Denny Dyroff recaps the SOL’s top performances at the Penn Relays on Thursday.
By DENNY DYROFF
The Penn Relays, which are held every April at University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field, attract hundreds of high school track quartets from around the area -- on two different levels.
The elite event for high school teams each year is the Championship of America 4x800-meter relay. In the 4x100 and 4x400 events, any team can enter. In the 4x800, a team first must qualify to run in one of the four preliminary heats (two small school and two large school races).
Then, then a team must finish with one of the 12 fastest times in the trials to earn a berth in the prestigious Championship of America final.
On Thursday morning, North Penn and Pennsbury both found places in the top 12 and secured berths in Friday’s big race.
North Penn accomplished the task when it won its large-school race Thursday with a time of 9:22.20. The Maidens’ foursome included Stephanie Bresadola (2:23.14), Ali Valenti (2:17.36), Mikaela Vlasic (2:23.02) and Phoebe Clowser (2:18.68). Glass High from Lynchburg, Virginia was runner-up at 9:23.08.
Pennsbury claimed a berth in the finals when it placed third in its large-school race at 9:26.68. The Falcons’ quartet featured Erin O’Connell (2:22.08), Hannah Molloy (2:23.84), Maddie Sauer (2:24.16) and Olivia Sargent (2:16.61).
Two other District One teams also made the cut coming out of the small school races. Unionville finished second in the first race with a time of 9:18.57 and was topped only by Cornwall High from New Windsor, New York which ran a 9:17.28.
Great Valley also logged a runner-up finish. The Patriots clocked a 9:20.29 but still finished well behind Vere Tech from Clarendon, Jamaica at 9:10.31.
The top-seeded team for the Championship of America final is Western Branch from Chesapeake, Virginia. The Bruins won their large-school race with a time of 9:09.43. Vere Tech is seeded second followed by Cornwall, Unionville, Great Valley, Jamaica’s Holmwood Tech (9:20.93).
North Penn will enter the CofA final as seventh seed followed by McDonogh School (Owings Mills, MD), Glass (Lynchburg, VA), Ridge (Basking Ridge, NJ), Wilson (West Lawn, PA) and Pennsbury.
North Penn also fared extremely well in the 4x400 -- well enough to qualify for Friday’s Championship of America final. North Penn took first in the Suburban One National race when Uche Nwogwugwu (57.31), Leiana Dean (57.45), Mikaela Vlasic (59.36), Allison King (58.00)’s combined for a time of 3:52.10.
The Maidens will compete in a super strong field that includes four teams from Jamaica, two teams from Virginia and one team from New Jersey.
The next four finishers in Thursday’s Suburban One National race were Central Bucks South at 3:59.3 4 (Amber Stratz, Lydia Fielding, Brianna Stratz, Jasmine Noble), Central Bucks West at 4:00.44 (Olivia Berry, Maddie Villalba, Lauren Olsen, Aly Logue), Pennsbury at 4:04.83 (Uche Onouha, Niasia Boone, Dasia Pressley, Nini Rogers) and Souderton at 4:05.18 (Sue Frustino, Cara Jackson, Moira O'Malley, Nikki O’Donnell).
Both Central Bucks teams and Norristown qualified for Saturday’s Philadelphia Area final with CB South seeded fourth CB West seeded seventh and Norristown seeded eighth. Pennsbury and Souderton are the two top alternates.
The top seed in the Philadelphia Area final belongs to Cheltenham. The Panthers took first in the Suburban One American race at 3:57.41. The Panthers’ quartet included Nicole Burke (56.88), Ariana Wallace (1:01.15), Madison Langley-Walker (1:01.21) and Alexis Crosby (58.18).
The next two finishers also qualified for Saturday’s Philadelphia Area final -- seventh-seeded Norristown at 4:01.87 -- Nya Boone (1:01.30), Jayana Webb (59.03), Kanitra Hill-Stewart (1:01.80), Charity Guy (59.75) -- and 11th-seeded Wissahickon at 4:03.82 -- Anna Chiodo Ortiz (1:00.18), Kirsten Haney (1:02.33), Fiona Kelly (1:02.82), Lotte Black (58.50).
It was a good day all around for Norristown’s girls. The team of Jonae Cook, Jayana Webb, Dymon Lee, Kanitra Hill-Stewart took first in its heat and qualified for both Friday’s Large Schools final and Saturday’s Tri-State final. The Eagles’ winning time of 48.43 was seventh-best overall.
“We didn’t have good handoffs like we wanted but we still did our best time of the season,” said Cook, a freshman.
Webb, also a freshman, said, “Sticks have been a problem this year. I think we get too anxious. But, we’re working on it. We keep improving our time.”
Cheltenham’s team of Ciara Leonard, Janiel Slowly, Alexis Crosby, Chanel Brissett had the fourth-best time at 48.10. Pennsbury’s foursome of Nini Rogers, Uche Onouha, Niasia Boone , Dasia Boone had the sixth-best at 48.40 and Pennridge’s quartet of Ariana Przybylowski, Jessica Milligan, Zoe Williams, Taylor Chapman had the 12th-best at 49.00.
Pennsbury and Cheltenham will also compete in Friday’s Large Schools final and Saturday’s Tri-State final while Pennridge will be an alternate in both.
In the individual events, Pennridge senior Marissa Sheva had the SOL’s top showing, finishing third in the one mile run with a time of 4:58.10. Pennsbury junior Olivia Sargent finished fifth with a time of 5:04.89. Cheltenham senior Ciara Leonard was 10th in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.91, and Pennsbury junior Hannah Molloy finished 18th in the 3000m run with a time of 10:32.19.
In the field events, Council Rock South junior Dominique Franco finished in a tie for eighth in the pole vault with a vault of 3.50 meters. Pennsbury senior Uche Onuoha captured ninth in the triple jump (37-11.50), and Pennridge senior Ariana Przybylowski was 10th in the long jump (17-09.00). Souderton freshman Moira O’Malley was 11th in the high jump (1.63m), and Council Rock South senior Shannon Taub was 14th (1.59m)
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