Upper Darby sprinters steal the show at Great Valley
It was an early wakeup call for the Upper Darby boys track team Saturday. The Royals were on the road by 6:45 a.m., which meant there were quite a few groggy athletes as the bus wound its way to Great Valley High School for the R. Joseph Kellerman Relays.
The ride home, though, was livelier.
The Royals set two school and meet records and claimed three gold medals overall. And that came one day after a solid performance in the New Balance Warrior Invitational Friday at Henderson High School in West Chester.
Akeim Thomas, Mason Weh, Deshon Pace-Robinson and Gianni Lawrence set the school and meet records in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200, winning the 4 x 1 in 42.22 seconds and the 4 x 2 in 1 minute, 28.50 seconds. The Royals also won the shuttle hurdles relay.
A day earlier, Donovan St. Louis set the school record while winning the 200 (22.00) at Henderson. St. Louis also was first in the 400.
The Royals weren’t the only county team to have a big day. Penncrest All-Delco Evan Sing set the school record in the javelin with a heave of 202 feet, 4 inches. Sing teamed with Daniel Fisher to win the javelin relay.
Milton Jones of Glen Mills won the shot put and teams with Shamir Weeks-Hunter to place first in the shot put relay. For Jones, it was his second gold medal in as many days. He won the shot put at the New Balance Warrior Invitational. Teammate Marquis Bridges was first in the triple jump at Henderson.
Strath Haven’s Colin Waitzman took first in the pole vault at Great Valley. Stephen Pierce of Haverford High was first in the discus.
The ladies also did well at Great Valley. Strath Haven set a pair of meet records. All-Delco Rachel Vresilovic and teammate Ellie Stief were second and third, respectively, in the discus relay and set the meet record with a combined throw of 223-10. The Panthers also set the meet record of 54.75 seconds while winning the 4 x 100-meter throwers relay.
Penncrest took first in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays. Cardinal O’Hara won the 4 x 1,600-meter relay. Episcopal Academy captured the sprint medley relay.
Val McLaughlin and Maddy Moore of Ridley won the long jump relay with a combined leap of 33-4 ¾. McLauglin was the individual winner in the event.
The Upper Darby girls had a big day Friday at Henderson. Shannon Birch won the 100 and was fourth in the 200. Victoria Robins was second in both hurdles events. Michelle Brown-Jones took second in the long jump and the Royals also won the 4 x 800 and finished second in the 4 x 100.
