There was a coming out party at Villa Maria today. Two years ago, a freshman named Abney burst onto the PA high school scene and upset the balance of power in the sprints. This year, there's a new freshman who came within a tenth of a second of upsetting Kennett star Jakki Bailey (left, winning100) in the 200. In the process, she reached her season goal of running in the 24's. Krista Simkins, who came through the AAU club process, went 24.8 in the prelims, and then 24.3 (Wissahickon school record) in the finals, as Bailey won in 24.2, a new meet and track record. "My starts are terrible. When I get that going, I'll be OK." Simkins has set a new goal of "getting in the 23's." She is just one of many talented athletes on Wissahickon this spring. "This is my best team since the early 80's" says Wissahickon coach Mike Walker. And it showed again today, as his squad had seven top three finishes in the individual running events, swept the relays, and took top honors in four of the seven field events. Baily also took the 100, winning comfortably in 11.9. The distance stars had a good day, getting some nice doubles. Kim Malcolm of the host Hurricanes, won the 1600 in a top PA season time of 5:06.1, then came back to win the 800 in 2:20.6. Kelly O'Connell, Coatesville, was 2nd in the 1600 at 5:09.4, while Wissahickon's Erin Franklin was 3rd in 5:10.5, less than an hour after setting a three-second PR(O'Connell, Franklin, Malcolm below at start of
1600)for the 800 with a split of 2:24.7 in the 4x800, with her team winning with their 9:43.7. West Chester East was 2nd with a 9:55.7. Wissahickon also took the 4x100 (49.4) and the 4x400 (4:04.0). Wissahickon Jump specialist Alex Baptiste won the Triple Jump with her 36-00.50, and the Long Jump with a leap of 16-05.75.