Andrew Heller: Wyomissing's Williams takes gold, Schuylkill Valley's Seymour earns silver on first day of PIAA Track and Field Championships

May 28—SHIPPENSBURG — The gold medal for Class 2A discus will stay in the Williams family for another year as Wyomissing's Jven Williams won with a throw of 167-0 Friday the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University.

Jven's older brother, Rushard, won a discus gold in 2021 with a throw of 169-7.

"It feels great," Williams said. "There's always a little bickering going on between who throws the farthest but it's just an awesome feeling to be able to keep the family tradition going at the PIAA championships."

Williams set a District 3 Class 2A record last weekend when he threw a gold medal-winning throw of 187-0. He acknowledged that he felt somewhat disappointed that he could not reach that distance again.

"I'm a little disappointed in the distance but I'm just happy with the overall result," Williams said. "There really wasn't one thing that I'd say contributed to it. It was a little bit of the weather, I didn't prepare too well this week, but hey, I'm taking that into tomorrow (Saturday) and using that idea of revenge; hopefully I make good use of it."

The junior, who has committed to play football at Penn State as an offensive lineman, will be looking to take home gold in the shot put on Saturday as a way to end his throwing career on top. He finished third a year ago.

"As of right now, that's a wrap," Williams said. "It was a really awesome high school experience, but I'm going to graduate early next year so I don't think I'll be coming back next year unfortunately."

Looking to one day take Williams' place at the top of the podium is Berks Catholic sophomore Brady Mider, who earned a sixth-place medal with a throw of 151-11.

"I felt really good," Mider said. "The weather delayed the whole situation and I was a little sore going into the first flight, and I wasn't expecting it because I usually don't throw in the first flight, but then I realized I was in the finals, where I just popped them out."

Mider also said that he believes that the stiffer competition he was up against gave him the motivation and confidence to earn a top-eight finish.

"I was excited," Mider said. "I was like, 'Oh I'm here for a reason, so let's do it.' "

Having already earned a state medal to his name, Mider is not resting on his accomplishments. He said he aspires to be a state champion and is looking for another medal in Saturday's shot put.

"I want to try and get top three," Mider said. "Then after that, I just want to be a state champion and that's the goal."

On the track, Schuylkill Valley senior Luke Seymour ran a personal best in the 1600 and took home a silver medal in the Class 2A 1600 after finishing in 4:14.81.

Carson McCoy, the defending PIAA champion from Deer Lakes, took home gold with a time of 4:13.14 after skirting past Seymour late in the race. McCoy defeated Seymour in similar fashion during last year's 1600 final.

"It was like the same exact ending as last year; Carson always kicks it in on the last like 25 feet," Seymour said. "It definitely does hurt just knowing that I lost both years by him kicking it in on the last 20 feet even though I led the whole last lap."

While the run marked an individual accomplishment, breaking his personal best seemed bittersweet as the senior was surely hoping to avenge last year's performance.

"When I got around the final curve I really thought I had it," Seymour said. "I couldn't feel him (behind me) so I thought going down the stretch I had it again, but he just crept on the last 20 feet."

Seymour said that he took an approach similar to his preparation for districts heading into the state meet.

"It was low mileage, like it was last week too," he said. "I think I ran like 13 miles heading into this race today and just had one speed workout on Tuesday."

Despite taking second, Seymour is still confident that he can take home gold in the 800 on Saturday as he said he believes the event suits him better.

"I probably feel more confident in the 800; it's more of like my event so I'm looking forward to it," Seymour said. "I'm going to go for gold and try to PR."

Berks results

Class 2A

Finals

1600: 2. Luke Seymour, Schuylkill Valley, 4:14.81.

Preliminaries

100: 22. Lennon Neiman, Kutztown, 11.52 (did not qualify). 24. Adam Petersen, Brandywine Heights, 11.53 (did not qualify).

200: 6. Amory Thompson, Wyomissing, 22.79 (qualified for final).

400: 7. Joshua Sterner, Brandywine Heights, 50.47 (qualified for final).

400 relay: 5. Wyomissing (Andrew Delp, Charlie McIntyre, William Delp, Amory Thompson), 43.42 (qualified for final).

1600 relay: 23. Brandywine Heights (Dakota Thomas, Tyler McCulloch, Adam Petersen, Joshua Sterner), 3:41.28.

Class 3A

Finals

1600: 22. Alex Holbrook, Exeter, 4:23.61.

Triple jump: 10. (tie) Justin Walker, Reading High, 44-3.5.

Discus: 1. Jven Williams, Wyomissing, 167-0. 6. Brady Mider, Berks Catholic, 151-11.

Preliminaries

200: 16. Gavin Springer, Twin Valley, 22.73 (did not qualify).

400: 15. Jonathen Tamayo, Wilson, 49.39 (did not qualify).

110 hurdles: 14. Matthew Crow, Twin Valley, 15.48 (did not qualify).

1600 relay: 8. Wilson (Josh Drake, Spencer Hahn, Nathaniel Diaz, Jonathen Tamayo), 3:20.85 (qualified for final).