Davies Blasts 7.43 60m; Langley-Walker Wins 2; Cheltenham Cleans Up: DVGTCA MoC Recap

Alexis Crosby (Cheltenham) / Photo by Patty Morgan

It was a great night of races to kick off the first of three championship meets around the state this weekend. The DVGTCA Meet of Champions at Lehigh University brought out some top-tier talent per usual and the performances reflected it. Check out some meet links below as well as a recap.


Thelma Davies just keeps getting faster. The Girard College sophomore and state record holder proved she's ahead of schedule from last year, running 7.43 to run away with the win in the 60 meters. That's a PA#1 and US#7 for the the girl that is already US#1 in the 55 meters.

Watch an interview with Davies after the race:

Madison Langley-Walker of Upper Dublin sure does bring her A game to the Meet of Champs. Last year, she won three events. This year, she won two events, but the winning marks were more impressive than a year ago. Langley-Walker won the long jump, bettering her PA#2 with a jump of 19-0. That got the junior over that 19 foot barrier for the first time in her career. She also PR'd in the 60 meter hurdles, running an 8.66 to take second. She closed out her evening by winning the triple jump with a leap of 37-10.

It was a big night for Cheltenham. The reigning indoor and outdoor team state champions brought home plenty of hardware on Friday night.


Chanel Brissett won the 60 meter hurdles in a time of 8.43. It's no season best for the star, but she also took second to Davies in the 60 meter dash, right after the hurdles. There she did clock a season best with a 7.61.

Alexis Crosby had a great come-from-behind win in the 400 meters. Neumann Goretti's Mykala Perry took the race out very hard, but Crosby laid bck early and overtook her on the final lap. Crosby ran a time of 56.98 and Perry ran an impressive 57.41 for second.

Then MaryGrace Rittler posted a runaway win in the mile. Rittler gapped the field by a large margin and timed in at 5:07.43 for the win. Brianna Smith kept up her terrific freshman campaign by taking another win in the high jump. Smith cleared 5-4. Cheltenham then closed out its night winning the 4x200 without its full A squad, running a time of 1:43.82.

North Penn had a strong meet as well. They started it off, winning the 4x800 and holding off a hard-charging Strath Haven squad for the win. Then Mikaela Vlasic won the 800 meters in a time of 2:14.41. Abington's Kelly Jawork was second in 2:14.99. The North Penn ended the night with a 4x400 win in 4:00.32.

Pennridge's Kouri Peace won the 200 meters. She ran a flat-track season best of 24.88 for first place. Peace revealed afterwards that she missed the beginning of the season due to a serious knee injury she suffered during soccer season. But she's back on the track now and hopeful she can try and defend her state title in the 200 next week at indoor states.

Watch an interview with Peace after the race:

Neumann Goretti's Janese Lynch threw a season best of 45-11 to win the shot put by a large margin. Lynch won by over seven feet! That brings her closer to Tori McKinley's state leading mark in the shot put as well, setting up what should be a great matchup at the state meet next week.

One of the night's more exciting races came in the DMR. Padua Academy from Delaware saw a massive comeback from 1600-meter anchor leg Lydia Olivere. Olivere made up a huge gap to take the win from Penn Wood, which led right from the gun. Padua won in 12:18.88 behind an unofficial split of 4:57 from Olivere. Then Olivere won the 3000 meters later in the night in a time of 10:28.