This week’s notebook features North Penn’s Ali Valenti, Cheltenham’s Ciara Leonard and Neshaminy’s Dave Marrington.
By DENNY DYROFF
Over the last four years, Ali Valenti has developed an affinity for the colors blue and white -- the colors of her uniforms while running cross country, indoor track and outdoor track for North Penn’s teams.
For the next four years, those two colors will continue to be her uniform colors. The big difference will be that they are not sports uniforms but rather the uniforms worn by Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy.
Valenti has not only been a four-year standout in running events for the Maidens’ teams, she also has been a four-year standout academically at North Penn. Valenti’s overall package -- academics, athletics, character, citizenship and leadership abilities -- proved attractive enough to the acceptance committee at the USNA to offer her an appointment.
“I leave for Annapolis on July 1,” said Valenti. “I’m going to be a chemistry major and I’m going to try for the Med Corps program. I got my appointment back in January. I had put a lot of work into it so I was pretty confident that I’d be accepted.”
Like so many athletes who run track in high school, Valenti spent her earlier years playing soccer.
“I actually played soccer since I was really young,” said Valenti. “I was one of the fastest girls on the team. So, the coach said that I should get into running track. I started running in seventh grade for the team at Penndale Middle School.
“They had a running club for cross country at Penndale. We used to do cross country races that were 1.8-mile. I also ran track in middle school -- the mile and the 4x400. My freshman year running cross country was a lot to handle with all the mileage. But, it was really fun doing something completely new.
“I had a stress fracture in my foot that year,” she said. “I was out two weeks. Luckily, it was at the beginning of the season so I still ran at states. Then, I ran on the winter track team. In indoor track, I ran the mile and the 800.”
North Penn coach Jim Crawford said, “Ali is our senior captain in all three sports -- cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. She is a four-year letterperson in all three sports.
“She’s pretty versatile -- 800, 1600 and 3200. She also runs the 400 on our relays -- especially indoor track with her speed. She has very good speed for a distance runner -- probably the fastest distance runner on our team. She could run the (open) 400 for us, but we don’t need her to do that because we’re leaded with 400 runners.”
Valenti established herself as one of the premier distance runners in District One as a freshman and has continued to add to her glowing credentials. She been to state in cross country all four years.
“In indoor track, I was an alternate for the DMR (distance medley relay) as a freshman and then on the 4x800 as a sophomore, junior and senior,” Valenti said. “I’ve gone to outdoor states the last three years in the 4x800.
“Honestly, my freshman year had the biggest influence on me. We were first at districts in the 4x800, and that was a great accomplishment. I was a freshman running with three very good seniors.”
Her freshman cross country season also provided another memorable moment.
“It was one of my first invitational meets -- the C.B. East Invitational,” said Valenti, who is a member of the National Honor Society. “I lost one of my spikes in the first mile.
“I wasn’t sure if I should keep on running or stop to go back and get it. So, I ran the last two miles with one shoe. Some of the course was on gravel so it was a little rough. But, I kept going and finished the race.”
Now, Valenti’s scholastic career has just a handful of meets remaining.
“This year, the big goal is to win the 4x800 at districts,” said Valenti. “We just ran the 4x800 in the Championship of America race at the Penn Relays (and finished eighth). That was a wake-up call. We always knew we were good, but to do well against some great teams that were in that race showed us how much potential we have.”
***
That Cheltenham’s Ciara Leonard has become one of the elite scholastic hurdlers in Pennsylvania came as no surprise to her coaches from middle school and high school.
“Ciara ran a little bit in middle school,” said Cheltenham High coach Kelly Jensen. “Her coach at Cedarbrook Middle School was Andrea Anderson. She does a wonderful job there.
“When Ciara moved up to high school, Coach Anderson called me and said -- you’ve got to get Leonard out for your team because she’s pretty good. I called Ciara and she said she’d like to be on the team but she had to ask her mom.”
Leonard said, “I ran track in middle school just because it was something to do with my friends. I thought it would be fun to do. I wasn’t going to run in ninth grade. I was just going to focus on school.
“Then, Coach Anderson told Coach Jensen that I should come out. He called my house and my mom told me to check it out. I joined the team. Then, I was the only freshman who made states so I wanted to continue.”
Jensen said, “I was in school one day and in walks this little girl with horn-rimmed glasses. She said -- Mr. Jensen, I think I’m going to try this track. I told her -- Be here at 3 p.m. Two months later, she was running at the indoor state championship meet.”
It was a good move. Much to the delight of Anderson, Jensen, her parents and Leonard herself, her track career at Cheltenham led to an athletic scholarship offer from the University of Virginia -- an offer she happily accepted.
