Tori Atkins isn’t just a star — she’s redefining Laurel track history.
In fact, her teammates often joke she is now the Tori Atkins.
But the humble Atkins defers the spotlight to her team, a valuable trait from a senior leader.
That leadership has been crucial this year, as new coach Heather McKissick was appointed in February.
“It definitely has been a whirlwind,” McKissick said. “It's been so much fun though. I'm very blessed that I have extremely talented young ladies.”
“Me and the other seniors have definitely worked a lot with [McKissick] this year, and she's done a great job,” Atkins said. “She supports all of us on the team and she's just been a real help.”
The Spartans responded by winning a section title for the first time since 1985.
“It has been exceptional to see these girls just rising to the challenge of it from the very get-go,” McKissick said. “We talked about it. ‘Let's go for this.’ And, from Day 1, they were all in.”
It certainly helps to have a generational talent like Atkins. Atkins has won the WPIAL title in the 200- and 400-meter sprint in all three years of her high school career so far. She also won the state title in the 400 last year.
And yet, despite all that personal success, Atkins is willing to do whatever she can to help the team.
She is on the 4x400 relay squad, and at the MAC meet, the team broke the school record, which was set in 1984, by posting a time of 4:05.51. Atkins ran that relay with freshman Kylie Ruperto and sophomores Kara Young and Alexis Sherry, Atkins passing the baton to the next generation of Laurel sprinters.
“Who doesn't get motivated when you get a chance to run with Tori?” Laurel sprinting coach Scott Saunders said. “All the girls get extra excited if they get a chance to be in a relay with her.”
Winning one WPIAL title is rare enough — but two? Three? Atkins is in a class of her own. She’s only the second athlete in the WPIAL in either classification to win two events in three consecutive years since the WPIAL changed to meters. Farrell’s Jennifer Sims did it in 1986-88. If Atkins wins both this year, she will be the first to accomplish that feat.
Atkins also set a new fastest time in the 100 at 12.04 at the Slippery Rock Invitational.
“I’ve worked so hard on my 100 because that event was always my weakest,” Atkins said. “I haven’t hit a PR in my 100 since sophomore year, so to be able to do that was special. And then just seeing that I am ranked first in all three is definitely exciting. I’m excited to see if I can do it.”
Atkins set the tone by coming in and dominating in her freshman year.
“I'd say I was definitely surprised my freshman year,” Atkins said. “I knew I had a knack for it, but I didn't realize how I could compete with the other girls. So to win WPIALs and all that my freshman year and to go to states and get third, it was definitely a special feeling.”
While a lot has changed since then, Atkins knows within her is the heart of a champion.
“I'd say I definitely improved. I've gotten stronger,” Atkins said. “But it still takes the same heart and everything to run [the 100], and you have to have the strength mentally to run that race. So I'd say I definitely had that my freshman year, but physically, I think I'm stronger and I've been able to be stronger in races.”
Even still, Atkins hadn’t fully turned her attention to track. She has played volleyball for all four years. And in her freshman and sophomore years, she also played basketball with her older sister, Regan, who was the first Slippery Rock athlete to be named PSAC West Freshman of the Year in 24 years when she won it last year.
“I enjoyed playing with my sister,” Tori Atkins said. “I'd say I enjoyed that more than the actual sport. It was tough to give it up just because I played my whole life, but I wanted to focus on track and to be able to see what I could do in track.”
All of Atkins’ success on the track has certainly gotten her a lot of attention. Some of that is good, like having a wide variety of options at the next level, but some of that is tough, like having to answer a lot more questions and be under a microscope a lot more than her peers. She’s handled it all with grace, never changing who she was.
Atkins committed to run at Youngstown State next year.
“It felt like home, and I connected a lot with the coaches and the program, and they have a great program,” Atkins said of Youngstown State. “I was excited to see what I could do there. There were a few other schools that were close, so to be able to have to pick and everything, it was definitely a tough decision, but I think I made the right one.”
