What planning! PA's last three Foot Locker Finalists in side-by-side lanes in the mile. St. Hubert's Amy Kelly broke up the party by taking first. But these three went 2-4-3, respectively, all under 5:10.
Where to begin? Let's start with the champs of champs. Sheena Gordon didn't quite repeat her four-win performance of last year. But that could hardly be termed a failure. SHE WON THREE EVENTS! The Triple Jump in 39-11.50, the Long Jump in 18-09.25, and the High Jump in 5-8. She missed her 4th state title by a mere .02, going 8.89 to lose to Norristown's Courtney Clark in the 60 Hurdles. OK, that's four events. Now the onesies. JakkiBailey, Kennent, took the 60 Dash over Juanita Broadduswith a 7.52. In the 400, Tiffany Abney had Broaddus finishing second when she powered to a 54.88. ButBroaddus was saving her best for her last individual event, taking Abney, Julliette Pousset, Agnes Irwin, and Clark in the hot 200, going a PA best and top ten US time of 24.02. Poussot was 2nd in 24.35, Clark 3rd in 24.77, and Abney 4th in 24.81. Amy Kelly, St. Hubert's, apparently learned how to race Julia Pudlin, Baldwin, School, at last week's Meet of Champs, waiting until the second half of the race to unleash a kick and win in 5:04.26, leading the three Footlocker Finalists in the race, Stephanie Madia, N. Allegheny (5:05.22), Pudlin (5:06.06), and Jessica Cickay, Council Rock (5:09.69). Villa Maria's Kim Malcolm rounded out the sub 5:10 group, setting a PR. Wyomissing's Debbie Huss medalled in 7th with a 5:13.29 from the 'slow' heat. Danielle Rodgers, Penn Wood, has learned how to race her competition, pulling away from Merion Mercy's Kimarra McDonald, to win the 800 with her 2:13.68. McDonald was less than two seconds back. West Allegheny's Christine Taranto ran a US#3 10:04.25 in the 3000, with Wissahickon's Erin Franklin three seconds back, followed by Hershey's Angie Saterstad with a PR at 10:10.13, and Madia, doubling in the distances, with a 10:14.91. In the Relays, Simon Gratz, William Penn, and Great Valley shared the honors, all in PA-bests. Gratz took the 4x200 in 1:42.79. Penn, the 4x400 in 3:53.05, and Great Valley the 4x800 in 9:28.52. In the Pole Vault, state leader Jocelyn Lindsay, Waynesburg, won by a foot with her 11-06.00 vault. And lean-quick-confident Cycerli Ash of Honesdale, set a PR in winning the Shot Put with a throw of 43-08.00.
A moment of silence by all (including these PA pole vaulters) for Kevin Dare, State Champ in 2000, who was killed competing in the Pole Vault for PSU @ the Big Ten Championships 2/23.The 400 was the sprint of the day, the 3000 the distance race of the day, and ALL THE RELAYS, the relay of the day. Lester Caesar, Abington, gave it everything he had, but couldn't break Glen Mills' Barry Jones in either the 400 or the 200. Jones took the longer sprint in 48.01 to win by less than .50. He repeated the achievement in the 200, going 21.87 to win by .17. That's a top 5 US time. No one outside of Central PA gave East Pennsboro's RyanBlood much of a chance in the 3000. He came within two seconds of breaking the state record held by Council Rock legend Danny Coval, going 8:39.78. Baldwin's DanMazzocco led Coateville's Rob Robertson on a comeback in the 3000, after trailing by 40 meters late in the race. The two went 8:41.22-8:40.98. Mazzocco had won the mile earlier in the day in 4:22.66, after his competition gratiously allowed him to set the pace over the first half. In the relays, Glen Mills ran an all-time US#9 of 1:28.49 in the 4x200. They also took the 4x400 in 3:18.73 after a temporary DQ for a lane violation, going 3:18.73, a top ten US time. TheNorth Penn 4x800 went a US#1 7:52.05, after the two stars of the group, Steve Craig and Dan Michael, went one-two in the 800 with a 1:54.91 and 1:56.61. In the dashes, Tyrone Diggs, Harrisburg, won the 60 in 6.91 over Greensburg Salem's Akeem Vance, who went 6.94, and Cardinal Dougherty's James Jefferson at 6.98. In the 60 Hurdles, Windber Area's Jeff Kiss surprised almost everyone setting a meet record of 8.09, to win by .01 over Penncrest's Steve Nichols. Defending champ Jesse Patterson, Cheltenham was 4th in 8.15. Glen Mills' Eric Alexander was 3rd in 8.12. In the field events, Altoona's Tyler Fedeli cleared 6-10 to edge Ray Bobrownicki of Westtown School by two inches. Super soph Andrew Rademacher, Hickory, won the Pole Vault with a height of 14-06 at the same pit where Kevin Dare, State College, had set his state record in 2000. All Gregory Long-Jumped 23-00.00 to win the state title. In the Triple Jump, Mike Whitehead, Norristown, won by less than three inches with a leap of 46-05.75. And SteveMeyers, Conestoga, continued his technical awakening by getting the 1.5 inches he missed last week, taking the Shot Put with a throw of 60-00.00. Glen Mills won the team title with 65 points, while William Penn won the girls' title again, this time with 50 points.