To view SOL meet photos, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Alex Frazier
Sara Sargent and Meghan McGovern dominated their races to spur their teams on to championships at Friday’s Suburban One Girls Cross Country Championships at Lehigh University.
Freshman phenom Sargent blistered the Lehigh course putting 45 seconds between her and defending league champion Lindsay Rheiner of Council Rock North to propel the Pennsbury girls to their first league title in 30 years.
“She’s in a league of her own right now,” said William Tennent’s Anne Arieas, who finished third.
“That’s her style,” said Pennsbury coach Don Little. “She goes out hard and never looks back.”
Sargent has won all but one race this year.
Another first year runner, McGovern won all but one dual meet this year and avenged her only loss of the season to C.B. East’s Katie Kinkead winning by 30 seconds in 17:39.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said McGovern. “It was my first time running on the course. I’m excited about the time.”
Her previous best was 17:56 on her home course.
“It was a flatter course, there’s a lot of competition here and it was a good day to run,” she said.
The team had come up on Tuesday to run the course, so it wasn’t totally strange to her.
But, as she said, “It’s different when it’s a race.”
North Penn placed three girls in the top eight to defend its SOL title. C.B. West finished second.
It will be a very interesting matchup next week between Sargent and McGovern, whose time this week was 18 seconds faster. It was McGovern’s first race on the Lehigh course, while Sargent had run on it in the Paul Short Invitational.
“When she has competition to run with, she won’t have to be out by herself, so hopefully she will be able to run a faster time,” said Little.
Of course, the same could be said of McGovern.
•••
While the race for first wasn’t a contest, the National Conference race for second was.
When William Tennent and Council Rock North squared off in the dual meet, Tennent senior Arieas defeated Rock’s Rheiner to help the Panthers defeat North for the first time in school history.
For a good part of Friday’s championship race, Arieas held off Rheiner. But the Rock junior passed her on the last straightaway and held her off for second by a scant three seconds.
Arieas is hoping to finish in the top 10 at districts. She wants to break 18:30.
“I was not very happy that I got passed at the end,” said Arieas. “I didn’t react when she went. I was waiting to kick it in. I guess I should have tried to go harder sooner.”
Her time of 18:45 was her best on the Lehigh course.
Pennsbury placed four girls in the top 15 en route to the title.
“The girls ran real well,” said Little. “They got out good and were in good position.”
Anastasia Diamond, in particular, closed the gap to Pennsbury’s third runner Steph Radzinski, which Little said was important.
“She ran a really, really good race,” he said.
The Falcons did it without No. 2 runner Ann Herman, who was out with the flu. Running second for the Falcons was junior Morgan Perry, who finished fifth.
When the Falcons won their first invitational as a team, the girls realized they could do something.
“They continued to work harder and harder,” said Little. “They see Sara as a role model. She makes them run harder. I’ve never coached anyone as good as her. This year they came together.”
And it would appear they will be strong for at least a few years to come with four freshmen, two sophomores, two juniors and one senior in the top nine.
Last year the Falcons just missed a trip to states by finishing sixth at districts.
The goal this year is to finish in the top five and take the team to states.
“We have to work hard to make that happen,” said Little.
•••
Upper Merion may not have strong team, but individually there’s no one better than Amber McAteer, who won the American Conference championship in 19:26, 15 seconds ahead of Upper Dublin’s Sarah Holl, who battled her the whole race.
“The weather was really good today,” said McAteer, whose time was a personal best. “It was a good race and I got to stick to one of the Upper Dublin girls and we pushed each other.”
McAteer and Holl were side by side at the first mile. In the last mile she started to put distance between herself and Holl.
“I was tired but I brought it in as hard as I could,” she said.
“I told Sarah to run with her as long as she could and see what she had left in the tank,” said UD coach Tony Giammarco. “She couldn’t get her, but there’s always next week.”
Like McGovern, McAteer is a field hockey convert.
“I decided to try it this year because of track,” she said. “I like it. Our team is small and really nice. We got really close.”
It was McAteer’s first race on the Lehigh course, which she liked.
“It was a lot of long fields and gradual hills,” she said.
She’ll get a chance to run it again next week when the competition becomes even harder.
“I’m going to try to do better,” she said. “There will be a lot more girls there which will be good.”
Holl led teammates Kelly Broadbent, Elizabeth McLaughlin and Elizabeth Pocalyko to the finish to give the Flying Cardinals the league crown.
