This week’s notebook features North Penn senior Phoebe Clowser and highlights this week’s invitationals.
By DENNY DYROFF
When North Penn’s girls’ 4x800-meter relay finished its race in the Championship of America final Friday at the 122ndAnnual Penn Relays, it was a matter of “Closure for Clowser.”
Phoebe Clowser, who ran the second leg on the Maidens’ speedy relay, finished the race with a strange taste in her mouth -- the taste of competing for the last time in the huge annual meet at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field.
“It was my last Penn Relays,” said Clowser. “It was amazing but sad -- very sad really. I know I’ll probably never come here again.
“I accepted a scholarship to run track and cross country at Illinois State University. A lot of other (high school) runners will be coming back here with their college teams, but Illinois State never competes in the Penn Relays.”
During the last week in April, there are always two very big invitational relay meets for collegiate teams -- the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Penn Relays in Philly. Illinois State traditionally opts to compete in the meet in Iowa.
Knowing that last Friday’s CofA race was her Penn Relays swan song, Clowser obviously wanted to go out in style. When the race was over, neither she nor North Penn’s fans were disappointed.
Clowser ran a 2:15.34 split in the second leg and teamed with Ariana Gardizy, Uche Nwogwugwu and Mikaela Vlasic to place fourth with an impressive time of 9:02.06 -- the fastest time in Pennsylvania this year.
“It was really exciting to make it to the Championship of America again,” said Clowser. “We made it finals last year and finished eighth so finishing fourth was a really big accomplishment.”
Last year, the Maidens took eighth place at 9:21.55 with the team of Ali Valenti, Stephanie Bresadola, Vlasic and Clowser.
At the Penn Relays, the elite event for high school teams each year is the Championship of America 4x800-meter relay. In the 4x100 and 4x400 events, any team can enter. In the 4x800, a team first must qualify to run in one of the four preliminary heats (two small school and two large school races).
Then, then a team must finish with one of the 12 fastest times in the trials to earn a berth in the prestigious Championship of America final.
North Penn has sent its 4x800 relay to the meet at Penn in all four years of Clowser’s high school career. Not surprisingly, Clowser has been a key member of the Maidens’ quartet every time.
In 2014, North Penn was third in its heat at 9:13.59 with the quartet of Gardizy, Clowser, Nwogwugwu and Vlasic. In 2013, North Penn placed 10thwhen Rachel Oberholtzer, Melanie Vlasic, Clowser and Valenti combined for a time of 9:32.85.
Clowser, a multi-talented athlete, has been a standout for the last four years for the Maidens in track -- indoor and outdoor -- and cross country. She also played another winter sport as a freshman and sophomore. She was a defender on North Penn’s boys’ ice hockey team.
“I started playing ice hockey in middle school,” said Clowser. “I played club hockey with the Quakers, an all-girls team based in West Chester, and played two seasons in high school at North Penn.
“My older sister Dara and I both played ice hockey. It was so much fun. I really loved it. And the boys at North Penn treated me and my older sister very well. They were so nice and supportive.
“I began running when I was in sixth grade -- doing 5K runs. I joined middle school track in seventh grade and I’ve been running ever since. I gave up ice hockey after my sophomore year.”
Clowser qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championships in cross country all four years. She went to the state meet as a freshman when North Penn qualified as a team. She was an individual qualifier for the meet as a sophomore, junior and senior.
She also has competed three times at the PIAA track championships in Shippensburg and is well on her way to making it four in a row this season. Clowser was part of the Maidens’ state-qualifying 4x800 in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and also competed in the 1,600 at the 2015 PIAA Class AAA Championships.
This year, Clowser has been producing a stellar senior season.
She and her three 4x800 mates continue to come up with impressive performances. In the indoor season, they won the gold medal at the state championship meet and then set a state record of 9:05 at the National Championships at the Armory in New York.
Clowser is looking to major in chemistry and minor in criminal justice at Illinois State and eventually pursue a career in forensic science or law enforcement.
Once she gets established at the school in Normal, Illinois, she needs to convince the Redbirds’ coaching staff to send a 4x800 team to the Penn Relays in addition to sending a team to the Drake Relays.
“It’s always so awesome to run at the Penn Relays -- awesome and exciting,” said Clowser, moments after the race last Friday. “It hasn’t really sunk in that this was my last race here. It will probably really hit me when I leave today.”
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This is the final week/weekend before the championship season gets underway in area high school track and field.
The various league and conference championships will be held on the weekend of May 13 and 14. The District 1 Championships will be contested on May 20 and 21 at Coatesville High. The PIAA Championships are scheduled for May 27 and 28 at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.
This is the week/weekend for the last invitational meets of the season. Many of the meets featuring teams from the Suburban One League are well-established, highly-competitive meets that have been on the local schedule for decades.
The meets begin on May 5 at 5 p.m. with the Trojan Track Classic at Wissahickon High’s stadium in Lower Gwynedd.
The Trojan Track Classic is one of the most-respected annual invitational meets in the Delaware Valley. It is one of the best -- and one of the oldest. This year marks the 42ndannual staging of the Trojan Classic.
