Check our track gallery for photos of Thursday’s action at the Penn Relays.
First day of Penn Relays provides thrills and chills for SOL
FRANKLIN FIELD—There are few sporting events that require no build up at all, no preview tease or heavy-handed superfluous adjectives. The annual Penn Relays Carnival, however, is just such an event.
For anyone who has ever even thought about running track and field, especially in the Philadelphia area, the Penn Relays are the World Series and Super Bowl combined.
On Thursday, the day got started on the right foot, literally, as three out of the four Suburban One League entries in the “Championship of America” sweepstakes battled through the elite field in their respective qualifying heats, vying for one of the 12 precious spots in Friday’s championship race.
Before 11 am, the Suburban One League had three tickets punched to the big dance as Central Bucks South posted a second place finish with a time of 9:12.57 (Kaitlin Poiesz [2:19.7], Amber Stratz [2:16.2], Alexa Kwapinski [2:18.2], Brianna Stratz [2:18.5]) followed closely behind by the squad from Central Bucks West that posted a 9:18.20 (Olivia Berry [2:18.9], Maddie Villalba [2:15.0], Jamila Branch [2:16.4], Meghan Iatarola [2:27.9]) in a heat that featured the perennial favorite Edwin Allen from Jamaica.
In the second heat, Pennsbury coasted to a 9:27.41 finish, placing the Falcons in the final on Friday at 1 pm.
“We made it to tomorrow,” said Falcons runner Olivia Sargent, who also ran in the 4 x400. “This is so exciting to be here in this atmosphere, plus now we get to run tomorrow in the Championship of America. This is unreal.”
The heroics of the day were not limited to the track as Pennsbury junior triple jumper Uche Onuoha stepped into the pit with an elite field that featured new record holder Keturah Orji, who soared to a distance of 13.37 m.
Onuoha claimed the fourth place finish overall with a jump of 11.85 m, which was on her initial pass. In her first time jumping at the Penn Relays, she followed up her first run with a leap of 11.65 before closing out her day with a distance of 10.9.
“This is awesome,” said Onuoha. “Just to be here with these amazing athletes is something incredible. I can’t even describe what it is like to see and hear all of the people cheering. It’s so unbelievable.”
The dramatics did not stop there as Titans thrower Taylor Hojnacki took a stroll along the Schuylkill Express to take part in the High School Girls Discus throw where she followed suit by posting a solid first throw (44.28) and using her third throw to record her best distance, hurling the disc 44.69m, which was strong enough to snare a third place medal.
In the Suburban Continental 4 x 400 relay, C.B. West (Maddie Villalba [59.65], Courtney Taylor [58.28], Kelsey Horst [57.90], Jamila Branch [57.93]) claimed the victory with a time of 3:53.75, followed by North Penn which ran the 1600 meters in 3:57.22 (Uche Nwogwugwu [1:00.12], Leiana Dean [58.32], Mikaela Vlasic [59.93], Allison Williams [58.85], C.B East took third place with a run of 4:01.84. (Taylor Kennedy [1:00.01], Julia Leventhal [59.32], Meredith Lahetta [1:00.53], Alexis Knipe [1:02.00]).
It was an epic battle for the first three legs of the Suburban American 4 x 400 relay. Each time they exchanged the baton, Upper Dublin and Cheltenham were fighting neck and neck until anchor leg runner Nicole Burke finally gave the Lady Panthers some room to breath, snagging the win with a time of 3:57.34. (Ciara Leonard [59.80], Alexandra Andrews [59.01], Katelyn Jackson [59.10], Nicole Burke [59.45)
The Flying Cardinals (4:02.38) - led by Cydney Christian (59.53), Marissa Holl (59.40), Isabel Uribe (1:01.41), Brigid Peyton (1:02.04) - were strong enough to finish more than six seconds ahead of Upper Merion’s team (4:04.48) of Jada Wilson (1:00.42), Lexi Ryan (1:02.87), Rose Sedgwick (1:02.38), Ashley Anderson (1:02.83)
The curtain call for the SOL on this opening day was a sensational effort in the Championship of America one-mile race presented by Clear Channel, a race that saw Pennridge junior Marissa Sheva, despite being bumped and banged right out the gate, work her way through the field to finish fifth overall.
With the front three runners essentially “checking out” while the battle for fourth through seventh heated up, it was evident that the traffic problem impeded Sheva’s chances to work into the mix for one of the top spots.
“I am not saying I would have caught them, but there was some serious congestion going on,” said Sheva (4:51.22) who got edged at the line for fourth place by Malia Ellington (4:51.16). “I made couple of mistakes getting caught up there and finally backed away a bit. Then when I made my move to get around her, I made it strong.”
For details and stats on all the races including all of the 4 x 100 heats click at www.pennrelaysonline.com.
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