For junior Lilly Newton, it will be her third straight trip to states in three different events, but first as a D10 champion. In her freshman season, she qualified for the PIAA 2A 400 meters by finishing second at districts. Last year, she was a member of Warren’s third-place 400-meter relay team at districts, which bettered the state-qualifying time to automatically advance. This year, Newton — already a school record-holder at 5 feet, 5 inches — won the D10 Class 3A high jump title at 5-1.

Newton will compete in two events this time (and fourth at states in three trips) as she is also a member of the D10 champs in the girls 3,200-meter relay — seeded 25th of 28 — with juniors Morgan Alexander and Riley Evan and sophomore Brynn Norris.

Another sophomore, Max Spiegel, became the boys D10 3A high jump champion in his first season of high school track, and he thus earned his first trip to states at Seth Grove Stadium. His winning jump of 6 feet, 1 inch puts him in the bottom tier of seeds, but his season best of 6 feet, 4 inches puts him closer to the conversation of state medalist.

Spiegel’s seeding in high jump is similar to Newton (26th of 30), who would be seeded third on performance lists with her school-record height.

Photo submitted Warren’s Lilly Newton will compete in high jump at the PIAA 3A Track and Field Championships beginning today at Shippensburg University.

“We are expecting to go and compete at our best,” said Warren coach Kevin Dustin.

“The girls 4-by-800 is looking to run a faster time than they did at districts and see how high they can climb in the rankings. Max and Lilly are looking to come out and have a good day. If they jump at their season bests, they start to put themselves in the conversation for a medal. For everyone except Lilly, this is their first experience at the state meet and being on that stage at this level comes with a lot of nerves. We are hoping to temper that by focusing on doing things the way we have all year and just go out there and compete. If they can do that, it will be a great experience and then just never know what can happen. We want to see our athletes having success at this level, but regardless of how it all goes, it’s a great accomplishment getting here and we are proud of our athletes.”

Photo submitted Pictured, from left, are: Warren’s Riley Evan, Lilly Newton, Morgan Alexander and Brynn Norris, who will compete in the 4x800 relay at the PIAA 3A Track and Field Championships, which begin today at Shippensburg University.