NTL TRACK & FIELD: TROY'S WARBURTON REPEATS AS LONG JUMP CHAMP, SENS HEADED BACK TO STATES IN THE SHOT PUT (2025-05-16)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportWILLIAMSPORT — Troy’s Ben Warburton defended his long jump title at the District IV Track and Field Championships Thursday, while teammate Avery Sens punched his ticket to the PIAA Championships in the shot put.
Warburton jumped 22-feet, 7-inches to take gold in Class AA, edging South Williamsport’s Dylan Scheller (22-feet, 3-inches).
“It feels good,” Warburton said. “It’s way better this year coming in knowing what I have to do, and not being flustered by the environment. I just go out there and jump.”
It was the best jumping weather of the season for Warburton, though he did say the heat drained him as the afternoon wore on.
Opening with a 22-feet, 5 1/2-inch leap set the tone for the day.
“I was pretty confident in what I could jump, and I’m happy that I made states immediately,” Warburton said. “But I was more focused on winning the district championship at this point.”
Scheller got the better of him at the Lock Haven Invitational, but on Thursday it was Warburton coming out on top.
“We’ve got a good little rivalry going on between us,” said Warburton.
Now he’ll try for that elusive state medal that he missed out on last season.
“I’ll work on form and getting on the board more,” Warburton remarked. “I feel like I’ve got enough on my height and my jump, and I’m pretty confident.”
Warburton also qualified for the 100 final with his time of 11.21 in the preliminaries.
Sens used a toss of 52-feet, 3 3/4-inches on his third attempt to take fourth in the shot put.
“It feels amazing,” Sens said. “It was a goal all throughout the season to just get that mark, and go back to states again.”
Five throwers hit the state standard of 49-feet, 6-inches, with the top two going over 54 feet, showing just how talented the District IV field was this year.
“It was honestly a different feeling than I could imagine,” said Sens, who was the district champion a year ago. “It motivated me a lot more than last year, then going to this year with five people qualifying for states, and then one guy four inches off the state qualifier, so it put a little pep in the step to just get a good mark out there, and get a good throw.”
His first throw of 50-feet, 6-inches qualified him for states. Now he’ll try for his second state medal after getting on the podium last year.
“Whatever cues my coaches tell me,” Sens said. “Definitely, mindset is going to be a main thing as I go throughout the state process.”
Also for the boys the 4x800 relay of Mason Wulff, Hart Houseknecht, Lucas Norton, and Evan Geer took eighth in 8:34.71.
Joseph Frye (19-feet, 7 1/4-inches) was 11th in the long jump while Cameron Morey (17-feet, 1-inch) came in 18th. Rylan Breidt (16.41) was 12th in the 110 hurdle preliminaries.
On the girls’ side Kylee Roy (16.32) was fourth in the 100 hurdle preliminaries to qualify for the finals on Saturday.
Ellie Spalding (13.54) was 17th in the 100 preliminaries, Parker Lee (14-feet, 2-inches) was 14th in the long jump, and the 4x800 relay of Gloria Andrews, Isabella Prieto, Madelyn Seeley, and Halie Davies-Grove was 15th in 12:07.27.
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING & LANCE LARCOM
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