Warren, Glodek get PV off to strong start at PAC-10 Championships
PHOENIXVILLE >> For Perkiomen Valley’s Christina Warren, Perkiomen Valley’s Annie Glodek and Boyertown’s Sarafina Valenti, Friday’s opening day of the Pioneer Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships turned into a gold-medal day despite rainy, dreary weather conditions.
The trio of girls copped first-place gold medals in the three finals events that were staged on Day 1 of the two-day competition at Washington Field. Another event that was scheduled to be contested, the girls’ pole vault, was delayed until Saturday morning at 9 a.m. when the championships resume.
Warren and Glodek were two key components to Perkiomen Valley’s perfect 9-0 run through the PAC-10 in dual meets. Here, Warren leaped 38 feet, 2 inches, to claim her gold medal in the girls’ triple jump. Later, the Vikings’ Glodek turned in an 11:14 with a strong finish in the 3,200 meters to take home her gold medal. Glodek, a junior, and Perkiomen Valley teammate Teaghan Scheinbecker, a sophomore, finished 1-2 in the 3,200 meters to give the Vikings some big early points.
Valenti, the versatile Boyertown throwing events star, came up big when she had to in nailing down the gold in the discus with a heave of 108 feet, 8 inches, with her best throw coming on her first attempt. Valenti will return to compete in the javelin and shot put.
Warren, who is just a freshman, had her sights set on hitting 39 feet in the triple jump. But while she fell short of that distance, she was still happy to land on top in first place and also recorded a personal best in the process.
“I wanted to hit 39,” said Warren. “I hit 38-2, which is pretty good, too, being my PR by a half-inch. I just started doing the triple jump. My hurdles coach said it is not surprising at how good I am doing in it because of how good I do in hurdles.”
Warren also had the best qualifying time in the preliminaries for the 100-meter hurdles with a 15.24 clocking. She won her heat handily.
“I started with sprints, and now I just am doing hurdles and jumping – long and triple,” said Warren.
Spring-Ford’s Aleigha Johnson placed second to Warren in the triple jump with a distance of 38-1.
Methacton junior Rainah Dunham placed third at 37-0¼ while Methacton sophomore Fallon Brown was fourth at 35-7½. Spring-Ford freshman Devin Rawley came in fifth at 35-6½ and Pottsgrove sophomore Miazziah Rose was sixth at 35-5½. Spring-Ford junior Samantha Watkin was seventh at 35-5¼, and Owen J. Roberts freshman Corrrin Ferrizzi completed the top eight at 34-6¼.
Warren said the weather conditions did not have as much of an impact as expected.
“It was warmer than the last time we ran so I am pretty happy with it,” said Warren.
The top seven finishers in the girls’ triple jump advanced to the District 1-AAA Championships, which will take place next week at Coatesville High School.
In the 3,200, Glodek and Scheinbecker ran behind Spring-Ford and Owen J. Roberts runners during the early stages of the race. But three Perkiomen Valley runners then picked up the pace and ran as a group in the third of the eight laps needed to complete the race. In the middle of the race, seven competitors were all close as a group at the front as leaders of the pack. Finally, Glodek took over the race with help from Scheinbecker and wound up winning the race by a good distance. Glodek was officially clocked at 11:14.40 with Scheinbecker at 11:23.06.
Owen J. Roberts sophomore Autumn Sands finished third (11:27) and earned a place to districts as a top 3 finisher along with the PV pair.
“We started off kind of slow,” said Glodek. “Then we relaxed and that was good. A lot of us have to run a lot of races tomorrow (Saturday). Then we start to get the paces faster.”
Spring-Ford junior Isabella Marcini was fourth at 11:37.50, Perkiomen Valley junior Michele Daniels fifth at 11:42.57, Owen J. Roberts sophomore Alex Glasier sixth at 11:48.57, Spring-Ford sophomore Gabriella Bamford seventh at 11:48.75 and Perkiomen Valley senior Hannah Stolpe eighth at 12:01.95.
Valenti enjoyed good fortune on a day when some other contestants in the discus were not as fortunate.
“They (throws) were all right,” said Valenti. “I really think putting my first one out there and finishing definitely helped me throughout the rest of the competition.”
There was some concern that the rain would make footing slick and quite difficult for the discus. But that turned out to not be the case. All of the girls handled the conditions admirably and came up with some good throws.
“It was a little bit slick on the standing throws,” said Valenti. “My spin hasn’t been the best, but it was good today. The rain stopped so it (discus) wouldn’t slip out of your hands.”
In the discus, Perkiomen Valley senior Katie Armstrong took second at 99-3 with Owen J. Roberts junior Maddie Alvaro third at 97-3, Owen J. Roberts junior Stephani Heighton fourth at 96-6, Phoenixville sophomore Riley Kappenstein fifth at 91-8, OJR senior Harley Ginnona sixth at 90-9, Perkiomen Valley senior Amia Boone seventh at 88-9 and Pottstown junior Jamya Greer eighth at 88-7.
NOTES >> In preliminaries Friday, Methacton senior Caroline Duffy ran a 12.26 in the 100-meter dash for the top time and she was followed closely by Owen J. Roberts junior Teneisha Myers at 12.34. … In the 200, it was Duffy at 24.83 and Myers at 25.04. … In the 100 hurdles, Warren’s 15.24 was followed by Phoenixville senior Keri Marini at 16.18.
