A group of Emmaus athletes will compete in this weekend’s PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.

Some of the Hornets have been there before and had success. Others are looking to improve on past performances. While some others are making their first trip to states.

Leading the way are district champs Kyle Moore and Mady McCartney, who both qualified for the meet in two individual events.

Moore, a defending state champ in long jump who holds the East Penn Conference and school record in the event, won last week’s district meet with by jumping 23 feet, 11 1/2 inches.

The Hornet senior has won state titles in long jump during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. He is the top seed in the event at the state meet.

Moore will also compete in the triple jump at states. He leaped 45-11 at districts last week to take third place in triple jump. While only the top two finishers in each event earn automatic qualification to states, Moore’s jump exceeded the PIAA qualifying standard to earn the trip to Ship.

Last year, Moore finished 13th in the state triple jump championships at 43-6. He won the state long jump title with a leap of 24-5 1/4 in 2023.

McCartney also brought home a pair of individual district medals last week. She won the 3200 in 10:41.96, while taking second place in the 1,600 in 5:08.06.

McCartney, a sophomore, improved on her performance from freshman year in both events as she was third in the 1,600 and second in the 3,200 last season.

McCartney competed in the state 3,200 last season and finished 26th. This year she is slated to run both races and is the fifth seed in the 3,200.

At districts last week, which were held at Blue Mountain High School, McCartney took second place to two-time Class 2A state cross country champ Virginia Kraus (Saucon Valley) in the 1600 before beating Kraus in the 3200.

Five other Emmaus athletes and two relay teams are headed to the state meet after silver-medal performances at districts.

Jared Petre took second in the 800-meter run, an event that saw two Hornets make the medal stand as Tyler Finck finished third.

Petre ran the race in 1:56.79 to finish behind only Nazareth’s Giovanni Mastromonaco.

A junior who has been part of state qualifying relay teams in the past, Petre qualified for states individually for the first time in his high school career.

Emmaus senior Tyler Grabinski made his first trip to states as a junior and finished 13th at 13-6.

He placed second at districts last week despite not making his best jumps. After winning the league title a week before at 15-6, Grabinski got no higher than 13-9 at districts last week.

He is seeded eighth at states, where the top seed has a mark of 16-3.

Emmaus hurdler Kayla-Rayne Quinones picked up two medals at districts. The junior ran the 100-meter hurdles in 15.32 seconds to take second place and earn a trip to the state meet.

Quinones also finished fourth in 300 hurdles and was part of the 4x100 relay team that finished third at districts.

Two-time East Penn Conference high jump champ Claudia Walls earned a place at the state meet by taking second place in the event at districts last week with a height of 5-1.

The sophomore who won leagues at 5-3 in 2023 makes her first trip to the state meet this year.

Both Emmaus 4x800 relay teams qualified for states with second-place finishes at districts.

The boys 4x800 team of Petre, Finck, Miles Cook and Conor Fisher ran the event in 8:05.57 to finish behind only district champ Parkland (8:02.06).

The girls 4x800 team of McCartney, Addison Kleinle, Payton Campbell and Sophia Kovalski ran a 9:31.34 at districts to finish second to Parkland (9:26.73).

Hornet sprinter Gabby DeVita earned her first trip to states in the 100-meter dash. She finished third in the event in 121.48, but her time was good enough to qualify for states.

Emmaus also had two third-place relay teams at districts.

The boys 4x400 team of Petre, cook, Rien George and Lane Bassett finished third in 3:26.89, while the girls 4x100 team of DeVita, Quinones, Mya Cooper and Morgan Tandy finished third in 49.27.