Rios, Somerset relay, Gunby punch tickets to state meet

May 20—ALTOONA — In 1959, Alan Sillitoe penned the short story, "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner."

After Thursday's District 6 Class 3A Track and Field Championships, Somerset Area High School senior Hailey Rios might want to offer her take on the loneliness of the standout sprinter.

Rios has been running by herself all season long, and on a muggy Thursday at Mansion Park Stadium, she was in a class of her own.

Rios qualified for the PIAA meet in all four of her events, winning the two dashes convincingly and setting a meet record. Meanwhile, Greater Johnstown's Eli Gunby redeemed himself by winning the boys' 400-meter dash while Rios continued down her own path to redemption.

"It means a lot, especially after the way states went last year," Rios said.

"This is kind of like a redemption year. Going in all four like a redo is a very good feeling."

All of Thursday's event winners and those who didn't win but achieved a pre-determined standard qualified for the May 27-28 PIAA championships in Shippensburg. Rios won the 100- and 200-meter dashes, took second in the long jump and joined Sydney Rush, Kamryn Ross and Abigail Urban in finishing second in the four-by-100.

Rios wasn't pushed in the sprints. She timed 12.17 seconds in the 100 to win that race by nearly a full second.

Her 25:45 in the 200 was almost a second better than second-place Ashtyn Hileman of Altoona, too.

The time in the 100 beat the record set 30 years ago by Penn Cambria's Tanya Harris by .03 seconds. Her 200 time was .19 shy of setting another record.

All of that while not having anyone to push her or for her to run down.

Rios, though, perseveres.

"At times it's really hard, but, over the course of the season, you learn that it's a race against the clock," Rios said.

The top-seeded Golden Eagles seemed to have Altoona dead to rights coming into the final turn of the four-by-100 but some trouble getting the baton to Rios for the anchor leg allowed the Mountain Lions to gain the separation needed to pull it out.

Incredibly, Somerset still not only qualified for the state meet, the Golden Eagles ran their best time of the year — 49.39.

Altoona's time was 48.86.

"It was upsetting a little bit, because we had them coming around that turn," Rios said.

In the long jump, Rios achieved the state-qualifying mark on her second attempt and then jumped 18 feet, 4.25 inches in the final, coming up 4 inches shy of the best jump of State College's Shannon Mullin.

Rios was having a rough time with her takeoff.

"I jumped the qualifying one of my right foot. I'm a left-foot jumper," Rios said with a huff. "It was a little difficult trying to get the steps down."

Rush had a great day, too, medaling in all four of her events. She was third in the 100 at 12.95, fourth in the long jump at 16-10.25 and sixth in the triple jump with a 33-7.

"I feel best about the hundred and the four-by-one," Rush said. "We did have a good time (in the relay). We did PR, but I'm hoping for better at states."

Somerset's Emily Li took second in the javelin with a 95-0 throw.

Gunby ran a 51.26 in the 400, setting a new personal record while punching his ticket to Shippensburg. He won by almost 2 seconds over Hollidaysburg's Isaac Yarnell.

Somerset's Logan Sesler was third.

It's been a long time coming for Gunby, who ran 54 seconds in the event as a freshman when he wasn't even expecting to be in the event. It became his obsession, but COVID-19 derailed him in 2020 and he finished a disappointing third in 2021, missing out on advancing.

"It had a lot to do with that I didn't do so well, and this is sort of my comeback. It feels great. To be honest, I never really imagined myself going to states. It's something I've been working for for three years," Gunby said. "If you really want something, you're going to work for it and you're going to achieve your dreams."

Earlier in the meet, Gunby placed fifth in the 100, running 11.87 in the finals after only being seeded 10th entering the competition. He also ran a 23.96 in the 200 finals to capture a fifth-place ribbon in that event.

"i'm going to go out there and try my best and, whatever I end up, I'm still going to be proud that I made it to states," Gunby said.

Somerset's Aiden DiBuono was the No. 1 seed in the 110 hurdles but scratched. No other area boys finished in the top three.

While there won't be a lot of local boys at states, Rios won't feel alone. Finally, she figures she'll have some competition on the track.

"I've got a few girls to chase," Rios said. "It'll be fun."