Erin Hannon, Bradford, was named the Female Athlete of the PA Track Classic after she took 1st in HJ at 5-6, 1st in TJ (new meeet record of 38-08.50), and 2nd by 1/2" in LJ (17-02.50). Brandon Mobley of Hempfield was the Male Athlete of the Meet after a 1st in both Shot Put (50-10.50) and Discus (154-02).
Four Photo Galleries and Select Pix from the 3/25 PA Track Classic @ Plymouth-Whitemarsh
Weekend Highlights: It was cold, damp, cloudy... and basically a great day for ducks and distance runners. But for sprinters and jumpers, it was a day to be careful with hamstrings and not risk the season on an early meet. But that didn't stop two sprinters from earning Track Athletes of the Meet at the 22nd Pennsylvania Track Classic @ Plymouth-Whitemarsh... as Ryann Krais of Methacton and Kenneth Talley of Simon Gratz dominated their events, as did Erin Hannon of Bradford, who set the only meet record on the day. The West Chester Henderson girls showed their depth in relays with three top four finishes at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships... and simply picked up where the left off in their first outdoor meet at the Phoenix Relays @ Phoenixville HS... taking the 4x100 in 50.16, the 4x200 in 1:47.44, the 4x400 in 4:05.99, the Sprint Medley Relay in 4:34.11, and the Distance Medley Relay in 12:56.32. At the Brother Jerome Invitational @ Saint Basil, Archbishop Prendergast and host Saint Basil dominated the relay part of the meet, with Basil taking the 4x800 in 9:58.9 and the DMR in 13:03.3; and Prendie winning the 4x200 in 1:39.5 and tying Bishop McDevitt in the 4x100 at 52.4. The host Liberty girls captured six of the contest on both the track and in the field events at the "Pop" Emrey Warm-Up Relays @ Liberty HS to take the team title with a whopping 174 points. It mattered not that the Strath Haven girls were competing in the small school division at the Chichester Relays @ Chichester HS. They would have won six of the track/field relays in either division. As it was, they captured a whopping 11 of the events in Division II, six on the track and five in the field.Over 900 pix for the PA Track Classic now on. Please send results for other meets listed below.
3/25: 22nd Pennsylvania Track Classic @ Plymouth Whitemarsh HS: It was cold, damp, cloudy... and basically a great day for ducks and distance runners. But for sprinters and jumpers, it was a day to be careful with hamstrings and not risk the season on an early meet. But that didn't stop two sprinters from earning Track Athletes of the Meet... as Ryann Krais of Methacton and Kenneth Talley of Simon Gratz dominated their events. Krais made it through the day unscathed, while Talley shut down after anchoring the winning 4x100 with a tweaked hamstring (no pull, thankfully).
Their time was 43.46 after a tough challenge from Penn Charter, 2nd in 43.79. He had posted a 22.93 in the 200 Trials, fastest on the day. Krais swept her three individual events, going 12.70 in the 100 Trials and winning the event in 12.68. In between, she went 43.94 in the 300 Hurdles; then came back to win the 400 in 57.31 and anchor the 2nd place 4x400 with a 57.0 split to 4:13.61. Gratz's Khaliff Featherstone and teammate Kevin Talley went one-two in the 400, 50.87 to 51.10. Gratz also took the 4x400 in 3:29.95. The day started with two strong DMRs, as the Cardinal O'Hara girls went 12:48.15, leading wire-to-wire, and the Wissahickon boys caught Simon Gratz at the line to win 10:45.51 to 10:45.55. In the 4x800, the Wissahickon girls went 9:50.22 to beat Radnor by just under five seconds.
Methacton soph Ryann Krais was named the Female Track Athlete of the PA Track Classic after
wins in the 300 Hurdles (43.94), the 100 (12.68), the 400 (57.31) and a 57.0
anchor to bring her team 2nd in the 4x400.
