Newcomer Eburuoh helps O’Hara claim 11th straight Catholic League title

MARPLE >> If you haven’t heard Schoola Eburuoh’s unique name before, it’s because the junior from Cardinal O’Hara is new to the sport of track & field.

How new?

This is her first year competing in the sport. So what did she do before she decided to join the track team?

“I was a cheerleader,” Eburuoh said. “I kind of came out of nowhere.”

As a cheerleader, she was friends with many of the girls on the track team and they talked her into coming out for the team. Since her older brother, Alvin, is on the boys team, she decided to turn in her pom-poms for a pair of spikes.

“He was there so I figured I’d have a ride to practice,” Eburuoh said.

Matt DiPretore, O’Hara’s first-year coach, is glad Eburuoh decided to give the sport a try. She was one of the many athletes who came through to help the Lions win the Catholic League outdoor title for the 11th year in a row.

Eburuoh was second in the high jump with a personal best leap of 5-0. She also was fifth in the 400, sixth in the 200 and ran the second leg of O’Hara’s 4 x 400-meter relay team that clinched the team title. Not bad for a newby.

“She’s really worked hard and put in the time, especially in the high jump,” DiPretore said. “She jumped five-foot. That surprised me.”

DiPretore was not as surprised as Eburuoh, who’s best jump prior to Saturday was 4-4.

“You should have seen my face,” Eburuoh said. “That was insane. I did not know that was going to come out of me.”
Eburuoh wasn’t the only field performer to come up big for the Lions. Lorielle Laforest was second in the shot put (35-6 ¼) and third in the discus (86-8).

“I was expecting 16 points out of the field,” DiPretore said. “We got 26. That was huge.”

O’Hara’s victory truly was a team effort. All-Delco Olivia Arizin just missed breaking the meet record while winning the 800 (2:12.70). She also anchored the 4 x 400- and 4 x 800-meter relay teams to victory, and that was one day after placing fourth in the 800 at the Glenn D. Loucks Games in White Plains, N.Y., with a time of 2:09.75.

“I was a little sore when I was running today, but it was a lot of fun racing last night and then running today,” Arizin said. “You don’t get to go back-to-back too often so it was good for me. I enjoy going back-to-back and that’s what the next couple of weeks are going to be like.”

Arizin, of course, was talking about the District 12 championships, which are Wednesday and Thursday at the Germantown Super Site in Philadelphia, and the PIAA championship a week later at Shippensburg University.
Expect her to have a lot of company.

Senior Grace Mancini closed out her career with a silver medal in the 3,200 and a bronze in the mile. Eleanor Mancini won the 3,200 and placed fifth in the mile. Her twin sister, Elizabeth, was second in the mile, third in the 800 and the 3,200. Freshman Christine Mancini was second in the 800, sixth in the 400 and part of the 4 x 400 with Arizin, Eburuoh and Brittany Winters. Winters was fourth in the 100-meter dash and anchored the 4 x 100 relay team to second place.

The Lions ruled the distance events. O’Hara swept the top three spots in the 800, went 2-3-5 in the mile and claimed the top four spots in the 3,200. Jennifer West added a fifth in the 300 hurdles. Aine Sheehan placed fourth in the triple jump.

“They don’t want to be the team that loses the title and I don’t want to be the coach who loses it, either,” DiPretore said. “I saw (former O’Hara coach John McShay) during the meet and I said to him, ‘If I lose, you may want to take it back.’ He said, ‘No way, I’m fishing now,’ but the girls made it happen. They put in a lot of hard work and it paid off today.”

Bonner-Prendergast’s Alaina Johnson went into the championships as the school record holder in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. That won’t change, but the times to break did.

Johnson won the 100 hurdles in 15.79 seconds to break the mark she held by nearly two-tenths of a second. She was second in the 300 in 45.55. That’s nearly two seconds better than her previous best, which was the record. She was also fifth in the 200-meter dash.

“I was a little scared in the 300 hurdles,” Johnson said. “I was just looking to get through it. The 100 hurdles is where I was focused. I wanted to make sure I ran over every hurdle and got all the way through.”

Bonner & Prendie coach Kevin Kee was not surprised that Johnson reset the school records in both events.

“She’s a natural hurdler,” Kee said of Johnson. “It’s how she runs, her stride, everything. I have Angela Geis, who had the school record before Alaina, coaching her and she saw the same thing. She’s a hurdler.

Jewel Ford also had a good day for the Pandas. She held off West Catholic’s Dasia Wilson to win the 100 (12.54) and was third in the 200 (12.54).

Archbishop Carroll All-Delco Carly Peters won the javelin for the third consecutive year.

Neumann-Goretti’s Janese Lynch earned Field Performer of the meet honors for breaking the meet record in both the shot put (40-4) and discus (122-7). Those marks were held by Cardinal O’Hara’s Anna McCloskey. Lynch was the Daily Times female Athlete of the Year in track last season while at Academy Park.

Teammate and Delco native Sydni Townsend was the Track Performer of the meet. Townsend won the 200 and 300 intermediate hurdles and was third in the 100 hurdles.