Glen Mills rides to Delcos title for ‘Tank’

GLENOLDEN >> It took a little time to tabulate the team scores from the Delaware County Boys Track & Field Championships Saturday night. So while Cardinal O’Hara coach Tom Kennedy double-checked his numbers, the Glen Mills track team gathered in the middle of the field at the South Avenue Athletic Complex to await the results.

After a few minutes, Kennedy got on the public address system and announced that Glen Mills had won the overall county title. The Bulls immediately looked up and pointed to the sky.

This one was for “Tank,” longtime throws coach James “Tank” Croner, who passed away last month.

“Tank died before our meet with Interboro and Penn Wood,” said Glen Mills coach and athletic director Pete Forjohn. “The kids loved Tank and they’ve dedicated the season to him.”

No one can remember the last time Glen Mills won the overall county team title, but the Bulls piled up 128 points to end O’Hara’s four-year reign as the county champ. Glen Mills also easily won the American Conference title, while O’Hara took home the National Conference team plaque. Marple Newtown was second in the American Conference team scoring, while Upper Darby finished just behind O’Hara in the National Conference standings.

“It means a lot to us,” sprinter Keon Rantin said of winning the overall county title. “This is something we wanted. It’s another notch in our belt.”

Rantin played a big role in winning the title. He won the 100 and 200 with personal best times of 10.98 and 21.66 seconds, and helped the Bulls to gold in the 4 x 400-meter relay and silver in the 4 x 100. Marshawn Peters and Ryan Gillis were on both of those relay teams. Peters was second in the 100, while Gillis took fourth in the 400. Jhaunell Burnside picked up points with a third-place finish in the 300 hurdles and led off the winning 4 x 400-meter relay. Quadir Gibson and Semaj Robinson went 1-2 in the shot put.

However, that was to be expected. Rantin has been one of the top sprinters in the county and the Bulls did win the Suburban A 4 x 400-meter title at the Penn Relays last week, while Gibson and Robinson have been two of the top shot putters in the county.

“Rantin, Gibson and Burnside are warriors,” Forjohn said. “They’re going to go out and find a way to get the job done. Peters is that way, too. Denarii Springs pulled a hamstring and couldn’t run the 4 x 400 so Peters jumped in and he was able to get the baton to Rantin and Rantin did what he had to do.”

Throw Raheem Neal into that group. Glen Mills is not known for its pole vaulters, but Neal had the best vault of his career (12-0) to take second and give the Bulls eight huge points.

“We had a lot of guys contribute, like Shannon Lambert in the 800 and Anthony Williams, who took second in the triple jump (Thursday),” Forjohn said. “The kids just went out and did what they needed to do.”

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A lot of athletes tune out the public address announcer during meets. It’s the only way they can concentrate.

Interboro’s Mike Chamberlin is a little different than his counterparts. He actually pays attention to the PA announcer. As a sprinter, long jumper and pole vaulter it’s how the versatile senior knows where he has to be at a certain time.

Chamberlin, who is headed to Widener, bounced from one event to another Saturday and came away with a pretty good amount of medals. He won the pole vault (13-0), was fourth in the long jump (19-8½) and fifth in the American Conference and seventh overall in the 100 (11.52).

“I’ve been doing this for so long that I’m used to it by now,” Chamberlin said. “The key thing is to pay attention and stay focused. Once I get to a certain event that’s all I concentrate on.”

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Mike Levengood’s day got off to a tough start when the senior from Marple Newtown was disqualified from the 100-meter finals because of a false start.

However, Levengood did not let that disappointing beginning ruin his day. He won the 400 meters in a school-record time of 49.24 seconds and just missed getting the school mark in the 200, where he finished fourth in 22.74.

“I’m almost kind glad I false-started in the 100,” Levengood said. “I think it helped me out in the long run. I was fresh for the 400.”

Levengood is relatively new to the sprints. He was a jumper until last year when he started running the 400. He added the 100- and 200-meter dashes this year, but considers the 400 his best event and cherishes the fact that he was able to accomplish his goal of setting the school record in it.

“It’s just starting to hit me,” said as he waited to collect his gold medal for the 400. “It’s really kind of unreal.”

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With about 500 meters to go in the 1,600-meter run, Cardinal O’Hara’s Rob Morro’s dream of adding the 800- and 1,600-meter titles to the 3,200-meter crown he captured Thursday was alive and well.

And then Haverford’s James Abrahams made his move.

Abrahams passed Morro and held off a late challenge from the senior to win his first county title with a personal best time of 4:20.28.

“That’s my favorite spot to make a move,” Abrahams said. “I was a little boxed in, but I felt good. I didn’t want to go too soon because I didn’t want to burn myself out.”

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A lot of runners turned in career bests Saturday. David Whitfield of Bonner & Prendergast won the 800 in 1:55.94. He had to run that fast to hold off O’Hara’s Justin Jones (1:56.71) and Garnet Valley’s Jack Armand (1:56.77) for the title.

Evan Wildermuth of Penncrest won the long jump with a personal best leap of 21-2½. Penn Wood’s Sekou Kanneh was the only other double winner Saturday. He took first in both hurdles events.