Penn Wood’s Kanneh happy with win, not his time
CALN TWP. >> The rain stopped just in time for the finals in the boys’ Class AAA 110-meter hurdles Saturday afternoon at Coatesville Area High School.
Penn Wood’s Sekou Kanneh did not let the wet track or the fact that he’d clipped a couple of hurdles to keep him from winning the event and running his career best-time at the District One Track & Field Championships.
Kanneh blazed to victory in 14.74 seconds to edge Souderton’s Colin Harker by two-tenths of a second for the district title.
“I think if I could have gotten over that last hurdle I know would have run a faster time,” Kanneh said.
Kanneh will have that chance at the PIAA Championships.
“I think I can go 14.5,” Kanneh said. “Hopefully I can do 14.1.”
That was a start of a busy day for the senior. He followed that with a third-place finish in the 300 hurdles (39.29) and then teammed up with Dennis Manyeah, Ndiaga Seck and Kenny Johnson for fifth place in the 4 x 400-meter relay (3:22.02). Seck also took third in the 400 (49.53).
For Glen Mills, the last month of the season has been about honoring assistant coach James “Tank” Croner, who died unexpectedly midway through the campaign.
That especially goes for the throwers, who worked closely with Croner.
Quadir Gibson was not thinking of himself after he won the Class AAA shot put with a throw 51 feet, 7½ inches. His mind was on Croner.
“He helped me a lot,” Gibson said. “My first throw was 38 feet and I ended up throwing 53-9 (during the indoor season). Coach Tank was out there every day, making us work. This is for him.”
Tank would have been happy because Gibson won and teammate Semaj Robinson took third in the shot put.
The efforts by Gibbons and Robinson, and another big day from Keon Rantin helped the Bulls take third in the team competition. Rantin took fourth in the 200 (22.02) and helped Glen Mills place second in the 4 x 400 (3:19.21) and third in the 4 x 100 (42.53). Marshawn Peters, Denarii Springs and Ryan Gillis were on the 4 x 1 with Rantin, while Gills, Springs, Jhaunell Burnside and Rantin made up the 4 x 4. Burnside also was eighth in the 300 hurdles.
So Rantin is headed to Shippensburg in three events, which isn’t unusual for him.
“It’s all about how you practice,” Rantin said. “If you practice hard the meets are easy.”
Springfield’s Liam Galligan and Haverford’s James Abrahams made it to the PIAA Championships in cross country last fall and now the All-Delco runners are headed to the state meet in track.
Galligan finished second and Abrahams was eighth in the Class AAA 1,600-meter run.
Galligan’s strategy was to stay with the favorite, and eventual winner, Josh Hoey of Downingtown West for the entire race. It worked out well. Hoey won in 4:15.92. Galligan took second in 4:17.93.
“I’ve raced against him before,” Galligan said. “I ran against him at indoor states and I knew he was going to dictate the first half (mile). He obviously turned it up and I was able to respond, but not with the kick. He had the harder kick.”
That’s how Abrahams was able to advance on time. He put on a final burst to cross the finish line in 4:24.05.
“It wasn’t too much of a fast pace,” Abrahams said. “I think we went out in 2:11. I was in the pack and it was kind of a chess match where everybody was waiting until that last lap to make their move.”
Even though the meet was run at an accelerated pace because of the weather, District One officials did take a 20-minute break between the 200-meter dash and the 4 x 400-meter relay. That worked out well for Upper Darby’s Gianni Lawrence.
After taking seventh in the 200 in a state qualifying time of 22.39 seconds, the break gave him the time he needed to recover and team up with Amir Gordon, Temidayo Kamson and Jared Carter to place eighth in the 4 x 400 and advance with a state qualifying time of 3:20.33.
Springfield’s Ache Hall qualified for the PIAA Championships in two more events. He was third in the 110-meter high hurdles and sixth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Chichester’s Ray Argo gave Delco three medalists in the 110 hurdles. He was eighth.
Marple Newtown’s Mike Levengood is moving on, too. The senior finished sixth in the 400 (49.94) to earn his first trip to the state meet.
