Denny Dyroff highlights the SOL participants in this week’s Penn Relays.
By DENNY DYROFF
Every year during the final week in April, most of the top track and field athletes in the area, many of the best runners, throwers and jumpers in the nation and some of the premier competitors in the world head to West Philadelphia -- and they’ve been doing it for a long, long time.
Their destination is the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field. Their mission is to compete in the Penn Relays. This year marks the 121st annual staging of the meet that is officially known as the Penn Relay Carnival.
Athletes from the Suburban One League will definitely leave their mark at this year’s meet -- especially in the distance events.
The first showcase will come Thursday morning in the girls’ 4x800-meter relay. The event, which includes two small school heats and two large school heats, features Pennsbury, Upper Dublin, Central Bucks East, Central Bucks West and North Penn.
The top returning team is last year’s third-place team Holmwood Tech (Jamaica), which ran 8:54.42 this year at the Gibson Relays. Other top squads are Western Branch (Va.), the U.S. indoor leader this winter at 9:02.27, along with New York’s Mamaroneck (9:07.63), New Jersey’s Union Catholic (9:13.42), Ridge (9:13.95), Northern Highlands (9:24.53) and Red Bank Catholic (9:19.87), Maryland’s the McDonogh School (9:15.96) and Virginia’s E.C. Glass (9:09.74). Jamaica has several other entries, including Vere Tech (9:02.95), Spalding (9:13.06) and last year’s runner-up, Edwin Allen (9:21.20). The top local entrants are Unionville (9:22.50), Pennsbury (9:18.88) and Great Valley (9:22.52).
The top 12 finishers advance to Friday’s Championship of America final. Pennsbury’s team includes Erin O’Connell, Hannah Molloy, Maddie Sauer and Olivia Sargent.
“We’re coming in with a 9:18 and that puts us as a top 10 seed,” said Pennsbury coach Tim Cass. “Olivia in the mile and Hannah in the 3,000 should also be top 10 seeds in their individual events.”
Mady Clahane of Cumberland Valley went under 10:00 indoors and will be one of the favorites in the 3,000. Molloy also broke 10 minutes this winter when she won the bronze medal at the indoor state championships with a time that was 11th-fastest in the country. Unionville’s Olivia Young also ran a sub-10:00 time in the 3K this winter..
“Both our 4x100 and 4x400 relays should make it back,” said Cass. “We have Nini Rogers, Uche Onuoha, Naisia Boone and Dasia Pressley in the 4x400 and the same four in the 4x100. Uche is also competing in triple jump and she should do extremely well.”
Norristown also has a lot of potential in the 4x100 and 4x400.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed -- hoping they can make it back,” said Eagles’ coach Miles Burrell. “Our 4x400 -- Nya Boone, Jayana Webb, Kanitra Hill-Stewart and Charity Guy -- ran a 3:57 at the Abington Invitational last weekend. They should make it to either the Tri-State or the Philadelphia Area final.
“They’re young and they’re pretty quick. Jayana and Kanitra are also on the 4x100 along with Dymond Lee and Jonae Cook. Their best time has been 48.80 and that was with a bad stick. Hopefully, we’ll be clean and run faster so we can move on.”
In the individual girls’ distance races, the SOL runner with the best seed is Pennridge’s Marissa Sheva in the mile. She is seeded second behind Catherine Pagano from Northern Highlands in Allendale, New Jersey.
“I’m definitely healthy and ready to go,” said Penn State-bound Sheva. “I’m excited -- and nervous. This will be my third Penn Relays mile. I was sixth as a sophomore and fifth as a junior.”
This year, Sheva is in good position to win the prestigious Penn Relays gold watch that is awarded to the race-winner.
“I’m seeded right behind Catherine Pagano,” said Sheva, the defending PIAA Class AAA champion in the 3,200. “I ran against her once and beat her. Olivia Sargent is seeded third right behind me. We’re all about the same. Catherine and I are at 4:50 just a few hundredths apart and Olivia is at 4:51.
“Malia Ellington (Davidson, North Carolina) is right there too and there are a couple fast girls from New Jersey and New York. Catherine always takes the race out hard so I expect it to go fast. The race will probably settle down in the middle and then close fast. Olivia always has something left in the last 400.”
Other individual qualifiers in girls’ events are Cheltenham’s Ciara Leonard in the 400 hurdles, Souderton’s Moira O’Malley in high jump, Pennridge’s Ariana Przybylowski in long jump, and Council Rock South’s Domenique Franco in pole vault and Shannon Taub in high jump.
On the boys’ side, the 4x800 will also be a showcase for SOL squads with five teams in the four races Friday morning -- Pennsbury, Central Bucks East, Wissahickon, Central Bucks West and Pennridge.
Pennsbury boys’ 4x800 team won the indoor state meet gold medal this year and is looking to build on that success. The foursome for the race at the Penn Relays on Friday features Alek Sauer, Matt Mulvaney, Eric Kersten and Sam Webb.
In the 4x800, Jamaica’s teams are extremely fast -- Kingston College (7:33.87), St. Elizabeth Tech (7:34.78), Holmwood Tech (7:39.44), Edwin Allen (7:41.09), Spalding (7:48.27), Jamaica College (7:49.26), St. Jago (7:50.59) and Calabar (7:51.99).
The list of top American entries includes Tennessee’s Memphis University School (7:45.21), Massachusetts’ Amherst-Pelham (7:45.29), California’s Nordhoff (7:47.50), Connecticut’s Ridgefield (7:48.90), and New York’s Syosset (7:45.95) and Arlington (7:46.34).
“We’re seeded pretty well -- probably in the top 10,” said Falcons’ coach Tim Cass. “They definitely have a chance to make it back for Saturday’s final. We also have Kornelius Klah in the 400 hurdles. The 110 hurdles are his better race but he’s seeded well in the 400 hurdles and should be under 55.”
Other individual qualifiers from the SOL are Neshaminy’s Dave Marrington (400 hurdles), Hatboro-Horsham’s Casey Comber (3,000) amd Nichlas Marino (pole vault), Central Bucks East’s Jake Brophy (3,000), Springfield’s Chris Stone (high jump) and Cheltenham’s Saahir Bethea (long jump) and John Lewis (400 hurdles).
Lewis will also join with Christian Brissett, Cordell Richardson and Kyle Davis on the Panthers’ highly-regarded 4x400 and 4x100 relays. The top indoor 4x400 time in the nation this year was posted by Cheltenham at 3:17.38.
Jamaica’s teams, as always, are fast -- and at their peak after just completing their national championships. St. Jago arrives with a seed time of 3:09.71 while Kingston College has run a 3:08.40 and Wolmer’s has clocked a 3:16.49. They’re faster than Cheltenham but the Panthers posted their impressive time on an indoor track.
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