Best bets: These 19 athletes, relays could strike gold at the PIAA meet

Track and field athletes in the GameTimePA coverage area could have quite a medal haul at this weekend's PIAA meet.

Four athletes from Adams, Franklin, Lebanon and York counties are the top seeds in five events entering Friday and Saturday's competition at Shippensburg University. Seven other events feature GameTimePA athletes as the second seed.

Tickets for the championships must be purchased online. They can be purchased for one day or in a two-day package.

Click here to purchase tickets .

Competition begins at 9 a.m. each day.

Preliminaries will be held Friday in the 100, 200 and 400-meter sprints, both hurdle events and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Medals will be awarded in the 1,600 meters, Class 2A boys' and girls' high jump, discus, long jump and javelin and Class 3A boys' and girls' pole vault, shot put and triple jump.

Finals will be held Saturday for 3,200 meters, 800 meters, all relays, all sprints run as prelims on Friday and the remaining field events.

Unified athletes will compete in shot put, long jump and javelin on Friday and 100, 400, 800 and 4x100 relay events on Saturday.

Here are the GameTimePA athletes with the best chance to bring home medals this weekend (the top eight places receive medals).

District 3 track and field: Spring Grove pair claim 5 golds, Bermudian adds second gold

Class 2A

Annville-Cleona relays: The girls swept the relays at the District 3 meet, and could medal in all three at states. The best bet comes in the 4x100, where they are seeded third at 49.18. The top time is 48.77. They also have an outside shot in the 4x400 and 4x800, where they are seeded 11th and 12th, respectively. On the boys' side, the 4x800 relay is seeded sixth at 8:06.66. The top seed time is 7:49.17.

Lily Carlson, Bermudian Springs, jr.: Carlson is the defending champion and No. 1 seed in the pole vault. Her District 3-record winning vault of 13-0 is a foot higher than the second seed. She has her sights set on clearing 13-8 to set the PIAA 2A record before Bermudian Springs moves to Class 3A next year. Carlson is also seeded fourth in the 100 hurdles at 15.18. The top time is 14.83.

District 3 track and field: Lebanon County athletes bring home the gold

Class 3A

Pearce Allyene, York Tech, sr.: Allyene finished fifth in the District 3 discus with a throw of 166-9. He is seeded seventh at states, behind the top seed of 185-10.

Ella Bahn, Spring Grove, so.: The District 3 champ in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and high jump, she is the second seed in all three events at states. Her time of 14.36 in the 100 hurdles and 42.55 in the 300 hurdles are .48 and .42 off the top times, respectively. She is the defending state champ in the 300 hurdles. Bahn's district height of 5-6 is 1 inch off the top seed, but her PR for the season is 5-9.

Brayden Billman, New Oxford, so.: Billman has an outside chance at a medal in the triple jump. He is seeded 10th at 45-4, 2 feet off the top jump but only 3 inches behind the eighth seed.

District 3 track and field: Greencastle's Paci goes the distance for more gold

Mason Bucks, Palmyra, sr.: Bucks won the district pole vault title by 6 inches at 16-3, and that is the exact edge he holds over the No. 2 seeds in the state meet. That's because the top three seeds in states were the top three finishers in the district meet.

Jacob Burgess, Palmyra, jr.: Burgess is seeded seventh in the long jump at 22-9.5, more than a foot behind the top jump of 23-11.5.

Tyler Burgess, Palmyra, jr.: Burgess is the president of the run and glide club. The District 3 champ is the top seed in both hurdle events, coming in at 13.88 at 110 and 36.82 at 300. He holds a .25 edge in the 110 hurdles and .56 in the 300 hurdles.

Laila Campbell, Spring Grove, sr.: Campbell is fresh off her high school sweep of the District 3 100 and 200 meters, and looks to repeat the feat at states. Like the district meet, she comes into the PIAA meet as the second seed in both sprints. Like the three-time defending state champ needs any extra motivation. Campbell already owns the state 100-meter record and hopes to add the 200-meter record. Her district-winning time of 12.02 is .18 off the top 100 time of 11.84, although she ran an 11.89 in the prelims last weekend. She is .22 off the top 200-meter time of 24.28 at 24.50.

Cedar Crest girls' relay: The District 3 4x800 relay champs are the third seed at 9:20.55. The top time is 9:03.16.

Jackson Hersh, South Western, sr.: The Shippensburg University-bound senior is seeded fourth in the javelin with his district-winning throw of 185-2. The top state seed is 207-5.

Brennan Holmes, New Oxford, sr.: Holmes won the District 3 400-meter title in 48.39, which gives him the sixth-best seed time at states. The top time is 46.64.

Kaddel Howard, Cedar Crest, so.: The defending PIAA 400-meter champ is the top seed at 54.93 and runs on the 4x800 relay. Her 400 time is .32 ahead of the second-best time, but off last year's winning time of 53.50.

Bailey Hurley, Greencastle-Antrim, so.: Hurley finished third in the District 3 discus with a throw of 121-0, which puts her fifth in the state meet. The top throw is 135-1.

Claire Paci, Greencastle-Antrim, sr.: The double District 3 gold medalist will help kick off the state meet by running in the first event, the 1,600. She is seeded sixth at 4:55.98, less than 8 seconds off the top time of 4:48.28. She is the second seed in the 3,200, which opens Saturday's competition. She trails the top time by just under 11 seconds at 10:30.70.

Eliana Schneider, Cedar Crest, so.: This versatile sophomore is the No. 2 seed in the javelin, 5 feet behind the top throw of 154-8. She won the district title with a throw of 149-11, is the lead-off runner on the third-seeded 4x800 relay and is seeded 18th in the high jump.

Michael Scott, Dallastown, sr.: Scott is the fifth seed in the long jump at 22-11, a foot behind the top-seeded jump of 23-11.5. The Dallastown senior finished third in the district.

Aaron Weigle, Bermudian Springs, sr.: Weigle finished fourth in the District 3 discus with a throw of 167-4, which puts him at sixth for the state meet behind the top throw of 185-10.

Zariyah Whigham, Lebanon, sr.: Whigham won the District 3 triple jump title with a distance of 37-10, which puts her as the fourth seed in the state meet. The top jump was 41-10.5. Whigham also finished fourth in the long jump and is seeded 12th in that event.

Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on Twitter @ShelStallsmith.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Best bets: These 19 athletes, relays could strike gold at the PIAA meet