Chester native Jihad takes 800 for Neumann-Goretti

MARPLE >> If you decided to head to the snack bar or the bathroom during the boys 800-meter run at the Catholic League Track & Field Championships Saturday, you missed a heck of a race.

Neumann-Goretti’s Kamil Jihad, a transfer from Chester, Cardinal O’Hara’s Justin Jones, David Whitfield from Bonner & Prendergast and Stephen McClellan of St. Joseph’s Prep put on quite a show.

The quartet jockeyed for position throughout the race, with Jihad coming out of top in 1 minute, 54.89 seconds. Jones (1:56.24), Whitfield (1:56.24) and McClellan (1:56.60) were not that far behind. But don’t look for a repeat in the District 12 championships this week at the Germantown Super Site. Neumann-Goretti will be competing in Class AAA, while O’Hara, Bonner & Prendergast and the Prep are in Class AAA.

Still, for those who saw it, the 800 was fun to watch.

Jihad wasn’t surprised that the race went down to the wire. Neither was Jones, Whitfield or McClellan.

“We were all close coming in,” Jihad said. “I knew I had to stay with them and leave something for the end.”
Jones made the first move and Jihad went with him, as did Whitfield and McClellan.

“I knew Justin ran a 1:55 earlier this year and David ran 1:55 last week (at Delcos) so I knew they were going to come in to win,” Jihad said. “I had to go out there and run my best race.”

Jihad’s time topped the 1:55.74 he ran to finish second at the 2015 Delco championships. Jihad started the 2014-15 school year at Neumann-Goretti, but transferred to Chester after a few weeks.

“Some things happened and I had to go back to Chester,” Jihad said. “I was able to work things out and got back to Neumann-Goretti this year. It’s a good move for me. The workouts are great and the school has great academics.”

Jones was trying to follow up on a great anchor leg that helped the Lions claim gold in the 4 x 800-meter relay and a strong third leg that enabled the Lions to claim silver in the 4 x 400.

“I couldn’t sit back and let them go because all of those guys are really fast,” Jones said. “When I went 1:55 in a dual meet I was tops in the Catholic League and then it seemed like everybody went 1:55 after that. Once one guy gets a PR (personal record) everyone wants to PR.”

That’s to be expected this time of year.

“Oh yeah,” Jones said. “Everyone is stepping it up. Everyone is being aggressive. This is the Catholic League. The 800 is always going to be close and I’m just glad to be part of it.”

Whitfield has stepped it up in the last few weeks. The junior won the Delco title with a blistering time of 1:55.94.

“I’m trying to take it to the next level and, hopefully, knock off some money for college,” said Whitfield, who said he has received recruiting interest from the University of Maryland.

La Salle won the team title with a meet-record 211 points. Alex Sislo provided 30 of those points with wins in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. He accounted for three of the 10 first-place finishes by the Explorers. That performance earned Sislo Field Performer of the meet. Miles Green of St. Joseph’s Prep earned Track Performer of the meet following wins in the 300-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash.

Cardinal O’Hara finished a distant second behind the Explorers largely behind the efforts of Jones, Tamir Jones (no relation), Quentin Francis, Obinna Iherjirka, Rob Morro, Ryan James and Patrick James, among others.

Tamir Jones was fifth in the 200 and was on the 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter relay teams that finished second. Francis led off the winning 4 x 800 team that included Justin Jones, Derek Sacks and Justin Lombardi. Iherjirka took third in the 200 and fourth in the 800.

Morro ran his best time of the year (4:21.03) to finish second in the mile. Yes, they run the mile in the Catholic League, not the 1,600. The James brothers had a good day, too. Ryan James was third in the mile (4:22.57), while younger brother Patrick was second in the 3,200-meter run (9:41.28) and fifth in the mile (4:25.17). The times in the mile were the best for both of the James brothers. Andrew Lombardi gave the Lions a 2-3 finish in the 3,200.

It was a good day for the Eburuoh family. While sister, Schoola, earned four medals on the girls side, older brother Alvin went home with three medals. He was fourth in the triple jump, fifth in the long jump and 100-meter dash for the Lions. Other medal winners for O’Hara were: Derrick Patrick (fifth 300 hurdles),

Ethan Cook took fourth in the 200-meter dash and the triple jump to pace Bonner & Prendergast. Also for the Friars, Anthony Parker placed fifth in the 3,200 and Brylan Brown took sixth in the 300 hurdles.