Boyertown’s Shalaway leads trio of state qualifiers in javelin

CALN >> Upper Perkiomen senior Eli Soto has become accustom to the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s success in javelin during his four years.

On Saturday, Soto and the three other athletes competing in the event during the PIAA District 1 Track & Field championships at Coatesville Area High School raised the standard even higher.

Boyertown’s Elijah Shalaway, Perkiomen Valley’s Cullen O’Connor, Upper Perkiomen’s Soto and Michael Felix all placed in the top six.

Shalaway took first with a throw of 199-08 and Soto finished second (185-04). Felix, who placed fourth with a throw of 175-02, will join both of them at the PIAA State Track & Field Championships next week at Shippensburg University. O’Connor placed sixth with a throw of 168-05.

“It’s been this way for a long time,” Soto said. “The PAC-10 has brought great javelin throwers to districts and now to states. It’s always been a rough competition.”

Shalaway had two events he was ranked high in before Saturday’s javelin competition. He finished

seventh in the discus on Friday and didn’t place in the shot put earlier on Saturday.

The senior admits, the javelin was in the back of his mind most of the day.

“It was kind of like trying to get to the javelin,” Shalaway said. “The other two would have been nice to make states, but javelin’s always been my best and my favorite.”

The PAC-10’s mid-distance runners also had a strong showing on Saturday. Phoenixville’s Sean McGinnis finished second in the 800 with a 1:55.84 and Owen J. Roberts sophomore Liam Conway placed third in the 1600 with a time of 4:18.58, which qualified both athletes for states.

Last year McGinnis finished sixth at districts. He finished 0.15 seconds out of fifth place, which would have sent him to states. The snub was a motivator he used this past offseason.

“This is something I’ve been working forward to ever since last year when I finished sixth here,” McGinnis said. “It’s always great to get another week to survive. The competition at states is going to be great and hopefully I’ll be able to shave some seconds off that 800 time.”

Spring-Ford’s Tim Rudderow, who is headed to states after Friday’s third place finish in the discus, placed seventh in Saturday’s shot put event with a throw of 47-05 ¾. Rams’ distance runner John Conner placed 10th in the 3200 with a 9:28.51.

The Perkiomen Valley 4×800 relay team placed eighth. The team, made up of seniors Matt Town, Jon Adams, Wilmot Osei-Bonsu and junior Keith Arano, finished with a time of 8:02.21, which was 0.17 seconds off the state qualifying time.

“Making it (to states) was on the list, but running with these guys was more important,” Osei-Bonsu said.

For two seniors, Saturday’s finals were a nice way to finish careers that were slowed by injury. Pottsgrove senior Ky’lif Underwood and Methacton senior Griffin Bilicic both made the finals in their events.

Underwood placed seventh in the 300 hurdles. After suffering a groin injury during his only race in the 300 hurdles as a sophomore, Underwood didn’t run in the event again until this year.

His time of 39.87 missed the state qualifying time by 0.07 seconds Saturday, but the PAC-10’s champion in the 300 hurdles said his performance is one he’s proud of.

“This is definitely an accomplishment for me in my first year doing hurdles (full-time),” Underwood said. “I always knew I wanted to do them, but I just never got around to it running in the (800 and 4×800). But this year I had a decision to make and I made a good decision.”

Bilicic qualified for the finals in the 100 after running a fast time in the semi-finals earlier in the day. He wound up finishing eighth with a time of 11.38.

An ACL injury suffered during his junior football season kept him from running the 100 at districts in 2015. Saturday’s trip to the district finals was the first of his career.

“District 1 is a good district, so I’m just honored to be able to run here,” Bilicic said. “It definitely feels good. I’ve been training hard all season. It’s just a privilege to run with these guys, and it’s awesome to be out here.”

“It took a lot to overcome a lot of injuries,” he added. “But I have great teammates, great coaches, so I owe a lot of my success to them.”