PIAA state track and field championships: Girard College’s Thelma Davies goes for four in a row in the 100 and 200

The rest of the state has bent a collective knee to two local undisputed queens in multiple track and field events for the last few years.

When the PIAA championships begin Friday at Shippensburg University, Girard College senior Thelma Davies and Perkiomen Valley senior Christina Warren have a chance to punctuate two dominant high school careers.

Davies, who will compete at Louisiana State University next year, has reigned supreme in the Class 2A 100 and 200 meters since breaking both records as a freshman.

She has won both events at the PIAA finale for the last three years in a row and still holds both records: 11.58 seconds in the 100 and 23.85 in the 200.

Last year, her coach, Diamond Woolford, did his own unconfirmed research and said that only two other competitors in PIAA history have won two events in three consecutive years.

Rochester’s Lauryn Williams won the 100 and 200 in 1999, 2000, and 2001, and Beaver Falls’ Domenic Perretta won the 800 and 1600 in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

During the indoor track season in February, Davies completed a four-peat in the 60 dash and a three-peat in the 200.

At the District 1 championships at Coatesville last week, Davies claimed two golds, running 11.84 and 24.45 in the 100 and 200, respectively.

Also at Coatesville last week, Warren, who will compete at Arizona State next year, claimed gold in the Class 3A 100 hurdles (13.85 ) and set a meet record in the triple jump at 41 feet, ½ inch.

She is already a two-time PIAA champion in the triple jump and won her first state title in the 100 hurdles last season. For the last three years, she also been the triple jump’s best American finisher at the Penn Relays.

The Neumann-Goretti girls’ track team won the PIAA Class 2A team championship last season and returns with another strong squad.

Last year, the Saints won the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 relays, while Mykala Perry, then a sophomore, claimed individual gold in the 400. Sydni Townsend, then a senior and now at the University of Pittsburgh, won the 300 hurdles.

St. Basil Academy sophomore Tia Taylor won the District 1 Class 2A 100 hurdles last weekend. Taylor won the event at the state meet last year.

On the boys’ 2A side, Austin Nice, a senior from Dock Mennonite, will have another chance to shine in the 100 and 200 after his teammate, Austin Kratz, dominated both events as a senior last year.

On the boys’ 3A side, the Central Bucks West 4x800 relay team, led by senior Blake Ewaskey, looks to defend its crown from last season.

In the girls’ 3A competition, North Penn senior Natalie Kwortnik, who finished fourth in the long jump last season, is coming off a District 1 championship last week.