Times Observer Photo by Cody Elms In the front row, from the left, are Sheffield’s Emily Foster, Emily Leichtenberger, Landon Mead, Lexi Goldthwaite and Kassidy Orinko. In the back row are teammates Quahien Pressley, Lucas McNeal, Michael Mihalic and Garret Waters.

The Sheffield Wolverines will send nine athletes to Brookville today to compete in the PIAA District 9 Championships.

Senior Emily Leichtenberger, sophomore Lexi Goldthwaite and freshmen Kassidy Orinko and Emily Foster will represent the women, while on the men’s side, juniors Landon Mead, Quahien Pressley, and Michael Mihalic will be joined by sophomores Garret Waters and Lucas McNeal.

“With this group of kids we are taking and their potential, I would be lying if I said expectations weren’t high,” said Sheffield coach Jason Snell. “Regardless of the outcome, nine athletes representing Sheffield is an amazing accomplishment at the District Championship level. There have been so many positives this season and these qualifiers are a huge part of the leadership that made that possible. Even though the majority of them are younger, they all have stepped up and took on roles of leading. The youth and lack of experience at the district level does not have me concerned at all. These kids are all hungry competitors. I am confident they will show up pumped and ready to show their efforts against the top-notch competition.”

Leichtenberger will be the lone returning District 9 Championship competitor. The senior record-breaker qualified her freshmen year and then again her sophomore season, where she medaled in both javelin and discus. Leichtenberger is looking to continue her strong season with the hopes of placing in the top two in at least one of her three events, allowing her to move onto the PIAA State Championship next weekend. Leichtenberger is seeded second in the discus, fourth in javelin, and seventh in the shot.

“Holding two of the ladies’ school records in throwing, her seeds resembling those distances tells you how very talented her field of competition will be,” said Snell.

Goldthwaite will be competing in the triple jump, Orinko and Foster in the high jump, with Foster taking the top overall seed with a height of 5 feet, 1 inch. Foster will also compete in the long jump.

“Emily Foster, she’s just a go-getter. Nobody has to tell her to do anything,” Snell said. “One of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever coached. Kassidy is just absolutely gifted. She converged from our stats person to qualifying for districts. Lexi Goldthwaite is another young raw talent. Naturally, she is very athletic, but she also puts in that work. She has had a textbook season. She has gone from good to great.”

For the men, Mead, Pressley, Waters, and McNeal will represent the Wolverines in the 400-meter relay with Waters as the alternate. McNeal will also compete in high jump.

“The best part is that three of the four, including our alternate, are all Sheffield kids and underclassmen that we’ll have back next year,” said Snell. “The district experience itself is going to be awesome. Lucas McNeal is one of those kids, you could put him in any event and he would probably place. He’s that kind of an athlete.”