Upper Darby’s Dhillon/Shah combo clicks at Haverford Invitational

HAVERFORD >> The 800-meter run really isn’t Syed Shah’s thing. The senior from Upper Darby is more comfortable in the 1,600 or the mile.

“I don’t get to run the open 800 too often,” Shah said.

Teammate Jarnail Dhillon, on the other hand, prefers the 400 and 800 over longer distances yet they have this symbiotic relationship that paid dividends for both runners at the Haverford Invitational Saturday.

Dhillon won the 800, thanks to a push from Shah. Both runners turned in the best times of their career as Dhillon crossed the finish line in 2 minutes, 0.95 seconds and Shad earned his second silver of the day with a time of 2:01.38. He also took second in the 1,600.

“We work together in practice all the time,” Shah said. “We push each other and I think that has made both of us better.”

Shah came within five seconds of his personal best in the 1,600, which isn’t bad for this early in the season. He had the lead until he was passed on the final turn by Jimmy Vazzana of Our Lady of Good Counsel out of Maryland.

“We didn’t take it out too fast,” Shah said. “The way the race was going I felt I had to go with two laps to go, but I felt I ran a good race.”

The windy, damp conditions did not bother the athletes from Glen Mills. The Bulls came home with a host of medals. Denarii Springs led a 1-2 finish in the 200 with teammate Jarwho Flahn, who also was fourth in the 100. Keon Rantin won the 400. Rami Marsh and Chaz Cowan went 1-2 in the 300 hurdles. Marsh also was second in the 110 high hurdles. Rantin and Springs also claimed gold in both the 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter relays.

Rantin, Springs and Tawfeeq Abdul-Lateef and DaQuan Dantler won the 4 x 100 in a meet-record time of 43.39 seconds. That time also qualified the Bulls for the District 1 Class 3A championships.  The Bulls finished first and qualified for districts in the 4 x 400 (3:26.11) and they weren’t finished. Quadir Gibson and Semaj Robinson went 1-2 in the shot put. Robinson also earned a fifth-place medal in the discus.

Strath Haven’s Dayo Abeeb won both the long jump (20 feet, 10½ inches) and the triple jump (44-7½). Teammate Cooper Driscoll took the javelin with a District 1 Class 3A qualifying throw of 166-1.

Anthony Harper of Bonner & Prendergast easily won the 3,200 in 9:41.84. Teammate Ethan Cook was fourth in the 400 and triple jump.

Elias Lindgren anchored Episcopal Academy’s distance medley relay team to a gold medal with its best time of the season (10:58.58). He also was third in the 3,200. Peter Cooke’s strong anchor leg helped Radnor win the 4 x 800 (8:21.54).  

Daiyaan Hawkins of The Haverford School was third in the 100 and fourth in the 200. Tony Graham of Ridley captured the gold medal in the 110 hurdles (15.89).

Top photo: Glen Mills had quite a medal haul at Saturday’s Haverford Invitational, including Rami Marsh’s win in the 300 hurdles and second-place finish in the 110 high hurdles. (Photo by Anne Neborak)