“The Trojan Classic started in the mid-1970s,” said Meet Director Don Betterly, the head boys’ track and field coach at Wissahickon. “I came on board in the mid-1980s. In the late ’70s, I was still in Pittsburgh.
“The interesting thing -- we try to keep it a short meet and to keep the same teams every year. With invitational meets, you need meet loyalty. Without that, it’s hard to keep a meet going.
“In recent years, every time a school gets a new track, it wants to host an invitational meet. When there are so many meets, it gets hard to get teams to your meet. And, you need to keep your teams so that you have the finances needed to run the meet.”
The Trojan Track Classic is a limited to these teams -- Wissahickon, North Penn, Hatboro Horsham, Quakertown, Upper Merion, Norristown, Cheltenham Boys, Upper Dublin, Bishop McDevitt, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Gwynedd-Mercy Girls.
Entry is limited to two athletes per school for each individual event and one relay team per school for each relay event
“North Penn, Cheltenham, Norristown, Quakertown, Hatboro-Horsham, Gwynedd-Mercy -- these traditionally good programs have been faithful to our meet," said Betterly. “They keep coming back every year. This meet has quite a few competitors every year who are going to go on and medal at states.”
The Trojan Track Classic is always a well-run meet that stays on schedule -- unless Mother Nature intervenes.
One year, a huge storm caused havoc during the meet. Near-gale force winds blew in from the south and used the Trojans’ stadium as a wind tunnel. The gusts were heavy enough to lift the pole vault pit off the ground and send it careening end-over-end toward the north end of the stadium. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
“We start the meet at 5 p.m. and it’s usually always finished by 9 p.m. -- weather permitting,” said Betterly. “It’s not a lot of work to put on a meet like this -- but you have to be prepared.”
In the past, part of the preparations has been to enlist coaches from the participating schools to help out as officials in field events.
“Each team used to have responsibility for a field event,” said Betterly. “For years, I’ve wanted to get PIAA officials for the field events. This year, the school has agreed to pay for field event officials.
“Other things that are new this year are the medals and the logo. We have custom medals this year that are the biggest they’ve ever been. And, we have a new logo.”
Betterly, a 1973 Wissahickon grad, ran for the Trojans and then for the University of Pittsburgh. The veteran coach, who is entering his fourth decade at the helm of the boys’ team, has built one of the most consistent programs in District 1.
“I moved back from Pittsburgh to Philly in the ’80s,” said Betterly. “I’ve been working as a physical trainer ever since and I’ve been here since 1986.”
A three decade-plus tenure as coach is a rarity -- especially at Wissahickon.
“What’s the secret to my survival?” said Betterly. “Winning trumps everything. In 30 years, we’ve been league champions 15 times and have compiled a 122-8 record in league dual meets.”
Betterly has another strong squad this season. The Trojans are poised to win another SOL American title and they are coming off an impressive performance at last week’s Penn Relays.
On Friday, Wissahickon (Rahsheed Wright, Darien Williams, Ethan Dolberry-Wescott, Sam Kane) placed 14th overall in the High School Boys’4x100 Small Schools event after finishing second in its heat at 43.04 -- behind Jamaica’s St. Elizabeth Tech at 41.35.
On Saturday Franklin Field, Wissahickon won the High School Boys’ 4x400 Suburban American race at 3:20.86 with the quartet of Ethan Dolberry-Wescott (52.12), Rahsheed Wright (49.45), Cam Christopher (50.28), Darien Williams (49.02).
Later in the day, the same foursome placed fourth in the High School Boys’ 4x400 Philadelphia Area at 3:20.72. The Trojans were topped only by PennWood (3:17.66), Downingtown West (3:18.67) and Glen Mills (3:20.39).
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The other invitational meets this week featuring teams from the Suburban One League include two meets on May 5 -- the Helman Memorial Invitational at Pennridge (Central Bucks East, Council Rock North, Central Bucks West, Souderton, Central Bucks South, Pennridge) and the Montgomery Memorial Meet at William Tennent (Abington, Bensalem, Central Bucks West, Cheltenham, Council Rock South, Truman, Neshaminy, Pennsbury, William Tennent).
The only meet on May 6 featuring athletes from SOL teams is the Nike Henderson Track and Field Invitational at West Chester (Abington, Central Bucks West, Cheltenham, Council Rock North, Council Rock South, Hatboro-Horsham, Neshaminy, Norristown, Pennridge, Pennsbury, William Tennent).
On May 7, the meets with teams from the Suburban One League are the girls-only Lady Rocker Invitational at Council Rock North (Central Bucks East, Council Rock North, Central Bucks West, Truman, Neshaminy, William Tennent), the Lower Merion Invitational at Lower Merion (Cheltenham, North Penn, Plymouth Whitemarsh) and the boys-only Neshaminy Invitational at Neshaminy (Bensalem, Central Bucks West, Central Bucks East, Council Rock South, Council Rock North, Truman, Neshaminy, Upper Dublin, William Tennent).
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