Pennridge freshman Kouri Peace as well as the first place efforts of the Souderton boys and girls track teams at the Olympian Invitational are featured in this week’s notebook.
By DENNY DYROFF
There is an often-used phrase in church liturgy -- a phrase in Latin that goes “Pax vobiscum.” Translated to modern English, it means “Peace be with you.”
It may work in church, but it won’t work very often in area scholastic girls’ track this year. If you’re a high school sprinter in a meet in which Pennridge is competing, Peace may be with you at the starting line but that most likely will be the only time.
Once the starter’s gun goes off, most of the runners in race will be looking at the competitor’s number on the back of Pennridge’s Kouri Peace.
The Rams’ speedy freshman introduced herself to runners around the state with an impressive performance at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships in February.
In the highly competitive state meet at Penn State University’s Horace Ashenfelter Indoor Track facility in State College, Peace set a state record when she crossed first in the 200-meter dash with a clocking of 23.74. She also placed third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.54.
“We’ve seen Kouri running for the last few years at Penn Central Middle School,” said Pennridge coach Bill Smith. “We knew that she was outstanding but didn’t know that she would be this good. She was beating everybody handily in middle school, but I’m not sure she was ever pushed. I think her summer running is where she really focused.”
Peace has competed in summer track for more than half her life with her father Kyle Peace as one of her coaches.
“I was about seven years old when I started running,” said Peace. “I was playing soccer -- running up and down the field -- and my dad thought about me becoming a (track) runner. I just liked running on the track. I loved going to practice.
“And, I liked practicing with older girls because they pushed me. I ran with the Mount Airy Track Club the first couple years and now I’m in my third year with Generation Next Track Club.”
Kyle Peace decided to get involved in club coaching is now a certified USA Track and Field coach.
“The first year Kouri ran club track, she went to Nationals in Des Moine, Iowa and medaled in the 100,” Kyle said. “We’ve gone to AAU nationals five times -- Florida, New Orleans, Des Moines and Virginia Beach twice -- and Kouri has medaled every time.”
A few weeks ago, Peace ran unattached in the “Emerging Elite” category at the New Balance National Indoors meet in New York and captured gold medals in the 60 at 7.56 and the 200 at 24.14 (with a 24.03 in the prelims).
Now, Peace is competing for her high school team, and it fits her like a glove.
“This year was her first year running indoor track and she adapted right away,” said Smith. “The challenge of running against better competition was big for her.
“She ran a 39-high in the 300 at a DVGTCA (Delaware Valley Girls Track Coaches Association) meet and won the gold medal. It was her first time running the 300 indoors and she set an all-time record. Kouri has the fastest 200 indoors for a Pennsylvania athlete.
“I knew from the first week of workouts that she was different. I’ve had some very good sprinters here, including Taylor Chapman who graduated in 2015 and got a full ride to the University of Iowa. Kouri is already beating some really outstanding records.
“I think her training as a youngster has been very good. Mechanically, her form is really good. Because she’s been trained so well, she just has to be fine-tuned. Her competitive spirit is off-the-charts.”
Now, Peace is ready to take on the state.
“I’ve always been looking forward to running against the girls from Cheltenham, Pennsbury and Norristown,” said Peace. “They always have good girls to run against -- like Pennsbury’s Dasia Pressley. We already have a good rivalry. She pushed me to the state record.
“I’m happy when I have good runners to push me and these girls always push me. I just want to do my best every time I run a race -- to improve every time I step on the track.”
*****
Winning trophies and medals in girls’ track and field at the Suburban One League’s Continental Conference Championships is no easy task. Individual medals aren’t easy to come by -- but they are a lot easier to obtain than the team championship trophy.
Programs such as Souderton, Hatboro-Horsham and Quakertown can have good teams and still not be able to finish in the top half of the team standings at the conference meet.
A look back at the team standings at the 2015 District One Class AAA Championships will show why.
The Continental Conference placed four teams in the Top 10 at last year’s district meet -- North Penn in third place, Pennridge in sixth place, Central Bucks West in eighth place and Central Bucks South in 10thplace. The SOL also accounted for the other three teams in the top four -- champion Cheltenham, runner-up Pennsbury and fourth-place Council Rock South.
“With schools like CB West, North Penn, CB East, Pennridge and CB South, the Continental Conference is really tough,” said Souderton coach Mike Feliciani. “If you can take your team outside the conference competition, you realize that you have a talented team.”
Feliciani and his girls proved that theory to be true last Friday night when they headed north to compete in the Eighth Annual Olympian Invitational at Olympian Stadium in Jim Thorpe.
The Indians returned home from Carbon County with a lot of hardware -- including the team championship trophy. In the meet at Jim Thorpe High’s stadium, Souderton scored 84 points to finish first in a field of 18 schools -- most of which came from the Lehigh Valley or Anthracite Country.
