All photos by Howard Anderson
High school indoor track and field came to Lehigh for the final time this season for the TFCAofGP Meet of Champions. We saw some great performances as we hit the one week until states mark. Check out our recap below and some other meet links, too.
Kyle Garland kept the momentum from last week rolling into this Saturday. The Germantown Academy junior ran a new PA#1 of 8.00 in the 60 meter hurdle finals for the victory by a large margin. Garland also won the high jump yet again, clearing 6-4 for the win.
Downingtown East's Jeremy Jennings looked very strong in the 60 meters. Jennings went 6.87 to tie the meet record in the prelims, and then the senior ran a PA#3 6.85 in the finals to out-duel Coatesville's Terrance Laird for the win. Laird clocked a strong 6.88 for second. Absent from the final was Imhotep's Ade Jones-Roundtree, who false started out of his prelim heat.
Imhotep's Kristian Marche picked up a convincing win in the 200 meters. The junior ran 22.20 to win by .61 over second place. That also matches Marche's time from last week in the event. In the 400 meters, Council Rock North's Mike Welde picked up the victory in a time of 50.58, holding off a late charge from Downingtown East's Mitchell Gill.
Souderton's Connor McMenamin won the 3000 meters in 8:48.00, a new PR for him in the event and a PA#5. In the mile, Coatesville's Colin Mihalak won in 4:27.49.
William Tennent's Matt Kraus was a surprise winner in the 800 meters. The senior ran 1:58.77 from the first of two sections (supposed to be the slower heat). That was better than Kamil Jihad's 1:58.90 from the second heat, so Kraus picked up the victory.
Cardinal O'Hara ran well in the DMR. Anchor leg Ryan James made up some good ground on the field to take the lead and held off a last lap surge from CB West for the win. O'Hara clocked a 10:33.65, a PA#3, while West was second in a PA#410:34.17. In the 4x800 later in the day, Central Bucks East earned the win in a PA#9 8:09.03.
Hatboro-Horsham's Nick Marino continued his winning ways this season in the pole vault. Marino cleared 15-5 to break the meet record that stood since 2012. Marino looks to be the favorite headed into next week's state meet.
The big jumps were rolling in in the triple jump on Saturday. Same big marks came in from some of the state's best. Souderton's Shamar Jenkins picked up the narrow win with a 46-11. That improves upon his own PA#2. Strath Haven's Dayo Abeeb took second with a jump of 46-9 to move up to PA#3. Penn Charter's Akeem Blake placed third with a PA#5 45-8.5 and Imhotep's Akeem Cooper was fourth with a PA#6 45-2.5.
Upper Dublin's Brian Kaufmann claimed another win in the long jump. The PA#1 jumped 22-2.5 for the win over LaSalle's Alex Sislo, who jumped 22-1 for second.
In the shot put, Pennridge's Griffin McMann edged out West Chester Rustin's Connor Cummings by an inch and a half for the win. McMann threw 52-1.5 to Cummings' 52-0.