With depth to spare, Coatesville girls roll to yet another Ches-Mont crown

CALN >> It was déjà vu all over again for the Coatesville High School girls’ track team at the Ches-Mont League Championships Wednesday.

The host Raiders racked up 141 points, comfortably ahead of second-place Unionville (78.5). Last year at the Ches-Mont Championships, the Coatesville girls’ finished more than 80 points ahead of the second-place finisher.

Coatesville’s team is deep in talent, and five different athletes each finished first in an event for the Raiders.

“All of our girls are competitive – we had four medalists in the long jump today,” said Coatesville girls’ track head coach Keith Andrew. “If someone goes down, we have others who will step up.”

First-place Coatesville had an athlete “go down” Wednesday when junior Jordyn Worthington, the early winner of the long jump (17-04) tweaked a muscle in her leg before the completion of the 4×100 relay. Worthington was part of the Raiders’ 4×100 junior quartet of Worthington, Porsha Miles, Sammie Miller and Arianna Eberly that placed second in the Northeast 4×100 at the Penn Relays last month.

“It’s apparently a leg muscle tweak,” said Andrew a few minutes after the 4×100 was completed. “We’ll be treating her Thursday and Friday, and then next week we hope to put her to the test.”

Miles, Miller and Eberly each won an individual event. Miles won the 100 meter dash (12.16), finishing 0.41 seconds ahead of Downingtown West freshman Maya Tucker, the second-place finisher, but it was her performance in the 300 hurdles (in which she placed second to Eberly by 0.01 seconds) that pleased her the most Wednesday.

“I thought it was my best effort today,” said Miles. “I really worked on getting out and not stuttering, getting into a rhythm and not shortening my stride.”

Eberly, whose performance (43.96) was a PR for the 300 hurdles (she now has the second-best time in Pennsylvania for the event; Miles is third), said, “I slowed down for the first two hurdles, but then increased my speed. Getting off to a faster start is something I can work on. Porsha and I have both persevered in this event this year.”

Miller won the 800 meter run with a clocking of 2:19.55, not a personal record but nearly five seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

“My first lap is usually around 63 seconds but I tried to make it 65 this time, and give it a big kick at the end,” said Miller.

Coatesville senior Brooke Hutton won the 3,200 meter race with a clocking of 11:24.60, more than six seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

“I’ve been getting over a cold, but my nose cleared up just before the race,” said Hutton, who will be running cross-country and track for Duquesne University next fall. Her final race on the Coatesville track will be at Districts next week.

Coatesville also won the closing 4×400 relay with a clocking of 3:56.69, with a quartet of Miller (60.2), junior Patricia Rokins (59.0), Eberly (60.4) and Miles (56.8). Rokins finished third in the 400 meter dash earlier, posting a time of 1:00.48.

“We got a big lead and kept it,” noted Eberly.

“We fought through our fatigue,” said Miles. “We ran a lot of races today, and we’ll be running those again in Districts, so we knew we had to keep fighting.”

Unionville, the overall second-place finisher (and the girls’ winner of the Ches-Mont American Division), was closely followed by third-place West Chester Rustin (72 points). The Golden Knights had the top three discus throwers, led by the first-place finisher, senior Alessia Mattera (121-11).

Fourth-place Downingtown West (64 points) had four first-place finishers – sophomore Chloe Stanfield in the 100 meter hurdles, freshman Maya Tucker in the 200 meter dash (26.16), junior Morgan Alston in the triple jump (35-01) and the 4×100 meter relay team of Tucker, freshman Lauren Diottavio, junior Anna Miller and junior Jenna Bianco.

Bianco noted, “The two freshmen have been a key part of our relay team. We would have liked to have raced Coatesville, it’s a shame [Worthington] pulled a muscle.”

It was a day for youth at D-West, with the freshman Tucker and sophomore Stanfield contributing first-place finishes.

Stanfield said, “I wanted to get out strong and leave it all on the track.”

Downingtown West coach Tom DiSanto noted, “Chloe’s done a great job of bouncing back from an ankle injury that kept her out of winter track. She has one of the greatest work ethics you’ll ever see.”

Fifth-place West Chester East (54.5 points) had one first-place finisher, sophomore Allyson Clarke in the 1,600 meter run (5:10.80), with teammate Hanna Kelly (a senior) finishing second at 5:11.59. Clarke won the 1,600 meter race as a freshman.

Bishop Shanahan junior Mary Boland won the 400 meter dash with a PR of 1:00.09, just ahead of second-place finisher Sydney Paglia of Avon Grove (1:00.21).

“I had a minor injury a couple of weeks ago, a thigh strain, but I started out fast today, strided out then the last 150 meters I gave it an all-out effort,” said Boland.

Shanahan senior Renee Shultz finished first in the javelin (122-0).

The West Chester Henderson quartet of Allie Lister, Lucy Merrill, Alicia Stratman and Kate Conwell finished first in the 4×800 relay (9:46.45).

“Coach [Bill] Lott really prepared us for this race,” said Lister.

“He [Lott] is really motivational,” said Stratman, who set a PR in her split (2:27).

Kennett junior Meredith Krieger finished first in the pole vault; Oxford sophomore Miranda Nilan finished first in the high jump (5-01); and Downingtown East junior Victoria Rudolph was first in shot put (39-03).