North Penn girls, CB West boys among the elite at Penn Relays

PHILADELPHIA — Even before the race, the respect and recognition begins cascading down from the stands.

“It was amazing,’ said the Maidens’ Ali Valenti, “hearing people you don’t even know cheering for North Penn.’

Valenti and her 4×800 teammates, Steph Bresadola, Mikaela Vlasic and Phoebe Clowser, went against some of the best runners and relay foursomes in the world on Friday, battling their way to an eighth-place finish in the 4×8 Championship of America at crowded Franklin Field.

NP’s 4×8, followed by the Maidens’ seventh-place 4×4 later in the day, were part of a successful afternoon for locals, as the 121st Running of the Penn Relays went full stride into day number two, drawing a crowd of 39,130.

The Maidens, coming off a spectacular qualifying run in the 4×8 on Thursday, when they hammered out a 9:22.20, switched up their order a bit in an attempt to gain an early edge. Although they were going after a higher place, the experience itself could prove to be quite an asset as North Penn hits its stretch run.

“It was great competition,’ Valenti said, “really good practice for leagues, districts and states.’

North Penn’s foursome of Valenti, Bresadola, Vlasic, and Clowser improved their time overall from Thursday, finishing in 9:21.55.

They outraced McDonogh School of Maryland (9:26.05), rival Pennsbury (9:28.88), Glass High of Virginia (9:29.44), and Wilson, out of West Lawn (9:30.0).

Holmwood Tech of Jamaica won the race in 9:01.31, powered by Lisa Buchanan’s 2:10.87 anchor leg. Western Branch of Virginia raced to the runner-up spot (9:07.71), followed by Vere Technical of Jamaica (9:13.06), Great Valley (9:14.81), Cornwall of New York (9:17.87), Unionville (9:19.39), Ridge (9:19.82), and NP at No. 8.

“(The race) definitely had a different vibe,’ said Clowser, who anchored the Maidens with a solid 2:19.01 split. “We’re not used to chasing so many people.’

Chances are the Maidens, who were third out of PA teams, won’t be chasing many in the postseason as they try and make a push for the state gold.

The North Penn 4×4, which had the fastest PA time this spring with a 3:52.10 on Thursday, topped that on Friday in the Championship of America race with a time of 3:52.06.

The Maidens’ foursome of Uche Nwogwugwu (56.7), Leiana Dean (57.9), Mikaela Vlasic (59.77) and Allison King (57.66) raced to a seventh-place finish, battling past Columbia (N.J.) in the elite field of eight.

Edwin Allen of Jamaica won the race in 3:40.41, followed by Vere Technical of Jamaica (3:42.18), Nansemond River of Virginia (3:43.03), Holmwood Tech of Jamaica (3:43.53), St. Jago of Jamaica (3:43.96), and Western Branch of Virginia (3:46.21).

Advancing out of Friday’s boys races, meanwhile, was the Central Bucks West 4×800, which qualified for Saturday’s Championship of America at 4 p.m.

The Bucks’ foursome of Andrew Baker (2:00.81), Jake Claricurzio (2:01.14), Carter Zerweck (2:00.50) and Rock Fortna (1:56.87) ran a 7:59.31, the ninth fastest time out of 65 teams on Friday.