Rudderow’s discus bronze leads PAC boys on Day 1
Of the four Pioneer Athletic Conference athletes who stood at the winners’ podium and received medals around their necks at Friday’s District 1 Track & Field Championships at Coatesville Area High School, Methacton’s Pat Maloney may have been the most surprising.
Spring-Ford’s Tim Rudderow, the Pioneer Athletic Conference champion in the discus, placed third in the event and was the PAC’s highest finisher on Day 1. Boyertown’s Elijah Shalaway was the No. 2 seed in the discus before he finished seventh, and Pottstown’s London Gregory was the No. 9 seed in the high jump before he tied for fourth.
As the No. 21 seed, Maloney exceeded even his own expectations while throwing against the top throwers in the district on Friday. He finished fifth in the discus and is headed to represent the PAC-10 with Rudderow and Gregory at the PIAA Track & Field Championships.
“I really wasn’t expecting it going in,” Maloney said. “I just barely qualified. I was seeded 21st and out of nowhere it just happened.”
Maloney did not have the ideal practice week heading into his biggest meet of the season. He made mistakes he’d never made before and struggled to get his throws past 120 feet.
Then, something clicked. He set a personal best by more than eight feet.
“Today I was calm and relaxed,” Maloney said. “I used muscle memory and just let it fly.”
At last year’s district meet Rudderow, who is a Kutztown football commit, finished in 10th place.
Spring-Ford’s Tim Rudderow headed to States with a third place finish in the discus. pic.twitter.com/Lg8gYyQQ3r
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) May 20, 2016
He had confidence for a better finish at districts following his PAC-10 championship last week.
“My plan was to try to get to states,” Rudderow said. “I wanted to get 152 (feet), but I was happy with a 145-6. I’m happy I’m going to states. … It’s a big accomplishment. I wanted to do that since junior year, and I’m just pumped to be there.”
Gregory also came into Friday’s meet with the intention of extending his high school career for one more meet before he heads off to Duquesne University in the fall.
Pottstown’s London Gregory talks about fourth place high jump finish: pic.twitter.com/r9kLD7xmno
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) May 20, 2016
He logged a jump of 6-1 on Friday and is excited for another chance to improve upon the mark.
“I really wanted to make states this year,” Gregory said. “Senior year, I wanted to go all out. Also I was interested, I just wanted to see what it’s like. Especially doing track in college, I want to know the competition level before I go out there. I don’t want to be surprised.”
“I definitely have a lot more,” he added of his potential to improve on the 6-1 jump.
Shalaway was the favorite in discus at last week’s PAC-10 championships, when he fouled on his first three throws and failed to make the finals.
After a strong week of practice he was able to get a throw in on Friday, but his toss of 142-6 was still well short of his season best throw of 155-8.
“I just couldn’t duplicate what I was doing in practice and just didn’t quite make the cut,” he said.
The Boyertown thrower, who is headed to Wake Forest next year, will be the favorite in the javelin and ranked fourth in the shot put heading into the second day of districts on Saturday.
“Javelin’s definitely my main event, so it’s nice to have that to go after and be excited for and use this to build for better throws in the other events,” Shalaway said.
Slo-mo of Spring-Ford’s Chad Smiley in the pole vault. pic.twitter.com/2sMIZECyR9
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) May 20, 2016
Friday also consisted of qualifying action for Saturday’s last day of competition.
PAC-10 athletes to qualify include Owen J. Roberts’ Liam Conway in the 1600, Pottgrove’s Ky’lif Underwood in the 300 hurdles, Methacton’s Nick Shaffer and Griffin Bilicic and Boyertown’s Dan Heller in the 100 and Phoenxiville’s Sean McGinnis in the 800.
Heller also qualified for the 200. Underwood needs to shed an eighth of a second off his time from Friday in order to qualify for states.
Perkiomen Valley’s 4×800 relay and Methacton’s 4×100 relay qualified for Saturday’s finals.
Competition resumes Saturday at 9 a.m. at Coatesville Area High School.
