Senior athletes have led the way for Emmaus throughout the track and field postseason. The trend continued at the state championship meet where one Hornet seniors repeated as a state medalists and a relay team comprised of four seniors earned the first state medals of their careers.

Mady McCartney earned a trip to the medal stand for her seventh-place finish in the 3,200-meter run and the Hornet boys 4x100 relay team of Aiden Bayard, Nicholi Marsh, Rien George and Kai Jefferson-Rushing ran to third place at this year’s PIAA Track and Field Championships, which were held Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.

The relay team ran the second-fastest time in Class 3A during Friday’s preliminary heats to earn one of eight places in finals. Their prelim time of 41.70 seconds also broke a school record.

“We’re satisfied with breaking the school record and getting a piece of history,” said Jefferson-Rushing. “We knew these guys that were [seeded] ahead of us have been doing track a lot longer than us.”

Emmaus was seeded eighth in the race with a time of 42.12 from districts. After the school-record time in prelims, the team ran a 41.87 for third place in finals. Garnet Valley won the race in 41.57 with Bishop Shanahan (41.63) second.

The finals were run Saturday afternoon under a cold, steady rain.

“We can do better,” said Bayard. “We know we can do better. It was just one of those days. With the conditions it was pretty good.”

“We wanted to win,” said Marsh, “or at least trying to break our school record again.”

Jefferson-Rushing and Marsh were part of a 4x100 team at last year’s state meet, while George was part of a state-qualifying 4x400 team last year.

Bayard, who runs the first leg, competed in his first state championship meet last weekend.

“Not optimal conditions so it’s hard to get out fast,” he said. “I think I was able to make it up and I was just thinking about catching the guy in the lane next to me. I felt like I did that and had a good handoff.”

Marsh got the handoff next and passed it onto George before Jefferson-Rushing brought it home.

“When I got the baton,” said George, “I knew whoever was in front of me got the baton first, so my mind was just ‘I’ve got to catch them.’”

Jefferson-Rushing was pleased to share the medal with his mother, who ran track at Allen High School and High Point University.

“It’s an honor to get a state medal,” he said. “I’m the first in my family to get a state medal. My mom did track at states. It’s a privilege to do something she didn’t do. She’s the one that got me into track. She was pretty good. I learned a lot of things from her.”

The foursome will have one more chance to lower its school record as it qualified for New Balance Nationals.

McCartney, the 2025 PIAA Cross Country champion, earned her third consecutive state medal in the 3,200 Saturday, running the race in a time of 10:30.46. She also finished 15th in the 1,600 on Friday with a time of 4:58.41.

The Kentucky-bound senior capped a stellar high school running career at the meet.

Senior Claudia Walls also capped a fine high school career at states, where she was competing for the third straight season. She finished 15th in triple jump Friday with a leap of 36 feet,m 6 1/2 inches. She also competed in high jump but did not clear her first height Saturday.

Emmaus senior Robert Edwards placed 17th in shot put at states. Edwards, a Richmond University football commit, put the shot 51 feet, 8 1/2 inches at states.

Hornet sophomore Michael Carwell ran in the 1,600-meter run at states, finishing 25th in 4:29.24. George ran in the individual 400-meter run and took 25th place in 50.59.