Penn Relays: Strath Haven rolls with changes to win Central 4 x 400
PHILADELPHIA — As a coach once said, games change, rules changes, good players adapt. That adage goes for relay teams, too.
Tess Bailey and Dana Hubbell were part of the group that helped Strath Haven win the Central League 4 x 400-meter relay title Thursday and qualify for the Saturday’s Philadelphia Area championship race at the 125th Penn Relays.
However, Bailey and Hubbell were not available to run Saturday because they were busy with another Relay: As committee members for Strath Haven’s Relay for Life event, one of the chief fundraisers for the American Cancer Society.
That was no problem, though. Maggie Forbes and Hallie Jackson filled in nicely, joining Grace Forbes and Olivia Malley to help the Panthers finish fourth behind Winslow (N.J.), Rancoacas Valley (N.J.) and District 1 rival North Penn with a time of 3:56.83. That time would be good enough for ninth in the state, according to pa.milesplit.com, but Strath Haven ran 3:53.35 Thursday, which is No. 2 in Pa.
“We have a lot of really good runners, so we have some depth and that’s good,” Malley said. “We’re still trying to figure out the fourth leg, but we have a really good team.”
Grace Forbes moved into the leadoff spot, which Bailey ran Thursday. Her sister Maggie handled the second leg, followed by Jackson and Malley, who moved the Panthers up a few places with a 57.89 anchor split.
“I may have gone out a little too early, but I felt good,” Malley said.
That capped a solid weekend for Malley. She turned in a 57.20 split in the Central League 4 x 4 and came back later in the day and ran 58.25 in the 400-meter portion of the high school girls distance medley relay championship to help the Panthers set the country record with a time of 11:51.26. Maggie Forbes, Abby Loiselle and Grace Forbes were on that relay.
“This was a little different for us this year because we didn’t run the 4 x 800,” Malley said. “Personally, I liked running the DMR. I like running the 400, but we know we’re still going to run the 4 x 8. That’s our race, but we’re really excited for states. We feel we have the team to compete in both the 4 x 4 and the 4 x 8.”
Upper Darby and Penn Wood also qualified for the Philadelphia Area 4 x 400. Denize Cisco, Dominique Timmons, Camille Goodison and Ciara Hairston of Upper Darby placed ninth in 4:04.06. Breanna Lee, Elicia Moore, Nevaeh Davis and Simone Johnson of Penn Wood were 10th in 4:04.39.
