Matt Courter is probably going to attend Pitt in the fall and has no intentions of joining the Panthers' track team.

That wouldn't be such a big deal except Courter, a senior at Peters Township High School, is one of the top hurdlers in the WPIAL.

"I've heard from some schools, but I've had my heart set on Pitt," Courter said after winning the 110-meter hurdles and placing eighth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at the Baldwin Invitational May 2.

Now, the Baldwin Invitational has never been confused with the PIAA championships, but the competition there is a close cousin to what athletes face at Shippensburg University the Friday and Saturday before Memorial Day.

Courter beat a talented field in the 110 hurdles at Baldwin that included Jeannette's Nick Spino, Bradford's Tyree Bennett, Butler's Logan Renwick and Upper St. Clair's Eric Kasunich. Courter finished in 15.05 seconds and "out-leaned" Spino at the finish.

That's a solid time, but it came after Courter cranked out a 14.6 to place first at the McDowell Invitational in Erie the previous week.

"I don't know ... the competition was good and the kid from Bradford was right with me at the race in Erie," Courter said. "Everything just went right in that race ... not so much [at Baldwin]."

Courter is a fine runner -- he also did a leg on Peters Township's school-record-setting 1,600-meter relay team that was second to Baldwin in 3:24.88 at the invitational -- but admits the 110 hurdles is his best event. He comes by his hurdling ability honestly. His mother ran the hurdles for Richland High School before it became Pine-Richland.

"She had the old record there in yards," he said. "I guess its in the genes."

Maybe, but he excels in the event because of a lot of hard work. He told Peters Township coach Dennis "Buzz" Scott last fall that he was going to focus on the hurdles and started by working hard during the indoor season.

"He impressed me some with his focus during indoor track, but I still didn't believe him until the Tri-State [Track Coaches Association championship] at West Mifflin," Scott said. "He was second there and has been really focused after that ... I don't think he has lost a race since."

That includes the Southern qualifier this past Tuesday at West Mifflin. Courter won the 110 hurdles there with a time of 14.9 seconds and he is the top seed for the WPIAL meet on Thursday. He didn't fair so well in the 300 intermediates, falling and not finishing the race.

Scott knows a good hurdler when he sees one. After all, he tutored Brian Mancini, who set the WPIAL Class AAA championship meet record of 14.43 in 2000. Where Mancini relied more on his outstanding speed, Courter counts on skill and technique.

"Matt isn't as fast as what Brian was, but he has outstanding technique," Scott said. "I've been coaching track at Peters Township for 30 years and he's one of the more coachable individuals I've had."

Courter knows he's not a speed burner, but he has the ability to accelerate over the hurdles, especially numbers two through five.

"That's my secret. I'm not the fastest one off the line ... I try to stay with everyone and then pull away in the middle," he said. "I'm not really fast and I can't jump that high, but I put it all together and it works out."

He started running the hurdles in seventh grade and wasn't that good at the event at first. As a ninth grader he went from doing four steps between each hurdle to three and cut four seconds off his time. Then he started getting stronger.

"My sophomore year the second race of the season, I dropped from like 16.9 [seconds] to 15.4 in one race," he said. "It was, 'I'm liking this.'"

This year Scott tried Courter on a leg of the 3,200 relay. He turned in a respectable time of 2:08 for the 800.

"He didn't say no. I was surprised," Scott said. "I think if he runs in college, that might be the race for him, the 800.

Courter is already a solid 400-meter runner and is excited about the possibilities for the school's 1,600 relay. That relay team, which includes Andy Blandino, Christian Brandstetter, Hunter Brade and Courter, was first at the Southern qualifier.

"We don't have anybody super fast, but we all run 51-and-change and that that's pretty good," Courter said. "I think we have a good chance of getting to the [PIAA] championships."

As for his not anticipating running track in college, Courter has this vision.

"I kind of just saw myself heading off into the sunset after running the 110 hurdles at the state championships," he said, smiling.

He didn't say whether he had a PIAA gold medal around his neck in his fantasy, but it's safe to assume that if he wins the PIAA title in the Class AAA 110 hurdles he won't get a chance to ride off into the sunset. He'll be too busy taking phone calls from college coaches.