in the boys Class AA 100 race at the District 4 championships as opponents. Obviously both wanted to medal high and take gold.

But while there’s competition between them, there’s also a friendship. The two sprinters have become friends throughout the year given that they’ve raced against each other nearly half a dozen times so far.

“He’s a nice familiar face. We talk before every meet and coach each other,” Dowell said. “He’s been a great friend this whole year.”

They can add one more race against each other as they both qualified for the state championships in Shippensburg this upcoming weekend and will get to race against each other once again to close out the 2026 season.

Runners take their first strides in the second heat of the boys 1600m race during the District IV track & field championships at Milton High School Saturday afternoon. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“It’s so much (fun). I’ve been running against Spencer Stine all year. We’ve had five or six races against each other and he’s been 10.85, 10.84 each time,” Dowell said. “It feels good to have him push me every time. He’s been a great competitor.”

Stine won district gold with a time of 11.02, a tad off his best times, and Dowell claimed bronze with a time of 11.09. Taking silver was Landen Murray of Mifflinburg in 11.06.

Dowell was glad to have Stine and Murray run with him and push him to qualify for states. Especially given the fact the Lancer hadn’t been running times he knows he’s capable of the past few weeks. But things lined up and worked for him on Saturday and he hit a state-qualifying time. He’s getting back on track at the right time of the year.

“I had some faster times, but I also not been doing good past couple weeks,” Dowell noted. “So it feels good to get back to where I was at. Hopefully I can improve that time for next week.”

And running an 11.09 and qualifying for states has given Dowell some confidence heading to the biggest meet of the year in Shippensburg with the best Pennsylvania has on the track.

“For sure (it gives me confidence). This has been such a great experience,” Dowell said. “Going into the state meet with a better time than I’ve been running a couple weeks before is a great feeling.”

And now, the two competitors-turned-friends are heading to Shippensburg together for one more race.

“It means a lot (to qualify),” Dowell said. “Obviously the whole season long that’s our goal and that’s what we want to do. It’s our training, our coach has us in a great program to make us peak leading up to states. It’s what we work for all year, so it’s good.”

TWICE AS NICE

Wellsboro’s Piper Hoprich has established herself already as an outstanding sprinter. She holds the school record in both the 100 and 200 and at the District 4 meet, sprinters know they will have to run great times if they want to try to beat her.

But, so far, no one’s been able to dethrone her.

Hoprich won repeat District 4 championships in both the 100 and 200 at the district championships at Milton this past weekend to head back to Shippensburg.

In the 100, the Green Hornet ran a time of 12.17, winning by almost half a second over runner-up Casey Schultz of Hughesville (12.66), who took silver, and Mifflinburg’s Makenna Fogle (12.83), who took bronze.

“It’s really nice. I love districts, it’s my favorite,” Hoprich said with her gold medal in the 100 around her neck. “It pushes me, I love the competition. It always let me do better when I have competition.”

Later in the afternoon, Hoprich did it again and won gold in the 200 by running a 25.22 as Schultz again took silver in 26.70. Evalynn Keister of Milton was a third-place finisher in 26.83.

Hoprich noted that while she’s good in both events — the gold medals are evidence of that — she enjoys the 200 more because it can “showcase my top speed” she noted.

And while she loves competing, she loves representing a smaller school like Wellsboro on the state’s biggest stage.

“I love it. It pushes me to do better during practices and it allows me to cheer on my teammates and I love that kind of team culture that we have,” Hoprich said. “I think it shows that talent doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be from a big school. You can push yourself and work hard no matter where you’re from.”

Hoprich isn’t a stranger to Shippensburg and knows the state’s competition can help bring out the best in her.

I really hope that I can medal again this year. Hopefully, maybe, be a state champ, but we’ll see,” Hoprich said. “It’d be amazing (going in two events). I love states and I love that level of competition up there every year.”

A SEASON OF GROWTH

Montgomery’s Selah Persing may not be heading to Shippensburg for the state meet, but she’s still more than proud of the year that she was able to put together in 2026. She took home a sixth-place medal in the 100 hurdles in the morning with a time of 16.81 to reach the podium as Northwest’s Julia Hasinus won with a time of 15.50 and Bloomsburg’s Hannah Magill took silver in 15.80.

Later in the afternoon in the 300 hurdles, she reached one step higher as she took fifth and ran a time of 48.21. Hughesville’s Kylie Temple won district gold by breaking a meet record in 43.67 and Bloomsburg’s Brenyn Wasielewski took silver with a time of 46.98.

“It means taking all the hard work I’ve done over the season and being able to show it at districts and put it out on the track,” Persing said of what it meant to medal at districts. “It just means a lot to me because it shows how far I’ve come since I was a freshman and doing track my first year. It’s a lot of growth and I feel a lot of pride in myself in being able to make it so far.”

And her times improved since the first track meet of the season to this past weekend, and that’s a huge step in the right direction for a track athlete, especially a sprinter.

“This is the season I’ve had with the most growth. It’s been really great for me, especially with the 100s because starting off with the season I was having like high 17s. I wasn’t really able to push myself to get faster until I had a period where I took a week and was able to train hard and put in the extra work at the weight room and push myself,” Persing said. “Coming back from that, I saw my improvement and it helped me. I’ve grown a lot through the season.”

Persing’s time in the 100 hurdles would have been a PR had she not set a PR two days prior in the preliminaries.

“This is also a really fast time for me (though),” Persing said. “I’m not used to running 16s until this season. It’s been a big jump for me in my times and it’s a really big improvement with myself.”

Having runners like Hasinus, Magill, Temple and others compete against her was more than beneficial as well to get her to run her best.

“They really helped me a lot because with them being good competition for me, it really pushes me to do better and to try to match them,” Persing said. “They really are a big help for me.”