Coatesville boys, Rustin girls headline the field at the PIAA track and field championships

Coatesville High’s boys and West Chester Rustin’s girls look to build on their District 1 team titles as the PIAA track and field championships return to Shippensburg University on Friday and Saturday.

Coatesville, fresh off its fourth Class 3A boys’ district crown in five years, is seeded 10th in the 4x800 meter relay with the team of Tommy Wayne, Tommy Silvester, Marcus Evans, and Josh Miller. They’ll go up against other area schools in No. 7 Central Bucks West and No. 9 Strath Haven.

The Coatesville boys will compete in seven events, including the 4×100, 4×800, 300 hurdles, 800 meters, shot put, discus, and high jump.

Rustin’s girls, who won their second straight 3A district title, also will be well represented at states. Senior Keturah Darwon is seeded first in the 300-meter hurdles. The Golden Knights are seeded seventh in the 4x100 meter relay, which features No. 1 North Penn, No. 2 Chester, and No. 5 Cheltenham.

In Class 2A, West Catholic’s Taleea Buxton, who committed to Syracuse earlier in the week, will headline the 100-meter hurdles and triple jump. Buxton is seeded first in the hurdles on Friday and No. 2 in the triple jump on Saturday.

Buxton won the triple jump at 36 feet, 5 inches at the Ursinus Invitational on Dec. 10 and claimed the 55-meter hurdles in 8.03 seconds at the Ocean Breeze Holiday Festival at Staten Island, N.Y., on Dec. 27.

The track finals for boys and girls in Classes 2A and 3A will be on Saturday, with the exception of the 1,600, which will be run on Friday. Half of the field events will be contested Friday and the other half on Saturday.