Springfield earns long-awaited title

LOWER MERION >> Adding the year 2016 to the championship banner that hangs in the gold gym simply wasn’t enough for Liam Galligan, Ache Hall, Philip Shovlin and the rest of the Springfield High boys track team.

The Cougars wanted something more, something tangible, after going 11-0 in the dual-meet season to win the program’s first Central League title since 1990.

“We wanted a trophy, not just a banner,” Galligan said. “We want the trophy for the team.”

And since the boys coaches in the Central League award a trophy to the winner of the league championship meet, the Cougars made sure they brought that piece of hardware home with them from Lower Merion High School Wednesday.

Springfield won the team title and did so in the same fashion it won the dual-meet crown. The Cougars concentrated on the individual events at the expense of the relays.

“We didn’t win a relay in the regular season, but we can go three deep in a lot of individual events,” Springfield coach Barry Foster said. “That’s how we went 11-0.”

Just like in the dual meets, Springfield’s depth prevailed. Liam Galligan won the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. Hall, a senior, was first in both hurdles and the long and triple jumps. Shovlin was first in the 100 and second in the 200. Dashawn Dale won the high jump. Nick Fox was second in both hurdles. Joe Cardie was second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600. Owen Galligan placed second in the discus and Dan Archibong was third in the javelin.

The Cougars didn’t just win or score points, many of them turned in the best performances of their careers.  

Hall had personal bests in the 110 hurdles (14.64 seconds), 300 hurdles (39.42), long jump (21-5½) and triple jump (45-7), according to pa.milesplit.com. Galligan recorded his career best in the 3,200 (9:52.26). Shovlin turned in his best times in the 100 (11.17) and 200 (22.84). Dale’s leap of 6-2 in the high jump was the best of his career. Archibong had the best throw of his career in the javelin (142-10).

“This was about individuals today, this was about the team,” Galligan said. “Everyone went out and did their best for the good of the team.”

“The kids really wanted it,” Foster said. “You could see it. They were really focused today.”

Galligan and a few of the others saw to that.

“We told everyone last week, before Delcos, that we have to keep our mind focused,” Galligan said. “After we beat Penncrest and Harriton (to win the regular-season title) we told each other that we’re not done with this whole Central League thing yet. We’ve got to focus. We have one more meet to put it in everyone’s mind that we’re the best this year and everyone came through.”

The Cougars have the trophy to show for it.

“It means a lot to be the champion,” Hall said. “We put in a lot of hard work and it’s nice to see that work pay off.”

In other boys action, Amir Goodwin, Gianni Lawrence and Jared Carter helped Upper Darby win all three relay events. Lawrence also was the individual champ in the 200. Penncrest’s Mike Arndt was first in the discus and second in the shot put. Marple Newtown’s Mike Levengood took first in the 400. James Abrahams of Haverford won the 800. Peter Deeb of Strath Haven captured the shot put and Haverford’s Peter Shevchenko won the pole vault.

Usually, Upper Darby’s Victoria Robinson is so busy she needs a schedule to keep track of her events. But head coach Brad Gilbert decided to give the senior a “break” and limit her to two events, half the usual number she competes in.

However, it wasn’t much of a break since the two events in which she was entered, the 100-hurdles and the 4 x 100-meter relay, were back-to-back on the schedule so Robinson had to sprint right to the relay after winning the hurdles. Naturally, she teamed with Jerenita Sokan, Cydney Edwards and Michelle Brown-Jones to win the 4 x 1.

“My coaches get me ready for it,” Robinson said. “They’ve trained me to run back-to-back like that.”

Elsewhere, Garnet Valley’s Nina Gambacorta won the shot put and discus, ending the three-year reign of Strath Haven’s Rachel Vresilovic in the discus. Breanna Fisher of Strath Haven won the javelin for the second straight year. Teammate Grace Forbes won the 1,600 in a personal best time of 5:09.23. Haverford’s Maddie Santoro made it two straight league titles in the high jump with a personal best leap of 5-3.  

Senior Alicia Collier ran a 58.1 anchor split as Penncrest won the 4 x 400. Cassidy Moretti, Megan Kitchin and Tara Higgins were on that team.