Penn Hills Eagles track and field club pushes forward despite pandemic interruptions

Penn Hills Eagles track and field coach Chuck Carter didn’t get a typical buildup to the Three Rivers Association track championships this spring.

With pandemic restrictions, the club program wasn’t able to have any meets. The first competition Penn Hills joined was the Three Rivers Association Championships last weekend at Slippery Rock.

Carter said the team had 65 kids out this year, ranging from age 6 to 18.

Typically, they have 80-90 kids from all around the area.

Though Carter estimates about 60-70% of the athletes are from Penn Hills, they also pull from around Western Pennsylvania.

The Eagles have runners from as far away as Mars, but they have kids who attend Central Catholic, Oakland Catholic and other area schools.

“Our program has been around for 31 years,” Carter said. “They aren’t average kids. These are kids that are competing for and winning championships. These are kids who, if they aren’t finishing first or second, they are coming in the top three or four.”

Penn Hills junior Angelo Allen, who has competed in the Eagles’ program, finished with an all-state performance in the PIAA Class AAA shot put championships this season. He had a throw of 52 feet, 7 inches last month to place eighth.

Carter said the practices are structured to help athletes at all levels. The youngest age groups focus primarily on conditioning, and they focus on building on the fundamentals in events as they get older.

Carter breaks all of the athletes into two-year increments and structures practices so all of the age groups are able to work together.

“We start conditioning first and teach breathing technique and working on form,” Carter said. “We want them to know how to run parallel in lanes and how to start.

“We want to teach the kids all of the rules and regulations.”

Knowing how to do things properly is something expected of all of the coaches in the program. All of the coaches are required to get certified by the USA Track & Field (USATF).

“The USATF is rigorous training,” Carter said. “A lot of the coaches use that certification to become race officials.”

Having proper coaching has allowed the Eagles to become a successful feeder program for the high school.

While the coronavirus put a damper on Penn Hills’ schedule this season, Carter said he was looking forward to seeing the kids competing at Slippery Rock.

“We are going to treat this like the national meet,” Carter said.