“Today wasn’t a particularly fast day,” said Giammarco, “but I’m pleased with how the girls competed. Our goal was to get our top five in the top 10, and we did that.”
The biggest race of the day for the Flying Cardinals came from Michelle Eng. The junior usually runs seventh, but she finished No. 5 for Upper Dublin, eighth overall, in 20:54.
“She PR’d by about a minute,” said Giammarco.
Next week Giammarco is hoping for a top 10 finish.
“The district is so loaded, especially on the girls’ side,” he said.
Although it may be a long shot to qualify for states as a team, Giammarco is hoping that Holl will at least return.
“She made it last year as a freshman,” he said. “She’s been dealing with a hip injury all year. She has a legitimate shot. Our second and third runners if they continue to improve have a shot as well.”
•••
If McGovern, who played hockey last year, was seemingly unbeatable, she certainly wasn’t invincible as Kinkead proved by beating her in the dual meet.
“We’re really friendly,” said Kinkead. “I met her last winter and we’re competitive but friendly.”
In the dual meet, Kinkead nipped McGovern by just two seconds. It was her closest race of the year.
McGovern was wary of her this time.
“I could feel her breathing down my neck,” said McGovern. “I didn’t want to freak out and go too fast, but I definitely wanted to put some space between us. She’s a good runner and I knew it would be tough. I just tried to do the best I can and not worry about her.”
Kinkead wasn’t too unhappy with the result as she set a school record with a PR of 18:09, besting the old one of 18:24. Her previous best was 18:54. And last year she ran about 20:30.
“I knew I was in shape to run a low 18 time,” she said. “I’m excited, but I knew I was capable of running this.”
As a sophomore, Kinkead trained too hard and injured herself. This year she has a better understanding thanks to her coach.
“I believe in all his workouts,” she said. “We’re training not necessarily harder but smarter.”
Kinkead was looking to go out at about a 5:50 pace, but it was 10 seconds faster than that. She hung in for the first mile and a half before McGovern started pulling away.
“From there I tried to make up anything I could,” said Kinkead. “She ran really well today.”
Kinkead is looking to lower the school record to the 17s next week.
“It will be nice to have Meghan to push me,” she said.
2009 Suburban One Girls Cross Country Championships
National Conference
Team standings: Pennsbury 50, Council Rock North 61, William Tennent 76, Council Rock South 83, Neshaminy 92, Bensalem 171, Abington 176
Individual standings (top 10): 1. Sara Sargent (P)17:57, 2. Lindsay Rheiner (CRN) 18:42, 3. Anne Arieas (WT) 18:45, 4. Martina Drew (N) 18:58, 5. Morgan Perry (P), 6. Steph Radzinski (P) 19:25, 7. Laura Histand (N) 19:33, 8. Kathleen Stewart (CRS) 19:39, 9. Jackie Conklin (WT) 19:56, 10. Natalla Balla (B) 20:06.
American Conference
Team standings: Upper Dublin 22, Plymouth Whitemarsh 49, Wissahickon 88, Cheltenham 106, Upper Merion 109
Individual results (top 10): 1. Amber McAteer (UMe) 19:26, 2. Sarah Holl (UD) 19:41, 3. Kelly Broadbent (UD) 20:05, 4. Elizabeth McLaughlin (UD) 20:12, 5. Elizabeth Pocalyko (UD) 20:31, 6. Mara Kelly (S) 20:34, 7. Jessica Quesenberry (W) 20:43, 8. Rachel Wolfheimer (PW) 20:44, 9. Michelle Eng (UD) 20:54, 10. Kyra Hanlon (PW) 20:55.
Continental Conference
Team standings: North Penn 50, Central Bucks West 67, Central Bucks East 72, Central Bucks South 74, Quakertown 143, Hatboro-Horsham 146, Pennridge 153, Souderton 219
Individual results (top 10): 1. Meghan McGovern (NP 17:39, 2. Katie Kinkead (CBE) 18:09, 3. Christy Cohick (NP) 18:36, 4. Jenny Guidera (CBE) 18:46, 5. Megan Rhyner (Q) 19:08, 6. Vanessa Camiolo (CBW) 19:17, 7. Emily Chappell (CBS) 19:24, 8. Rachel Brown (NP) 19:30, 9. Caitlyn Sheva (P) 19:33, 10. Lexi Walters (CBS) 19:33.
- Log in to post comments
0
