Strath Haven girls ‘content’ with impressive showing at Penn Relays

PHILADELPHIA >> The goal for Strath Haven’s Grace Forbes, Maggie Forbes, Abby Loiselle and Taylor Barkdoll was simple, Friday.

All they wanted to do in the high school girls 4 x 800 Championship of America at the 124th Penn Relays was run a little faster than in Thursday’s qualifying race.

To that end, the Panthers accomplished their mission with a time of 9 minutes, 18.30 seconds. That was good enough for ninth place and better than they ran a day earlier (9:19.84). It wasn’t a vast improvement, but the Panthers will take it.

Grace Forbes summed up Strath Haven’s performance in one word.

“Content,” the junior said.

Strath Haven coach Bill Coren changed the lineup to accomplish that goal. Maggie Forbes ran the leadoff leg Thursday, followed by Loiselle, Barkdoll and then Grace Forbes. This time, Grace Forbes led off, followed by her younger sister, Loiselle and Barkdoll.

“You ran great,” Coren told the team afterward. “Every one of you ran your hearts out.”

The toughest part for the Panthers was the wait. The meet was running 10 minutes ahead of schedule when the group went to warm up. By the time they finished getting loose the carnival was 20 minutes behind schedule.

“It just messes you up psychologically,” Loiselle said. “You finish your warmup and mentally you’re ready to run, then you have to stand around and wait. That’s tough.”

“You’re loose and then you tighten up,” Maggie Forbes said. “It takes you a little while to get loose again.”

Those things happen, though, at the Relays and the Panthers managed to complete their mission despite the delay.

“We did better than yesterday and that’s the most important thing,” Loiselle said. “It feels good to run against these teams.”

Teams such as State College, which finished one spot behind Strath Haven. It’s a good bet that the Panthers are Little Lions will meet again at the PIAA championships in a month.

“We could see State College again and it might be North Penn,” Loiselle said. “This is a good test for down the road.”
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One team Strath Haven won’t have to worry about at the state level is Neumann-Goretti. The Saints are in Class 2A while the Panthers compete in Class 2A, which is a good thing. The Saints put on a show at Franklin Field.

Kami Joi Hickson, Makayla Perry, Dasia Wilson and Sydni Townsend turned in the fastest time in the state (8:57.09) to finish second to Holmwood Tech out of Jamaica in the 4 x 800.

Hickson ran a 2:12.92 split and Perry had a 2:11.51 split to keep the Saints in the race. Townsend, a senior from Collingdale, brought the baton home in. 2:15.36.
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Penncrest turned in the fastest time of any Delco team in the 4 x 100-meter relay heats. The foursome of Marcus Troy, Collin Tait, Ethan Rigby and Ahmed Barrie finished third in their heat in 43.74 seconds. That effort qualified the Lions for the District 1 championships.
Cardinal O’Hara’s Quasir Cottman, Obinna Iherjirka, Mandeh MacNeil and Derrick Patrick were second in their in heat 43.87. Chester (Nishawn Johnson, Malik Langley, Lamaj Curry, Mahki Langley) won its heat with a time of 44.42. Garnet Valley (Ryan Macchiarelli, Cameron Kennedy, Justin Bromley, Chandler Koehler) captured its heat in 44.91.
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Tzuriel Pedigo of Parkview Baptist out of Baton Rouge, La. shattered the Penn Relays record in the high school javelin with a throw of 238-6. The previous mark was 223-3 by Billy Stanley of South Park (Pa.) in 2012 … Lushane Wilson of St. Jago, Jaimaca, jumped 7-1 to win the high jump for the second year in a row. He leaped 7-2 to win the event last year. .