Atkins may be leaving Laurel at the end of the year, but there’s a little more history to chase this year. And as to be expected with Atkins, just as much as she’s focused on her personal success, she also wants to make sure the Laurel track program continues to grow after she leaves.
“Me and the team have definitely gotten real close,” Atkins said. “I want to see them keep going and I think they will. We had a young class of freshmen come in that definitely helped us. So I think that they should be successful in the next years and I look forward to seeing what they can do.”
Queens of the North
Class 2A or Class 3A, it doesn’t matter for the North Catholic girls team. Last year in Class 3A, the Trojans were undefeated and won their section. This year, they were moved down to Class 2A and they did the same thing, going 7-0 to clinch the Class 2A Section 4 title.
North Catholic track coach Terry Fisher has been at the helm at North Catholic for five seasons now. He has seen the progression of this program firsthand. Last year was the first time the program picked up a playoff win. On Wednesday, they won another playoff meet and advanced to the WPIAL team championships.
“The seniors have absolutely been the standard bearers for our program,” Fisher said. “They came in as talented but quiet freshmen. They now have made progress to being more outward leaders of the program and they really set the standard in terms of what we expect the kids to do. And our standards, pretty much if we work hard and we get better, that's the goal.”
One of those seniors is Daphne Flerl.
“Daphne has been truly our most committed athlete throughout her four years,” Fisher said. “She competes in indoor, which gives her a chance to get herself into shape going into outdoor. And she's one of our more versatile athletes. She runs. She does the long jump. She does the triple jump. She's also a 12.7 100m sprinter.”
Flerl’s personal-best long jump was 18 feet, 7¼ inches, which she set last year. This year, the Davidson commit hit a new high-water mark. At the meet against Freeport last month, Flerl jumped 19-1, becoming only the eighth girl in WPIAL history to surpass 19 feet.
“It was an awesome experience for her,” Fisher said. “When they announced the number, I think we were all very excited about her performance on that day. Jumping 19 feet as a girl is a threshold that has not been accomplished by many over the years, so it's a tremendous accomplishment. It speaks to Daphne's work ethic and her stick-to-it.”
Along with Duquesne recruit Seava Cresta and the rest of the senior class, the standard continues to rise. North Catholic also has a tremendous sophomore class headlined by the Lazzara twins — Anna and Audra.
North Catholic also has the fastest 4x400 relay team in the state. That group of Flerl, Cresta, Alexa Stoltz and Ella Eiler broke the school record with their time at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia last week.
As if the program isn’t impressive enough, Fisher promises more talent is on its way.
“The girls program is certainly poised to continue having success,” Fisher said. “We have our sophomore class, which still has a couple years left, but we also have a freshman class coming in that has several very talented sprinters. I run a youth track program that I've done for about 22 years called Stallions Track Club, and several of those girls run on my track club and they're headed to North Catholic, as well. So we're gonna continue to have breadth of talent coming into the school, which says that we're gonna hopefully be pretty good and pretty strong as a unit for quite some time.”
But first, the Trojans are focused on taking home the first WPIAL team title in program history.
Playoffs
Along with Laurel and North Catholic, the rest of the WPIAL team finals field has been set. After the turbulent weather of the week, some playoff meets were moved around, but by Wednesday evening, all teams had earned their spots in the finals.
The finalists competing next Tuesday are as follows:
Class 3A boys: North Allegheny, Norwin, Butler, Mt. Lebanon
Class 3A girls: North Allegheny, Norwin, Butler, South Fayette
Class 2A boys: Shenango, Mohawk, Beaver Area, Quaker Valley
Class 2A girls: North Catholic, Laurel, Carlynton, Quaker Valley
The Class 3A finals will be held at West Mifflin and the Class 2A finals at Peters Township. The North Allegheny and Quaker Valley girls will be looking to repeat as champions. As will the Butler and Quaker Valley boys.
First Published: May 1, 2025, 9:44 p.m.
Updated: May 2, 2025, 2:06 a.m.
