Improved time nets O’Hara ninth in girls 4 x 800
PHILADELPHIA >> If you go on the Penn Relays website and look up the result for the girls 4 x 800-meter Championship of America from Friday, you will see that Cardinal O’Hara placed ninth in the 12-team field.
Forget the finish. That’s not important.
All that mattered to Olivia Arizin and the Mancini sisters — Christine, Elizabeth and Grace Mancini — was the time.
A day earlier, that quartet ran 9:18.84 to finish fourth in their heat and earn the final spot in Friday’s final at the 122nd Penn Relays Carnival.
With Elizabeth and Grace Mancini switching positions, the Lions knocked off more than three seconds to turn in the second-best time in the county this season (9:15.68) behind the 9:12.07 Penn Wood put up Thursday to win the first of the two small schools heats.
And that’s just what the Lions wanted.
“It’s a lot better than yesterday,” Grace Mancini said. “We’re happy with it, especially since Liz and I aren’t really 800 runners.”
“Yeah,” said Elizabeth, “the 800 isn’t my race.”
The 800 is Christine Mancini’s favorite event and most people know that Arizin is one of the top 800-meter runners in the state, even when she’s feeling a little under the weather as she was Friday. Still, she did not let that stop her from running a 2:12.33 leadoff leg.
“I’ve missed a few days of school this week,” Arizin said. “It’s like a head and chest cold, but I woke up feeling better today and decided to give it a try. All I wanted was to get the baton to Christine in a good position. I went out and gave it everything I had.”
Grace Mancini switched spots with Elizabeth to take some pressure off of her younger sister.
“It’s hard running on back-to-back days like this, especially early in the season,” Grace Manini said. “She had sore legs and we just decided to switch.”
It paid off in a better time.
Penn Wood was not as fortunate. Terri Turner, Elicia Moore, Agnes Mansaray and Janae Pitt struggled in the finals. The Patriots finished 12th in 9:26.33.
That same foursome also ran in the 4 x 400 Thursday, but Penn Wood coach Lenny Jordan did not blame the result on tired legs.
“It’s a young team and we made some mistakes,” Jordan said. “We’ve got to fix those mistakes and we have time to do that. We’ll be better the next time around.”
Turner, Moore, Mansaray and Pitt don’t have to wait long to get back on the track. They’re in the Philadelphia area 4 x 400-meter championship Saturday.
In other girls action Friday, Edwin Allen of Jamaica won the 4 x 100 Championship of America (45.73). Cheltenham was fourth in 46.48. Edwin Allen also captured the 4 x 400 Championship of America (3:40.88). Union Catholic, out of Scotch Plains, N.J., was the top U.S. team.