Leonard was good when she started her track career at Cheltenham, and she has just kept on getting better.
“As a freshman, Ciara was third at the District One meet in the 100 hurdles and then third in the state meet,” said Jensen. “She was good from the first day on. You could see it. She’s very natural. She did hurdles from the very start and did them well.
“I found out how tough she was when she was a freshman running on our 4x200 relay at an indoor meet at Ursinus. She gets the baton and she’s on the inside. A girl from the outside comes in and smacks into her. She went flat down and her glasses came flying off.
“She got her eyeglasses and got back on the track. Ciara ran down the girl who smacked into her and finished ahead of her. Ciara’s mom came out and said -- I’m glad you got back up. I raised you to be tough.”
Leonard, who is also a key member of the Panthers’ 4x100 in outdoor track, said, “It was on the second leg of the 4x200. After that girl knocked me down, I just wanted to get back up and finish. I didn’t want to let my team down.”
When asked what the highlight of her running career has been so far, Leonard said, “It was my race last year in the 100 hurdles at outdoor states. I ran a 13.66 and finished first. I had never won a state title before. It was so exciting to do it -- and to have everybody cheering for me.
“Another was winning indoor states this year in the 60 hurdles. I was second last year. So, my goal was to come back and be first this year. And, that’s what I did. It was a really good race.
“This year, I’m going to try to break my state record in the 100 hurdles. I’m excited because I ran close to my state record time at an invitational meet tonight at William Tennent. My time was 13.79. My goal at states is 13.5 -- and to have our 4x100 win states.”
***
Neshaminy’s Dave Marrington is the defending District One champion in the 300 hurdles -- a stellar hurdler who won the bronze medal in the event at last year’s PIAA state meet. He is also a strong distance runner who has been a mainstay on the Redskins’ cross country team for the last few years.
His success has not been a surprise to followers of area scholastic track. They know that track is in Marrington’s DNA. His father -- also named Dave Marrington -- is a longtime cross country and track coach at Council Rock North.
“I’ve been coaching track for 40 years,” said the elder Marrington, who is actually Dave Marrington II. “Everyone in our family ran. Running for Dave -- I think it was pretty much osmosis.”
From here on, the younger Marrington -- David Marrington III -- will just be referred to as Marrington.
“I did a lot of 5K races when I was younger because my dad was a distance coach,” said Marrington. “In middle school, I started doing shorter races including the 400 and the 100. Then, my middle school coach Chuck Lumio got me running the 110 hurdles.
“It was a pretty easy transition. I like how it’s a lot of muscle memory. When you get it down, you can do it easily. You get to focus on each hurdle instead of thinking about your body hurting like you do in distance races.”
Once in high school, Marrington put primary emphasis on hurdles events and shelved the distance running.
“I was playing club soccer in the fall so I didn’t run cross country at Neshaminy in my freshman and sophomore years,” said Marrington. “I always knew I was fast -- faster than my friends -- and that I was going to do track no matter what. My dad has provided personal guidance for me.
“He’s a distance coach, but he’s familiar with coaching all the events. And, he’d get his hurdles coach from Rock North to come and help me too. Hurdles has always been my main event. I did run for the cross country team as a junior and senior. I had a lot of friends on the team. And, it was a good way to stay in shape.
“I like running the 110 hurdles, but the 300 hurdles is my better event. The biggest challenge with the 300 race is not stuttering. I try to do 15 steps in between. I got comfortable with the 300s by the end of my sophomore year.”
As a 10th-grader, Marrington made it to the finals of the 300 hurdles at the District One meet but did not qualify for the PIAA Championships. Last year, he was gold medalist in the event at districts with a time of 38.09 and then placed third at the state meet a week later with a similar time.
“Two of the big highlights of my running have been competing in the 400 hurdles at the Penn Relays,” said Marrington. “As a junior, I placed fourth overall at 53.3. This year, I ran a 52.9 and finished fourth again. It will be the last time I run the 400s until I get to college.
“But, having a few 400 races really helps with the 300. Racing against international competition at the Penn Relays also helps a lot. Being in an individual event at the Penn Relays is a big deal. Running there last year for the first time is one of my favorite moments. This year, it was a little easier because I had been there before.
“Last season, I just concentrated on the 300 hurdles. This year, I’ll probably do both the 110s and the 300s. I’m also on our team’s 4x400 relay. We finished third at indoor states and we should make it to outdoor states later this season.”
Marrington has accepted an athletic scholarship to run for Penn State University.
“I’ll probably just be a hurdler there,” said Marrington. “I plan on majoring in business --and running track.”
- Log in to post comments
