Penn Wood girls still chasing records in rain

CALN TWP. >> The intermittent rain, heavy at times, didn’t bother Penn Wood’s Janae Pitt, Agnes Mansaray, Elicia Moore and Terri Turner.
Neither did the cool temperature or competing in multiple events at the District One Track & Field Championships Saturday at Coatesville Area High School.
The Patriots’ 4 x 400-meter relay team saved its best for last with a near record performance to win the Class AAA event going away. Penn Wood finished in 3 minutes, 46.86 seconds. The meet record is 3:46.62.
“Oh my god,” Turner said.
“Really?” Pitt added.
It’s true, but not a surprise. Nearly a month ago, the same group set the county record, 3:46.76, in nearly similar conditions at the Penn Relays at rainy Franklin Field.
“It was worse than this at Penn Relays,” Pitt said.
On that day, Turner, Pitt and Mansaray did not run other events, as they did Saturday.
Turner was fifth in the Class AAA 400 (56.47 seconds) Saturday. Pitt took second in the Class AAA 300 hurdles (43.96) and Mansary, an All-Delco and a state runner-up in the 800, took second in the metric half-mile (2:09.69). Those were three of the four events that preceded the 4 x 400.
“It comes from the way we practice,” Penn Wood coach Len Jordan said. “We just run and run and run. It’s all falling into place. That’s why we didn’t run the 4 x 800. With all the other events they’re in, and the trials, we wanted to give them a break somewhere and they were happy that they didn’t have to run 300 races.”
“It’s all about strength, physical and mental,” Turner said.
The Patriots derive that strength from Jordan and assistant coach Elroy Hunter.
“Coach Hunter helps us with the mental game and Coach Lenny helps us with the physical part. Intense workouts, but it’s worth it for meets like this where we compete as individuals, but come back and work together in a relay.”
“We see the results and it encourages us to come back and work a lot harder,” Pitt added.
Pitt took the baton out in 58.7 seconds, Jordan said. Mansaray looked gassed after the 800, but it was her second leg that put the Patriots in front and on a pace to challenge both the meet and county records. She took the lead in the first 100 meters and ran a 55.4 split after running the 800.
“As I like to say, ‘No pain, no gain,” Mansaray said.
Moore kept the Patriots in front with a 58.5 split and Turner brought the baton home in 55.3 seconds.
“I’m very pleased,” Jordan said. “I’m not shocked, but I am impressed. “They have a lot of character. They’re tough, they don’t complain and they listen. They ran great today, and not just in that race. Turner ran hard in the 400. Pitt did a great job in the hurdles and Agnes ran 2:09 in the 800. I’m really proud of them.”
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Garnet Valley’s Nina Gambacorta took a positive approach after finishing second in the Class AAA shot put on Friday. Instead of dwelling on the fact that she was not able to defend the district title she won last year, the South Carolina-bound senior focused her attention on the discus.
It paid off. Gambacorta edged Strath Haven’s Rachel Vreslovic to win the discus with a throw of 120 feet, 11 inches. She hit that mark on her final attempt of the day.
“My mental game was good today,” Gambacorta said. “I was really focused and ready to go, ready for a big throw.”
And she did not let the rain affect that mental approach.
“It’s more about the circle,” Gambacorta said. “When it’s wet like that you hold back a little bit because mentally you don’t want to slip. You make sure you’re focused so that doesn’t happen.”
It was the second top-three finish at the district championships for Vresilovic. She threw 118-7 to earn a third trip to the PIAA Championships in four years.
The best thing is that her ailing knee is doing much better.
“The last month has been a bummer because it’s been hurting, but I’m fine now,” Vresilovic said. “I don’t really worry about it.”
The discus was like a Central League get-together. Lower Merion’s Vanessa Poe finished seventh (106-6) and Ridley’s Izzy Hamlin placed eighth (105-11).
“It was great,” Vresilovic said. “I was so happy for all of us.”
“I’ve thrown farther, but I was happy to get a medal,” Hamlin said.
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Strath Haven is headed to Shippensburg in the 4 x 800-meter relay after a one-year absence. Grace Forbes, Grace Haase, Isabel Cardi and Maddie Forbes were hoping to break 9:20. They ran 9:21.17 to take fourth and earn an automatic berth at Shippensburg.
“A second or two in this weather, we’ll take it,” Maddie Forbes said. “It was tough running in the rain and you could really feel the cold, but you just had to deal with it.”
The Panthers also had to deal with their coach, Bill Coren, who was giving them a hard time afterward for not running under 9:20. Deep down, though, he was pleased.
“I’m very happy with the way we ran, especially the fact that Maddie ran by herself at anchor and the girl from Great Valley (Amy Willig) caught up with her at the end,” he said. “It’s hard to run by yourself. The great thing is Grace Forbes, Grace Haase and Isabel Cardi handed off in third place.

That’s great for them. Cardi ran three second better than last year. Haase ran two seconds better than last year and Maddie Forbes ran about the same. We’re going to get on the podium at states. My team is running well.”
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Upper Darby girls coach Brad Gilbert was happy with the performances of Sugar Henry and Victoria Robinson. Henry earned an eighth-place medal in the triple jump (35-3), while Robinson was ninth in the triple jump (35-1 ½) and got up to finish her heat in the 100-hurdles semifinals after a nasty spill.
“If you look at the triple jump, everyone is about a foot shorter than usual and that’s because of the weather,” Gilbert said. “It is what it is and you have to deal with it. I was proud of Victoria because she went and did the triple jump after taking that fall. She really gutted it out.”