Wissahickon’s Black guts out an 800 win at Panther Classic

WYNCOTE >> Lotte Black’s first words after powering her way across the finish line?

“I can’t feel my legs.”
It was that kind of night — a cold, blustery night — at the Panther Classic Friday evening, but a night in which athletes like Black persevered through the elements and found their way to victory.
Black, in fourth place with 200 meters to go in the 800, went to a gear that was unmatched, sprinting into the teeth of the wind around the final turn.
“My legs were frozen but I guess my arms pulled me through,” the Wissahickon senior said. “The wind was blowing but we’ve been doing 200’s in practice. With 200 to go, I just thought ‘give it everything.’ It worked out.”
Black pulled into the lead and did not relinquish it, crossing in 2 minutes, 20.29 seconds in an impressive field that included three heats of three dozen runners. She held off Penn Wood’s Agnes Mansaray (second, 2:20.89) and Pennsbury duo Lizzy Kirk (2:20.90) and Maddie Sauer (2:21.77) to take top honors in a closely-contested finish.
“The Pennsbury girls passed me on the back stretch and I knew their seed time was faster,” said Black, seeded third in the race going in. “So I kind of just stayed at my own pace and then at the end I realized that I could pick it up a little, so maybe I could catch them.”

Black, a distance ace for the Trojans, has been mixing in some 800’s to go with her usual work in the mile.
“Been doing a lot more speed work at practice,” said Black. And it certainly came in handy around that final turn.
It was a big night for the senior, who would earn her second win of the night when she helped the 4×400 relay race to victory, their time of 4:10.82 pushing them past Penn Wood (4:17.94) for the top spot in the final event on the track.
Central Bucks West, meanwhile, had raced to a commanding victory in the 4×800 relay, finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. The Bucks put together a winning time of 10:02.91, with Upper Darby taking second in 10:34.35.
Out in the field, Abington shot putter Sianni McCleod (40-7.5) and Upper Dublin discus thrower Jennifer McAneney were the best in their respective events.
And then, there was host Cheltenham.
The Panther girls took home a total of seven first-place finishes, dominating the sprints and hurdles.
Madison Langley-Walker took both the 100 (14.61) and 300 hurdles (46.01) as well as the long jump (17-2.75), Chanel Brissett was a double winner in the 100 (12.02) and 200 (25.46) dashes, Alexis Crosby sprinted to a 400 win (58.04) and the 4×1 relay combined their efforts for a 48.28 finish, impressive not only for early April but also in the cold of Friday night.
“That’s a heck of a time to start the season,” Panthers coach Kelly Jensen said. “What you want is for kids to race, but not get injured, and I think we escaped that.”