County, two others take home wins to open PAC-10 Championships
PHOENIXVILLE>> After Johnavin County’s feet hit the ground he knew he’d done something he’d never done before.
The farthest the Phoenixville junior triple jumper had ever leaped was shorter than 42 feet before Friday’s first day of Pioneer Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships at Phoenixville High School.
On his first attempt in the boys triple jump, County surprised even himself with a jump of 43-1½ to claim first place in the event.
“I jumped it and I was just like, ‘Wow!” County said. “It was mind-blowing. It’s crazy.”
“I’m just so excited. I’ve never jumped so far before. That’s the first time I’ve ever hit a 43. I’ve never hit a 42. Then I just hit a 43 out of nowhere, craziest thing.”
County’s jump tied the best mark by a PAC-10 athlete this year. Pottstown’s London Gregory, who finished fourth on Friday, achieved the feat last Saturday at the Lower Merion Invitational.
“I think it was just me being excited to perform,” County said. “I made it to PAC-10s and I was just so excited and pumped and then I hit a 43.”
Placing behind County were Pottsgrove’s Mike Ziegler in second and Pottstown’s Eugene Nelson in third.
The triple jump was one of three events on Friday to name a PAC-10 boys champion. The other two events were the 3,200 meter and the discus, won by a pair of Spring-Ford standouts. Senior John Conner captured the 3,200 while senior Tim Rudderow threw his way to gold in the discus.
The 3,200 was one of the most exciting events of the afternoon. None of the competitors could pull away from the pack until the final stretch where they were cheered on by coaches, teammates and fans in attendance.
“There were people switching every time,” Spring-Ford sophomore Jacob McKenna said. “I’d go from third back to seventh and then surge back up again. Until the final straight away, I didn’t really set myself apart.”
After rounding the final turn on the last lap, McKenna and Rams’ senior Conner were eventually the ones who separated themselves from the rest of the competition. Conner beat out McKenna to win the race with a time of 9:42.02.
“It was awesome,” Conner said of crossing the finish line. “That’s been my dream since freshman year. Everything has gone great this year and I hope to do well at districts.”
The Rams had three of the top four finishers in the 3,200. Phoenixville’s Dylan Smiley chased down Spring-Ford sophomore Zachary Smith, who collapsed at the finish line, to prevent a Spring-Ford medals sweep in the event.
“At Spring-Ford we like to run in like a pack,” Conner said. “We don’t have Paul Power anymore, so together if we can just group up and get the numbers in there, that’s usually what we like to do.”
The rainy weather made for less than ideal conditions for the discus. Last year’s PAC-10 champion Boyertown’s Elijah Shalaway, who came into Friday with the league’s best throw, fouled on all three of his throws and failed to reach the finals.
Spring-Ford senior Rudderow, who finished fourth in 2015, ended the day as the PAC-10’s discus
champion.
Rudderow’s first finals throw of 146-5 was his longest, but his next two, which both eclipsed 144 feet, would have won him the event as well.
“I thought I threw pretty good,” Rudderow said. “I would like to throw a little better, but overall I liked it.”
Following Rudderow was teammate Ted Dylinsky in second. Dylinsky reached 141-6 on his first finals toss. Owen J. Roberts’ Aidan Hayward finished third.
Rudderow said it was nice to have a pair of Rams taking the top two spots in the event.
“It feels great to get one and two,” Rudderow said. “It’s varied at some points (throughout the season). Either it would be me on top or he just wouldn’t throw as good. … But altogether both of us did pretty good today.”
The preliminaries for the boys 100, 200 and 110 hurdles also took place on Friday. Methacton’s Nick Shaffer and Griffin Bilic had the fastest two qualifying times in the 100 and 200. Spring-Ford’s Stephen Chapman had the best qualifying time in the 110 hurdles.
The finals for those events will be on Saturday when the PAC-10 Track & Field Championships conclude at Phoenixville. Competition starts at 9 a.m.