Kenneth Talley, Gratz, had the fastest 200 of the day in the Trials at 22.93.
He tweaked a muscle in the winning 4x100, and shut down for the day.
He was named the Male Athlete of the PA Track Classic.
3/25: Brother Jerome Benway Invitational @ Saint Basil Academy: Archbishop Prendergast and host Saint Basil dominated the relay part of the meet, with Basil taking the 4x800 in 9:58.9 and the DMR in 13:03.3; and Prendie winning the 4x200 in 1:39.5 and tying Bishop McDevitt in the 4x100 at 52.4. Erinn McMahon of Saint Basil won the 100 Hurdles in 15.4 and the Long Jump with a leap of 17-02. Her teammate Beth Crossin took the 300 Hurdles in 46.4. Chanel Tartt-Minor of Girls High won the 400 in 58.2 and was 2nd in the 300 Hurdles. Julia Dougherty of Archbishop Wood won the Javelin with a throw of 126-03. In the boys' competition, Dane Davis, Neumann-Goretti, went 50.4 to take the 400, with Central's John Kennedy 2nd at 50.4.
3/25: Chichester Relays @ Chichester HS: It mattered not that the Strath Haven girls were competing in the small school division. They would have won six of the track/field relays in either division. As it was, they captured a whopping 11 of the events in Division II, six on the track and five in the field. Their best performances on the day included a 50.8 4x100, 4:04.4 4x400, 1:07.4 Shuttle Hurdles, and 12:47.7 DMR. In the Division I girls action, Downingtown East won the team title taking the 4x400, Sprint and Distance Medley relays, and the Long Jump and Pole Vault relays, as well. Cardinal O'Hara set a meet record in the 4x1600, going 21:48.5. There were four meet records on the boys' side. Upper Darby went 3:22.4 to win the Sprint Medley Relay in Division I, which helped them capture the team title by one point over Downingtown East. In Division II, Strath Haven won the team title behind two meet records, one in the 4x1600 at 18:33.5, and a 2nd in the DMR with their 10:45.5 using three of the same runners in both events (Chris Free got to race the mile twice.). And Penncrest set a meet record in the Pole Vault Relay, with Tim Ohm and Jerry Thompson combining to tally 25'. Upper Darby posted a quick 3:22.4 SMR and Academy Park took the two sprint relays, winning the 4x100 in 44.2 and the 4x200 in 1:31.9.
3/25: Christiana Relays @ Christiana DE HS: The Garnet Valley boys and girls teams traveled to Delaware and came away with 12th and 11th place team showings, respectively. The girls took 2nd in the Shuttle Hurdle Relay in 1:14.63, while the boys were 3rd in the same event in 1:12.05. The boys' 4x400 went 3:37.42 to take 4th.
3/25: Phoenix Relays @ Phoenixville HS: The West Chester Henderson girls showed their depth in relays with three top four finishes at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships... and simply picked up where the left off in their first outdoor meet... taking the 4x100 in 50.16, the 4x200 in 1:47.44, the 4x400 in 4:05.99, the Sprint Medley Relay in 4:34.11, and the Distance Medley Relay in 12:56.32. Three of the marks were meet records, the 4x100, the 4x400 and the DMR. Coatesville's Tierra Flowers and Sequoia Mcball teamed to set a meet record of 33-11.75 in the Long Jump Relay, pretty much splitting the difference as Flowers leapt 16-11.75, a quarter inch beyond her teammate. Pottsgrove's Megan VanBuskirk went 36-02 in the Triple Jump. Coatesville's Kaleena Gray put the shot 41-01.50. The Phoenixville girls set a meet record in taking the 4x800 in 10:04.54.Travis Savidge, Exeter, went 43-05 in the Triple Jump. The West Chester Henderson boys went 18:15.39 to set a meet record in the 4x1600. Coatesvllle captured the DMR in 10:57.86.
