SUNBURY — Few surprises are expected at Thursday’s District 4 Class AAA meet, slated to get underway at 4 p.m. at Shikellamy Stadium. After all, there’s only five teams competing and they are all familiar with one another as each are members of the Susquehanna Valley Conference Division I.
Because of the small number of schools only the winner in each event and other placewinners who achieve a state-qualifying mark advance to the PIAA Championships May 23-24 in Shippensburg.
Heading the list of Black Panthers who could make the trip to states is Todd Postie. The junior is seeded No. 1 in the pole vault at a height of 14-6. Joining him at that height and the No. 2 seed is Shikellamy senior Nicco Dalpiaz.
Luckily for both of them, Thursday doesn’t have to be a case of lose or go home. The state-qualifying mark in Class AAA for the vault is 14-3,  a height both have attained on several occasions this year.
Neither competitor was able to clear that height last Saturday at the SVC Championships with Dalpiaz struggling to vault clear of the bar on every attempt and Postie getting too much bend in his pole as the bar moved higher.
The Milton coaches have been sending feelers out to try and find a different pole for Postie to borrow, but he may very well have to spend the next two days working with the one he has and hope for the best.
Brandon Smith has the No. 2 seed in both the 400 and 800. With the state-qualifying time in both events probably being out of the reach of the entire field Smith will need to claim gold to punch his ticket to Shippensburg.
Smith should have some confidence going into the 400 since he finished ahead the No. 1 seed, Jersey Shore’s Nate Jones, at the SVC meet on Saturday. The senior should also be fresh for the race, since the Black Panthers are running a young lineup in the meet opening 3200 relay.
In the 800 race, Smith can take heart that Warrior Run’s Dave Brungard has already beaten the top seed, Williamsport’s Savon Caesar. Mike Grasso is seeded third in the 800 and also has the capacity to take Caesar with a big performance.
Grasso’s best chance to advance to the PIAA Championships will come in the 1600 where he is seeded second behind Selinsgrove freshman Vince Fadale. Only one second separates the two runners, so the race will most likely come down to desire. With the state-qualifying time in the 1600 set at 4:24.22 both would need personal-best times of over 10 seconds to advance from second place.
Austin Cohrs goes into the high jump as the No. 3 seed with a height of 5-11, with top seeds at 6-0. A big day for Cohrs combined with an off day for the jumpers ahead of him would be Cohrs’ best chance of extending his season. The state-qualifying height in the high jump is 6-5.
The 400-relay team of Hayden Guffey, Cody Middlesworth, Stephen Moore and Garret Brought are No. 2 on Thursday’s performance list. In the relay where handoffs are key, anything can happen. But they will need some help from top-seeded Williamsport to claim gold.
Brought is ranked fourth in the 100 and Moore has the No. 3 seed in the 200 sprints.
Brought, Moore, Grasso and Smith all run the 1600 relay for Milton. The Black Panthers are listed as the No. 2 seed behind Williamsport but finished behind the Millionaires as well as Selinsgove and Shikellamy at the SVC Championships.
As is often the case in this last race of the day gut check, it could be anyone’s race on Thursday.