Girls' 60-Meter Dash Preview
Thelma Davies will be looking to make history on Sunday by winning her fourth consecutive indoor 60 meter dash title. The Girard College senior has been winning and setting records ever since her freshman year.
This year, however, Davies will get perhaps the best challenge that any PA runner has ever given her for a state title. The long-awaited matchup between the senior Davies and freshman Fore Abinusawa will finally come on Sunday.
Abinusawa from Germantown Academy has taken the sprint world by storm this season, not unlike Davies did three years ago. The ninth grader has run a best of 7.33 for 60 meters, which matched Davies' all-time PA state record, in winning the Millrose title. Davies, meanwhile, has run a best of 7.44 in the 60 meters this year. At Millrose, she moved up to race the pros.
The race will be interesting, with the two top seeds likely not squaring off until the finals. There are prelims and then semifinals before that. Making it through those rounds safely will be crucial. Davies has a habit of peaking at the right time. Abinusawa is still a bit of an unknown, but she's appeared to handle the bright lights well to this point in her young career. Could experience win out or will the newcomers' fire burn brighter?
Ultimately, this will be the best race of the state meet. Quite simply, it will come down to who is fastest on Sunday. The state meet record (7.37 by Davies from last year) and the overall state record (7.33 shared by Davies and Abinusawa) are obviously on high alert and it will likely take a record-setting performance to win.
Those two are the overwhelming favorites here, but, of course, there's some good depth after them. Lower Merion's Aja Davis was second last year as a junior. Now a senior, she's running well once again and looks to be peaking at the right time. North Allegheny's Casey Burton has run 7.68 this well, and has been running the best times of her career. She's dominated the TSTCA this winter, not losing once. Burton was sixth last year. Warwick's Leah Graybill also just keeps getting faster with a best of 7.68. She just missed the finals a year ago, but she'll be a good bet for a high finish this time around.
Warwick's Lily Palacio-Lewis, Fox Chapel Area's Kate Carnevale, Obama Academy's Raven Haston, and Springside Chestnut Hill's Sabria Epps are among the other contenders in this deep field.
Don't miss out on this race!
Entries:
Event 5 Girls 60 Meter Dash (24) Prelims ============================================================ =================== Meet Record: 7.37 2/25/2018 Thelma Davies, Girard Colle Name Year School ============================== ============================== =================== 1 Abinusawa, Moforehan 9 Germantwn Acad 2 Bosman, Khaliyah 11 Bish McDevitt 3 Burton, Casey 11 North Allegh 4 Carnevale, Kate 12 Fox Chapel 5 Davies, Thelma 12 Girard College 6 Davis, Aja 12 Lower Merion 7 Elam, Chelby 12 Science Lead 8 Elwell, Emma 11 Boyertown 9 Epps, Sabria 10 Spside Chestnut 10 Foster, Brianna 10 Ridley 11 Graybill, Leah 12 Warwick 12 Haston, Raven 12 Obama Acad 13 Hebron, Sanaa 9 George School 14 Hock, Jordyn 11 Conestoga Valley 15 Hsu, Marissa 12 CR North 16 James, Teliyah 11 Norristown 17 Mucci, Faith 11 Greater Latrobe 18 Palacio-Lewis, Lily 11 Warwick 19 Quinn, Meghan 11 Warwick 20 Stovall, Bailie 10 Friends' Central 21 Timmons, Dominique 12 Upper Darby 22 Trout, Madison 9 Sthrn Lehigh 23 Wagner, Molly 11 Thmas Jefferson 24 Walker, Kayla 12 Harry S Trum