Seck’s blazing anchor leg finishes the job for Penn Wood
PHILADELPHIA — Penn Wood’s Ndiaga Seck had one goal when he received the baton from Dennis Manyeah for the anchor leg in the Philadelphia area 4 x 400-meter relay Saturday at the Penn Relays: Go get Upper Darby’s Gianni Lawrence.
“The other guys ran too well not to do it,’ Seck said.
The young man whose first name is pronounced “Yaga’ accomplished his mission.
Seck ran a blistering 47.49 second final leg to lead the Patriots to their first Philly area title in the event since 2012 and the third championship in the race in the last five years.
The Patriots (Ahmere Ponzo, Charlie Wells, Manyeah and Seck) turned in the fastest time in the county and one of the fastest times in the state, according to pa.milesplit.com, to top Deptford, N.J. and Penncrest for the title.
Penn Wood crossed the finish line in 3 minutes, 19.58 seconds. Only Cheltenham had run faster going into the Penn Relays. The Panthers, who placed fifth in the Championship of America 4 x 400, were the only other team from the state to run faster at Penn this weekend than Penn Wood.
“That’s who we’re going after,’ Manyeah said.
Half the teams in the Philly area 4 x 400 final were from Delaware County. Penncrest (Dion Durnell, Evan Emanuel, James Teal and Soham Kamat) ran strong to take home the third-place medal. Emanuel (49.35) and Teal (49.53) both ran sub-50 second splits to bring home the bronze.
Upper Darby (Donovan St. Louis, Jaren Carter, Temidayo Kamson and Lawrence) was game, but St. Louis and Lawrence were running their third race of the day and it showed as the Royals finished sixth.
“It was tough,’ Lawrence said.
UD did not go home empty-handed. Lawrence, Carter, St. Louis and Mason Weh edged Penncrest earlier in the day to win the Central League 4 x 400 for the second straight year and qualify for the Philly area final. St. Louis ran a blistering 47.88 anchor leg to win the title.
The quartet of Akeim Thomas, Weh, St. Louis and Lawrence took fourth in the large schools 4 x 100 in a school-record time of 41.26 seconds. The Royals edged Cheltenham to claim that crown.
Like Upper Darby, The Haverford School (Nick Biden, Derek Mountain, Micah Sims and Max Arias) just missed out on a medal in the Philly area race. The Fords were seventh in 3:25.03. That time was nearly a full second faster than the quartet ran earlier in the day to win the Inter-Ac League race for the first time in a long while.
“I’ve been going here since the sixth grade and I don’t remember us winning it,’ Arias said.
The Fords had a very special spectator on hand to see them in the Philly area race. Vice President Joe Biden, Nick’s uncle, was on hand to see his nephew and his teammates take on the best 4 x 400 teams in the area.
The day, though, belonged to Penn Wood. Ponzo, Wells, Manyeah and Seck led from start to finish to in the Suburban A race, even though Seck had the same problem Villanova’s Stephanie Schappert had in the college women’s DMR Championship of America Thursday.
“I didn’t know where the finish line was so I just kept running,’ Seck said.
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In other action, Penncrest (Mariah Kozub, Briana Artis, Megan Kitchen and Alicia Collier) finished 12th in the girls Philadelphia area 4 x 400. Katie Arbogast usually runs the leadoff leg for the Lions, but she is nursing a slight hamstring problem and assistant coach Mike Clark elected to keep her out of the race.
“It’s not worth it,’ Clark said. “We still have a lot of big meets coming up.’
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Strath Haven (Alexis Bratsis, Paul Somaru, Ahmir Gordon and Greg Kotchick) finished third in the Central League 4 x 400 with a time of 3:28.15. Radnor (Peter Cooke, Connor Holm, Noah Hearne, Andre Kelly) placed fourth in 3:29.96, followed by Conestoga (Nate McLachlan, Killian Nelson, Dan Kralik, Jimmy Cooper) in 3:29.16.
Chester (Ryan Rucker, Braheem Bishop, Pervis Bush and Kamil Jihad) picked up a medal with a third-place finish in the boys Suburban A 4 x 400 in 3:27.72.
Episcopal Academy (Jermaine Rhoden, Sam Pope, Zahir Coldwell, Jake Jorgensen took fifth in Inter-Ac 4 x 400 in 3:33.47.
Thanks to the way the schedule broke, the Catholic League 4 x 400 final was part of the 2 ½ hour national television broadcast. Cardinal O’Hara (Isiah Cooper, Kevin James, Jeff Govannicci and Tamir Jones) took third in that race.
Delco Christian (Michael Logie, Alex Harvey, Ben Chung, Morgan Ellis) took third in the Suburban Ches-Mont boys 4 x 400. Ellis ran a 49.16 anchor split to bring the baton home in 3:28.74.
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It was a tough day for Marple Newtown’s Gurjett Rai and Strath Haven’s Colin Waitzman in the pole vault. Rai cleared the opening height of 13 feet, 3 ½ inches (4.05 meters) on his second attempt, but could not get over the next height and finished tied for 12th. Waitzman did not get over the opening height.
Reggie Harris of The Haverford School placed 12th in the triple jump. He had his best leap (44-8 ¾) on his final attempt of the day.
