One day last week, longtime New Castle coaches Joe Cowart and Ralph Blundo discussed who they feel are the best athletes to ever come through the school.

Among those mentioned were Malik Hooker and Geno Stone, current NFL players whom Cowart coached in football and Blundo in basketball. But another key name in that discussion isn’t as well known. She’s a 5-foot-7 teen and current high school senior named Maria Owens.

“At New Castle, we’ve had some great athletes, but we said Maria, with her resume, is in the conversation for best to have ever been in our building … maybe the best,” said Cowart.

That’s some high praise for a teen who continues to jump high and far.

Owens is one of the top jumpers in the state, one who already has a pair of WPIAL titles and school records to her name and has scribbled down some big goals for next Wednesday’s WPIAL Class 3A championships.

“I want to win the long, high and triple at WPIALs,” Owens said.

Owens had never done track and field before her mom convinced her to go out for the team in ninth grade. Until then, Owens’ primary sport was gymnastics, which she competed in until giving up the sport this past winter.

“My mom wanted me to do it, but I didn’t want to do it because gymnastics was all I knew,” Owens recalls.

As they say, “mother knows best.” Owens, as it turns out, was a quick study. Competing at her first WPIAL championships, Owens unleashed a career-best jump of 37 feet, 4 inches to claim the triple jump title. Heading into that day, her personal record had been 36-7.

“That one was definitely surprising,” said Cowart, the New Castle girls track and field coach who spent 10 seasons as the school’s football coach before resigning in January. “It’s tense when you get into the finals. She was standing on the runway stretching and doing some high knees, and then she looked up at me, did a back flip and smiled. That’s when I said, ‘OK, I think she’s ready.’”

Owens didn’t medal at the PIAA meet that season and then saw her sophomore season swept away because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Owens was terrific as a junior, winning the long jump and placing third in both the high jump and triple jump at WPIALs. She qualified for PIAAs in all three events, and earned her first state medal by finishing third in the long jump.

Now a senior, Owens will enter her final postseason with lots of momentum. She won the high, long and triple jumps at last Saturday’s Pine-Richland Invitational. She went 5-1 in the high jump, 16-11¾ in the long jump, and 37-1¼ in the triple jump. Owens holds school records in the long jump (18-6¾) and triple jump (38-1), and her top mark in the high jump (5-5) is just two inches shy of the record.

Cowart speaks highly of Owens, who will continue her track and field career at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), located in Newark, and is planning on majoring in business.

“She’s just an awesome kid,” said Cowart. “She’s amazing and so easy to root for. She’s a ball of energy.”

And quite possibly one of the best to ever do it at New Castle.

How does Owens feel about the high praise?

“I feel honored,” she said. “It makes me feel good because I’ve worked hard.”

Twin triumphs

You can’t spell “twin” without “win.” Just ask Seneca Valley’s Simpson twins, who did a lot of that at the Pine-Richland Invitational.

Twins Luke and Zoe Simpson — both seniors — had strong performances at the meet, combining to win three individual gold medals. Luke won the boys 800 and 1,600, while Zoe won the girls 800. Luke has run some of the best times in the state this season. According to PA MileSplit, his top 800 time of 1:55.29 ranks 10th and his best 1,600 time of 4:19:03 is 15th.

Both Simpsons are also soccer standouts. Luke helped Seneca Valley win the WPIAL Class 4A title and advance to the PIAA final last season, while Zoe helped the Raiders reach the WPIAL Class 4A final and was also an all-section pick.

Fantastic finish

Named after former Baldwin coach Chuck McKinney, the McKinney Mile has long been one of the marquee events at the Baldwin Invitational. This year’s boys race was expected to be very good, and it lived up to the billing … and then some.

Moon’s Jacob Puhalla ran a 4:19.72 to win the race, but it was anything but a lopsided victory. The top five finishers were just about one second apart. South Fayette’s Jake Borgesi was second (4:19.86), Riverside’s Ty Fluharty third (4:20.30), Ringgold’s Ryan Pajak fourth (4:20.39) and Eden Christian’s Sean Aiken fifth (4:20.74).

The girls McKinney Mile wasn’t quite as thrilling, as South Fayette’s Lauren Iagnemma’s time of 5:15.84 was more than two seconds faster than second-place finisher Amelia Barilla of Penn-Trafford (5:18.16).

City League championships

While the WPIAL individual championships won’t come until next week, the City League championships will be contested over two days this week. The field events will take place Thursday and the track events Saturday, both at old Oliver High School.

A pair of Obama Academy girls are two of the headliners of the meet. Junior Ny’Asia Benton is the favorite in the 200, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles, while senior Leslie Manson is the favorite in the long jump and triple jump. Benton (100 hurdles) and Manson (triple jump) are considered among the best in the state in those events. Manson is a University of Chicago recruit.

Brad Everett: beverett@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BREAL412.

First Published: May 10, 2022, 7:15 p.m.