Balanced Strath Haven effort earns 7th straight team title

UPPER DARBY >> Strath Haven had only one champion in the events contested at the Delaware County Girls Track and Field Championships at Upper Darby High Saturday. The Panthers added only one second-place finish on the second day of the meet, which began Thursday afternoon.

That might have been why head coach Bill Coren uttered a sigh of relief after the final scores were tallied and the Panthers’ total of 91 was enough to edge Penn Wood (86) and Upper Darby (78) for Haven’s seventh consecutive team title.

“That’s the closest this meet has been in a long time,” Coren said. “Just to show you the way our girls competed, we ran 4:02 in the 4 x 400 even though the points didn’t mean that much.

“We had some disappointments, but we really competed as a team and we had a lot of girls earn medals in a lot of events.”

The Strath Haven medals haul Saturday included senior Rachel Vresilovic’s victory in the discus and a second-place finish in the 4 x 800 relay by the team of Abby Loiselle, Grace Haase, Iasabel Nonemaker and Grace Forbes.

The Panthers also earned third-place points in the 800-meter run and 100-meter hurdles, had the fourth-place finisher in the 3,200-meter run as well as the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays, and picked up points for fifth place in the 1,600-meter run and 300-meter hurdles.

Vresilovic, who did not compete in the shot put or javelin Thursday afternoon, won the discus with a throw of 130 feet, 1 inch, which was more than four feet farther than runner-up Nina Gambacorta of Garnet Valley, the shot put champion.

“I hurt my MCL (knee ligament) and this is my first meet back,” said Vresilovic, a Swarthmore commit. “(The discus competition) was really close, and a lot of girls had their (personal best) throws today. I told (Coren) that if he needed me, I would try the shot and javelin, but he wanted me to concentrate on the discus.”

Haven junior Maddie Forbes placed third in the 800 in 2:15.21 and had a 59-second split to help the 4 x 400 relay team take fourth place.

“I made up my mind I really had to go with 200 left (in the 800),” Forbes said. “All week long (Coren) has been telling us about his plans. Some things happened I don’t think he expected, but we got some points where we weren’t supposed to.”

Grace Haase and Grace Forbes earned medals in the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 relays for Strath Haven.

Mikayla Schneider of The Academy of Notre Dame broke the meet record in winning the 800-meter run in 2:10.66. Shannon Grady of Sun Valley had set the record in 1993. Schneider also anchored the Irish to third place in the 4 x 400 relay.

“I knew I would have to go out fast,” said Schneider, who is headed to Penn. “Agnes (Mansaray of Penn Wood) was going to be there, but I didn’t know if she would be tired after running those other two races before.

“I was surprised when I got out there by myself. I just tried to keep pushing. I wasn’t really expecting to break the record.”

Mansaray earned gold medals in the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 relays, placed second in the 800 and was third in the 1,600.

“(Coach Lenny Jordan) told us we could win (the meet), so even though I was tired from Penn Relays, I wanted to run as much as I could,” Mansaray said.

Terri Turner anchored Penn Wood to victory in the 4 x 800 relay and won the gold medal in the 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash.

“I got a good start (in the 400),” Turner said. “After Penn Relays last week, my legs just didn’t feel right.
“I just wanted to be ready for this meet, then get ready for districts.”

Janae Pitt of Penn Wood won the 300-meter hurdles race early in the meet, then came back to take gold in the 100-meter hurdles.

“It was tough Thursday (in the trials),” Pitt said. “Today I got more of a break.

“I’ve been trying to make sure I get closer to the hurdles. I still have time to work on things (before the district meet).”

Cardinal O’Hara sophomore Elizabeth Mancini was the winner of the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs, with sophomore Emma Seifried of Country Day School of the Sacred Heart second in both races.

“I’ve been training a lot harder than I did last year,” Mancini said. “With 200 meters left (in the 3,200) I was excited (about winning again) and I just really went for it.”

O’Hara junior Olivia Arizin was second in the 400-meter dash, anchored the Lions to second place in the 4 x 400 relay, and was the leadoff runner for the 4 x 800 relay team, which placed third.

Academy of Notre Dame sophomore Tina D’Anjolell anchored the Irish team that included Aliyah Stokes, Alessandra Ciampi and Caitlyn Clark to victory in the 4 x 100-meter relay and placed sixth in the 100-meter dash.

“This is my first year of track,” D’Anjolell said. “I had four field hockey games this morning for Futures at Spooky Nook (near Lancaster).”

Michelle Brown-Jones of Upper Darby took the gold medal in the long jump, anchored the Royals’ 4 x 100-meter relay team to second place, and was a member of the 4 x 400 relay team, which placed fifth.

Nierra Berry of Chichester finished first in the 100-meter dash, was second in the 300 hurdles and placed third in the 200-meter dash.