“This was the first time we ever went to this meet,” said Feliciani. “John (Souderton boys’ team coach John Donahue) and I like to go to different places and see different teams. We were just looking for something that was available on this weekend.
“With the state meet moving, we had meets that were overlapping. The one at Palisades fell on Easter weekend so we didn’t want that one. So, this was our first invitational of the year -- a little late.”
It was a little late and a lot chilly.
“We wanted to find the coldest meet in Pennsylvania,” said Feliciani with a chuckle. “It was cold Friday night. It was in the low 40s and the wind was blowing 15-20 miles per hour.”
The meet gets its name from Jim Thorpe, a Sac and Fox athlete of Native American and European ancestry. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Games in pentathlon and decathlon. Thorpe also played collegiate and professional football, professional baseball and pro basketball.
Thorpe lost his Olympic titles after it was found he was paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.
Following his death in 1953, Thorpe’s widow and third wife, Patricia, was angry when the government of Oklahoma would not erect a memorial to honor him. When she heard that the boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk were desperately seeking to attract business, she made a deal with civic officials. The boroughs merged and renamed the new municipality in Jim Thorpe’s honor.
“There were some smaller schools at this meet like Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Blue Mountain,” said Feliciani. “But, they all had a few athletes each that were really exceptional. That made it challenging for our kids.”
The gold medalists for Souderton’s girls’ team were Cara Jackson in the 200-meter dash (26.30), Sue Frustino in the 400 (1:00.38), Moira O’Malley in high jump (5-2) and the 4x400 relay (4:16.35).
“Moira always does a great job of competing,” said Feliciani. “She jumped 5-7 in our dual meet at Quakertown. We were hoping to get it at the invitational to get it in the books, but she didn’t have the jump she wanted. She was looking for better clearance.
“Fortunately, she had already qualified for the Penn Relays. Her having a great indoor meet was very good because she really needed that. She won indoor states with a jump of 5-6.
“Cara Jackson is running really fast and had a good time for early in the season. Sue Frustino is coming along in the 400. Emily Bonaventure was runner-up in the 800 and ran a good tactical race. That was a good early time too.”
The Indians’ other key finishers were 4x100 (second, 53.35), 4x800 (third, 10:36.65), Abby Way (third, shot put, 34-2), Cara Romaniello (third, 300 hurdles, 52.45), Cara Romaniello (third, 300 hurdles, 52.45), Sydney Braeunig (fifth, pole vault, 8-6), Isis McFadden (fifth, 100, 13.4) and Elisabeth Bell (sixth, 1600, 5:38.66).
“Abby Way is starting to pick up in throws,” said Feliciani. “She spent an entire year training for throws. She’s tall in stature and is now getting the power on her frame. On Friday, she was third in shot put and seventh in discus.
“Sydney Braeunig was a sprinter as a freshman and a gymnast all her life. So, she took up pole vault and began training with Vertical Assault (a year round pole vaulting club located in Bath).”
*****
Souderton’s boys’ team also won the team title at the Olympian Invitational. The Indians scored 98 points to finish first in a field of 20 schools.
The boys’ squad came back from “Coal Country” with six gold medals and a pair of silver medals.
Leading the way was Colin Harker who won the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.16.
“This is one of the best in the nation this year and breaks the Souderton school record of 14.3 set in 1972,” said Donahue. “Colin also anchored the 4x400 team of Pennington Nguyen, Connor McMeniman and Steven Scott to a meet-clinching first place finish with a time of 3:37.02.
“Colin has been working hard for four years. When we told him his time in the hurdles, he was stunned. His previous p.r. (personal record) was 15.3. The old school record of 14.3 was hand-held so that was more like a 14.5.
“He also anchored the 4x400 with a 51-split. Last year, he was the league champ in the 110s. He does a lot for the team -- 200, 300 hurdles, 400, sprints, 110s -- and he can jump if we need him to.”
The Indians’ other gold medalists were Connor McMeniman (1600, 4:27.94), Shamar Jenkins (high jump, 6-4; long jump, 22-8.50) and Steven Scott (300 hurdles, 41.82).
“Connor McMeniman qualified for Districts with his 4:27,” said Donahue. “He ran a real solid race, but he was a little disappointed with his time because he already ran a 4:22 indoors this year.
“Last year, Shamar Jenkins did triple jump and high jump. This year, he added long jump and already is well over 22-feet. His jump Friday was the best in the area and one of the best in the state. He also was second in triple jump at 44-11.”
Souderton also received key scoring from Brendan Mills (second, 200, 23.33), 4x100 (second, 44.98), 4x800 (sixth, 9:02.88), and Jack Maurer (sixth, pole vault, 10-0).
“We like to go to invitational meets outside our area so we can compete against different schools instead of the same schools over and over again,” said Donahue. “Friday night meets are better. This meet was cold with a little bit of snow flurries -- but at least we got a meet in.
“We didn’t even know there was team scoring until we got there. It was nice because it gave our kids some extra incentive. I think the win was a good motivator to keep us training hard.”
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