Central League Championships: Garnet Valley’s Ha has last laugh in winning high jump
LOWER MERION >> Initially, Garnet Valley’s Isabella Ha wasn’t going to go to the Central League Track & Field Championships Wednesday at Lower Merion. Then the junior had a conversation with her coach, Terry Lillicrap.
“He told me I should try it and I figured, ‘Why not?’” Ha said. “He kind of put a little peer pressure on me.”
In the end, Ha was glad Lillicrap talked her into going to the meet. She jumped 5 feet, 4 inches to break the school record and win the high jump.
Ha didn’t start out to break the school mark of 5-2, which she already owned. In the beginning, she treated the meet like a practice session. That strategy quickly changed, though, as she kept clearing jump after jump.
“I joked that maybe I’ll get 5-4 today,” Ha said.
When she topped 5-3, Ha got serious.
“I was really motivated,” Ha said. “I got it on my first try.”
Ha’s performance was one of two school records the Jags set. Maura Tease, Anastasia Erley, Catherine Mooney and Grace Zamrowski closed out the track portion of the meet by winning the 4 x 400-meter relay in a school-record time of 3 minutes, 59.56 seconds.
Zamrowski, a freshman, brought the baton home in a blistering sub 59-second anchor split.
“I was so nervous because (Upper Darby anchor Denisha Wolo) was so close and (Mooney) had the lead when she gave me the baton,” Zamrowski said. “I didn’t want to lose it so with 200 meters to go I started my kick and I could see (Wolo’s) shadow so I just kept going.”
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This was it for Radnor’s Grace Frigerio, Abigail Idiculla, Sophia Muetterties and Keara Seasholtz, the last chance to qualify for the District 1 championships in the 4 x 800-meter relay. They needed to run 9:50.24 or they would not be going to Coatesville next weekend.
The quartet saved their best for last.
Frigerio, Idiculla, Muetterties and Seasholtz finished in 9:42.04 to claim gold and earn a trip to districts.
“We really wanted it for each other,” Frigerio said. “And we all wanted it (individually).”
The Raiders had a good idea early that this was going to be their day.
“When we were in the top four we knew it was going to happen,” Seasholtz said.
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As the top-seeded athlete in the boys 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, and the defending champ in both events, Ridley’s Tony Graham came into the meet with a bullseye on his back.
The junior was up to the challenge.
Graham won the 300 hurdles in 40.18 seconds and followed it up by taking the 110 hurdles in 15.16 seconds later in the meet.
“It’s pretty cool,” Graham has of his double repeat. “Practice makes perfect.”
While he was happy with the victories, Graham wasn’t so thrilled with his times.
“They could have been a little bit lower, but I feel good right now,” Graham said. “It just means I have to go hard in districts and states.”
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Radnor’s Ethan Zeh and Haverford’s Aiden Tomov put on quite a show in the 800. The juniors went back and forth on the final lap before Zeh pulled ahead and edged Tomov by a shade over a second.
Zeh finished in 1:57.45. Tomov crossed the finish line in 1:58.50.
“He ran a great race,” Zeh said of Tomov. “I kind of let him pull ahead with a lap to go.”
For Tomov, that was the plan.
“He has such a great kick that I wanted to be in front with 150 (meters) to go,” Tomov said. “I was hoping to have enough of a lead that it was too hard for him to catch me.”
The lead Tomov had, though, wasn’t enough.
“I’m getting ready for districts,” Zeh said. “The race ended up not going as planned, but it was still good prep for districts.”
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Elsewhere on the girls side, Strath Haven’s Jordan Brown was the only double winner from Delco. She won the shot put (39-2¼) and discus with a career-best throw of 105-0. Teammate Grace Forbes lowered her state best time in the 800 to 2:12.88. Also for Strath Haven, Abby Loiselle captured the 1,600 (5:19.11), Dana Hubbell won the 100 hurdles (15.62) and Tess Bailey was first in the 300 hurdles (46.52). … Tara Higgins of Penncrest claimed gold in the javelin (126-10). … Ridley’s Rylie Buter was first in the long jump. … Brit Riegler of Haverford won the triple jump. … Grace Lanouette from Conestoga was first in the 100 and 200. … Lower Merion’s Ellie Ebby and Sarah Hurst took first in the 400 and 3,200, respectively. The Aces also won the 4 x 100. … Kate Kucharczuk from Harriton took first in the pole vault. … In all, 26 individuals and 10 relay teams qualified for districts on the girls side.
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On the boys side, Dayo Abeeb of Strath Haven leaped a personal best 22-11¼ to win the long jump and 46-10¾ to earn gold in the triple jump. … Lower Merion’s Devon Tate put on quite a show. He was first in the 100, 200, discus and javelin. Teammate Romaine Rhoden won the high jump (6-2) and led the Aces to first in the 4 x 100 to claim the team title. Tate and Rhoden were on that winning relay. … Zack Forney of Ridley won the 1,600. … Penncrest had three individual winners: Avery Lederer in the 3,200, Matt Arndt in the shot put and Christian Gallagher in the pole vault. Brendan Luong, Justin Senackerib, John McGlinn and Billy Angelina won the 4 x 800 and qualified for districts with a time of 8:11.93 for the Lions. … Upper Darby’s Jarnail Dhillon, Sidney Turner, Richard Moore and Gbarwho Flahn won the 4 x 400 and qualified for districts with a time of 3:20.63. Lex Forge from Conestoga took first in the 400. … A total of 29 individuals and seven relay teams qualified for districts in the boys meet.