3/25: "Pop Emrey" Warm-Up Relays @ Bethleham HS: The host Liberty girls captured six of the contest relays on both the track and in the field events to take the team title with a whopping 174 points. The Liberty boys were 2nd to East Stroudsburg South by just 3.5 points. Two of the top relay performances of the day belonged to Pocono Mountain West, who went 51.2 in the 4x100 and 1:54.8 in the 4x200. Individually, Liberty's Beki Finn and Becky Frye were best in the Pole Vault, clearing 11-06 and 11-00, respectively. Liberty's Mike Edwards long-jumped 21-07, and teammate Kristi Conti won the girls' LJ with her 16-07 effort.
Weekend Preview: While the number of teams is down a few this year, the quality at the Pennsylvania Track Classic remains at its traditional high level. Highlighting the meet will be multi-event athletes Ryann Krais of Methacton and Erin Hannon of Bradford. Krais won her first attempt at the Pentathlon just two weeks ago at the Nike Indoor Nationals. Hannon, competing with an upper respiratory infection, took 4th. The two were the top seeds in the 100 meter hurdles, but Krais has bowed out of that event. Krais will be in the 300 Hurdles and 400 Meter Dash where she is the top seed in both... along with the 4x400. Hannon will be the top seed in the any event with "Jump" in it... the High, Long and Triple. Wissahickon's Serita Lachesis and Gwynedd-Mercy's Taylor Bumpas, a freshman, will take their nationally ranked 800 speed to the track. Both are sub-2:15. In the 4x100, Penn Wood and Upper Darby should light it up.
The boys' Distance Medley Relay should be a great race with three "A" teams going head-to-head in Wissahickon, Cardinal O'Hara and Hatboro-Horsham. Wissahickon and O'Hara will be joined by fellow sub-8 minutes 4x800 squad Upper Dublin in what should be a hot race. State College and Council Rock North should also be in the mix at the front. The boys of Simon Gratz will be showing their early season form in the 200 (Kenneth Talley), 400 (Khaliff Featherstone), the 4x100, and 4x400. Featherstone will have Council Rock North's Rick Goettel to contend with in the open one-lapper. Elliot Rhodes of Germantown Academy and Matt Gordon of Upper Dublin come in as the top two seeds in the 800... but there are five other guys who have gone sub-2 in the race. In the 3200, Keith Capecci of Council Rock North will go head-to-head against fellow Foot Locker Finalist Josh Hibbs of Hatboro-Horsham. Capecci missed states with a minor injury. Penn Charter's Kamal Marell looks to get off to a good start in the 110 Hurdles. And you may want to glance behind you from the stands during the boys' Javelin, as Cumbarland Valley's John Austin, Cheltenham's Matt Daniele and Bradford's Rob Bleem square off.
There will be quite a few strong teams at the Chichester Relays (thanks to Bill Coren for the info). BOYS Div. 1 – Upper Darby Ohara (some going to PA Track Classic), Monsignor Bonner, West Chester East, Downingtown East, Chester, Academy Park. (Upper Darby is the likely favorite, but there are a # of strong teams here). BOYS Div.2 – Penncrest, Strath Haven, Chichester, Springfield, Sun Valley, Radnor, Harriton. (Strath Haven appears to be the clear favorite to win this division). GIRLS Div.1 – Upper Darby (some going to PA Track Classic), West Chester East, Chester, Cardinal O'Hara, Downingtown East, Penncrest, Academy Park. (Downingtown East looks strong here.) GIRLS Div.2 – Interboro, Strath Haven, Chichester, Sun Valley, Springfield, Nazareth Academy, Harriton, Padua Academy DE. (Padua and Strath Haven should battle it out here!)
Also kicking off the season will be the Brother Jerome Benway Invite at Saint Basil Academy, the Phoenix Relays at Phoenixville, the "Pop Emrey" Warm-Up Relays at Liberty, and Christiana Relays in Newark, DE.