Check back for additional track coverage this week. To view photos of Saturday’s action, please visit the Photo Gallery.
It’s funny how Championships are won in any sport.
Sometimes it seems that all the pieces just fall into place, while others you can do everything the way you draw it up but for whatever reason fate just does not allow the ultimate goal to be reached. Sometimes it pays to just have a bit of old-fashioned “good luck”.
For the Cheltenham boy’s squad and their bid for the 2014 PIAA District One AAA track and field championship, it took a combination all three for the Panthers to leave the turf at Coatesville High School with some new hardware, AKA the District One title trophy.
“We got a great effort from so many kids,” said Cheltenham head coach Dr. Robert Beale. “I told the boys as we were getting ready for the 4 x 400 that we were down about six points and that we needed to finish in the top three.
“Wow, what a race we saw there. To have John (Lewis) run 47.80 in the 400 (and) then come back out here after only 45 minutes and have a run like that to win the district championship says a lot about that young man.”
The building blocks for the team championship were put into place early in the day, as Lewis stepped in and delivered a second place finish and valuable team points in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 38.36, winding up right behind Neshaminy junior David Marrington’s 38.06.
Panthers junior Christian Brissett had a busy afternoon, as he posted a second place time of 22.15 in the 200–meter dash fresh on the heels of his first place run in the 100-meter dash in which he led from the gun en route to a finishing time of 10.71, besting Methacton’s Nick Shaffer by .19.
“I am so happy and proud of my guys,” added a jubilant Beale. “I was biting my nails there for a bit, but it all was worth it. I cannot say enough great things about John or Christian and the effort they put forth. They have run eight races each over the last two days. To do that and do so well speaks for itself. They truly deserve this trophy.”
Trailing by seven points in the team standings going into the final event of the weekend, the Panthers found themselves towing the line in the 4x400 with some of the state’s finest, including Central Bucks South (3:20.10) and Pennsbury (3:20.72) and Pennridge (3:21.75). Thanks to great leg by Lewis, Cheltenham was able to claim the gold and capture the overall team title by five points.
Cheltenham junior Saahir Bethea helped complete the Panthers championship run by winning the long jump with a distance of 22-09.50 with SOL claiming the top three spots second going to Truman senior Bobby Hill (22-06.25) and Charles Snoweah (Pennsbury- 22-01.75) with all three qualifying for next week’s state meet at Shippensburg University.
The Suburban One League - which has become known for its distance runners after seeing the likes of Upper Moreland’s Drew Magaha and others leave their mark at the district and state level - was again at the forefront as Council Rock North senior Ross Wilson finished second in the 3,200 –meter run with a time of 9:11.19, finishing ahead of Pennsbury junior Sam Webb (9:11.91) and eclipsed only by event winner Tony Russell (West Chester Henderson, 9:07.68).
In the 800-meter event Council Rock South senior Jeffrey Wiseman led from the gun, posting a time of 1:51.91 to win the event. The top five spots went to Suburban One League runners.
The runner-up spot went to Pennridge senior Joseph Logue (1:52.83) with third place finisher Upper Merion senior Austin Cooper (1:53.94), fourth Kyle Francis 1:54.89 (Bensalem) and fifth place runner Pennsbury junior Alek Sauer (1:55.39) all punching their tickets to next week’s big dance in Shippensburg.
“It’s so much fun to run in this meet,” said Wiseman, who will be teammates with Wilson next year. “I was so glad they moved today’s races to Sunday, it would have been crazy here Friday. I am so used to running with these guys like Ross and Joe. It says a lot about our league and the competition.”
In the category of “no surprise,” the Pennridge 4 x 800 team, which qualified for the Championship of America last month at the Penn Relays, once again was the class of the field in the 3200-meter relay. The Rams fought of a late challenge from Ches-Mont power West Chester Henderson (7:49.84), finishing with a state qualifying time of 7:48.18, ahead of fellow SOL quartets from Central Bucks East (7:61.13) and North Penn (7:51.81), both of whom also were in the elite field of eight at Franklin Field, as well as Pennsbury (7:53.66) and Bensalem with a time of 7:56.03. All six teams made the cut for next week’s PIAA championships in Shippensburg.
Souderton Area junior Cody Wild, claimed the fourth spot in javelin with a heave of 173-06.00 to lead all SOL combatants, while the league had three of the top five spots in pole vault led by Wissahickon senior Phillip Fadel (13-06.00, 2ndplace), Brandon Raguz (C.B South, 13-06.00) and Central Bucks West junior Jason Douple (13-00.00) which was good enough for a fifth place medal.
Neshaminy junior David Marrington set the standard in the 300-meter hurdle finals with a time of 38.06 as he battled a head wind and a hard charging John Lewis to snatch the gold, while Lewis claimed the runner-up spot with a 38.36 circuit just ahead of Pennsbury junior Kornelius Klah (39.36) with all four qualifying for the state meet.
“We will definitely be off tomorrow,” said Panthers head coach Robert Beale. “They have earned it and need to rest. Then we will get to work again getting ready for next week where our expectations will be very high.”
“We will probably drop the hurdles next week as it just makes it stressful, but our other events we should be ready to go. We are fortunate to have so much depth. We leave teams at home that would probably compete at the top of most state’s meets.”
On Saturday, Central Bucks South senior Randall Johnson captured the gold in the high jump with a leap of 6-07.00. In triple jump, North Penn senior Gift Omo-Ekpadi was the gold medal winner with a jump of 47-01.75.
In Class AA action, Springfield received several standout individual efforts on its way to a second place finish in the overall team standings. Jhaloni Johnson won gold in both the 100-meter dash (10.96) and 200-meter dash (22.78), qualifying for states in both events. Sean Stovall finished first in the 3200-meter run with a time of 10:06.37
Junior Chris Stone, meanwhile, was in a league of his own, capturing four goal medals and breaking a longstanding district record in the process. The junior standout finished first in high jump with a state-qualifying leap of 6-08. He easily won the gold in pole vault with his vault of 14-00, shattering the previous mark of 13-07 set by Devon Prep’s Jan Ryan in 1987 and punching his ticket to Shippensburg for the state meet. Stone also captured first place in the long jump (21-04.75) and javelin throw (169-00).
For complete meet results and stats click on the following Penn Track link: http://pa.milesplit.com/meets/166775/results/307637
Team Rankings
1. Cheltenham 68
2. Coatesville 63
3. Pennsbury 46
4. Pennridge 44
5. West Chester Henderson 37
6. Upper Darby 29.50
7. North Penn 28
8. Spring-Ford 27
9. Conestoga 25
10. Downingtown East 23.50
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