Pottstown duo looks to continue impressive run at districts

The Trojans have already enjoyed a fine track and field season under veteran coach Mary Ann Hill.

Now it’s time to see if they can go a little further as two of Pottstown’s finest headline a large contingent of Pioneer Athletic Conference athletes that will compete in the District 1 Class AAA and AA track and field championships Friday and Saturday at Coatesville High School.

“I am very excited to go to districts,” said Pottstown senior London Gregory, one of two Trojan district qualifiers that also includes senior Cameron Penn. “This is my second time around, and my goal this time is not to be nervous.”

Gregory is participating in the high jump and the triple jump while Penn makes his first appearance in the district championships and will compete in the long jump after posting a district qualifying time of 21-2 1/2.

“I want to at least get 22 feet to be competitive and everything,” said Penn. “I am definitely excited. I want to represent my school and represent my community well.”

The Trojans are coming off a 6-3 dual meet season, a successful season predicated on consistency and maintaining excitement that ultimately led to a Final Four appearance.

“We made sure they came to practice and kept their grades up,” said Gregory. “We had to keep people believing.”

“It was so exciting to be in the Final Four,” said Hill. “Being a small school, we get more out of the kids. It shows their perseverance. We had 28 kids start out as freshman and they are now graduating as seniors. Most of them are going into the service or moving on to college.”

Spring-Ford’s boys are coming off their sixth consecutive PAC-10 team championship, which was the Rams’ second under head coach Danielle Stauffer.

The Rams have a handful of boys and girls who were able to advance to districts. Among the boys are senior John Conner in the 4×800 relay and 3,200-meter run and senior Tyler Uba, who won a gold medal in the long jump, and who will also compete in the 4×400 relay. The Spring-Ford girls contingent will include senior pole vaulter Lily Baker (10-9 behind Methacton gold medalist Fallon Brown), who has the team’s highest seed at districts, junior high jumper Aleigha Johnson and junior distance standout Bella Marchini, who will run the 3,200 as well as a leg on the 4×800 relay. Marchini was the lone SF girl to qualify in an individual track event. Marchini finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:37.50 to place behind Perkiomen Valley’s Annie Glodek (11:14.40), PV’s Teag Scheinbecker (11:23.06) and Owen J. Roberts’ Autumn Sands (11:27). Spring-Ford won the girls 4×800 in 9:36.80 with a group of Marchini, freshman Emily Smith, sophomore Jenna Darlington and freshman Nandini Patel.

“We want to definitely try to make it to the finals Saturday,” said Marchini. “We have a good enough time to make it to states. The qualifying time is 9:35, and we have run 9:33.”

In the 3,200, the state-qualifying time is 11:13.5, and Marchini has a time of 11:16 to her credit.

“Hopefully, I can get that time,” said Marchini. “It will be good competition. If I do get those times, it will look good for colleges. It will open up my opportunities for going to states.”

Conner, meanwhile, will look to compete well in the 3,200 after posting a time of 9:37.20 during the season. He’ll be joined by Spring-Ford’s Jacob McKenna (9:44.20) and Zachary Smith (9:43.35) along with Phoenixville’s Sean McGinnis (9:29.12) and Dylan Smiley (9:44.96), Owen J. Roberts’ Abe Van Helmond (9:41.66) and Boyertown’s Dominic Derafelo (9:45.59).

“It’s me and Jake and Zack Smith at districts,” said Conner. “We qualified and all did it at PAC-10s. We want to put ourselves in contention to get to states.

“A lot of guys have run faster times,” Conner added. “There are a tone of qualifiers here. Hopefully, we can hang on and make it to states. The other two are looking for PRs and to set themselves up for next year.”

Uba won the long jump at 21-5, beating out Phoenixville junior Johnavin County (21-3).

“I definitely have to hit the state mark of 22 (feet),” said Uba. “Really, this is my last time jumping so I have to really go for it with everything I have. I don’t want to hold back.”

Uba will also be running in the 4×400 relay. He has been versatile with the Rams, running every event from the 100 to the 400.

Johnson won the gold medal in the girls’ high jump at 5-3 during the meet in Phoenixville. She hopes to equal or better that in a quest to make states.

“Districts is going to be a lot of fun,” said Johnson. “It will be good competition and intense. This is everyone’s only opportunity to qualify for states. If I hit 5-3, I will probably make it to states. It depends. They only take the top five or the top eight if we all hit the mark. It all comes down to how we compete.”

Pottsgrove’s boys will be represented by senior Ky’lif Underwood in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. His gold-medal winning time for the Falcons at the PAC-10 meet was 39.75.

NOTES >> Friday’s Session 1 starts at 9 a.m. with the Class AAA girls 4×800-meter relay preliminaries, followed by the AAA boys 4×800 preliminaries. That event will be followed by the girls 100-meter high hurdles and the boys 110-meter preliminaries, the girls 100-meter dash and the boys 100-meter dash. Friday’s early field events will include the girls long jump, girls shot put, boys discus and boys high jump. … Session 2 includes the girls 1,600, boys 1,600, girls 4×100 relay, boys 4×100 relay, girls and boys 400-meter dash, and girls 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Those events will be followed by the girls and boys 800-meter run, and the girls and boys 200-meter dash. Running events for opening day will conclude with the girls and boys 4×400-meter relay. Field events in Session 2 include the girls pole vault, boys triple jump, girls high jump and girls javelin. … The top finishers there will advance to the PIAA State Championships at Shippensburg University Memorial Day weekend.