Warren, Perkiomen Valley girls top Spring-Ford on tiebreaker; PV boys roll

ROYERSFORD >> The girls’ discus results came in and Spring-Ford track and field coach Danielle Stauffer’s shoulders sank.

The second-to-last event of the day was a Perkiomen Valley sweep and left just the triple jump to determine if the Rams could complete an undefeated dual meet season in the Pioneer Athletic Conference.

One problem: the Vikings feature two-time PIAA triple jump champion Christina Warren.

“Maybe she’ll foul three times,” Stauffer said with light-hearted resignation.

Not likely.

Unsurprisingly, Warren won the triple jump to complete a four-win afternoon by the two-time Mercury All-Area Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year, allowing Perkiomen Valley to edge Spring-Ford on a tiebreaker (event wins 10-8) after the dual meet ended 75-75.

The loss allowed Perkiomen Valley to finish level with Spring-Ford at 4-1 to top the PAC Liberty Division.

In boys’ competition, Perkiomen Valley handled Spring-Ford 101-49 thanks in part to multi-event winners Jason Wagner (shot put, discus, javelin) and Cole Peterlin (high jump, 110 hurdles).
Megan Raab was a two-event winner for the Vikings, topping the 300 hurdles (49.21) and 400 meters (1:02.17) while other event wins for PV girls came from Dorian Philpot (shot put, 36-11), Kylie McDonnell (discus, 110-2) and Grace Ramsey (javelin, 111-9) and the 3,200-meter relay (10:21.30).

Warren was fresh off setting her personal record with a 41-4½ at the 125th annual Penn Relays last weekend. She was the top American finisher for the third straight year in finishing fourth behind Jamaicans Ackelia Smith (42-8¾), Lotavia Brown (42-5¼), and Rhianna Phipps (41-10).

“PR by three inches, I was very happy about that,” Warren said. “The higher stakes and the adrenaline helped me come through. The adrenaline brings that extra oomph to all of our marks.”

Warren’s 39-5 on Monday was good enough for the win while she also won the long jump (18-4¾), the 200 meters (25.5) and the 100 hurdles (13.92).

Spring-Ford got a two-win day from Brooke Donoghue (1,600, 5:14.61; 800, 2:27.39) and individual wins from Kaleigh Hudson (100, 12:82), Melissa Israel (pole vault, 9-6) and Devin Rawley (high jump, 4-10).

Rawley also anchored the Rams’ winning 4×100 relay (50.67) and finished second in the triple jump. The quartet of Kyra Scanlan, Hudson, Claire Lanzisera and Rawley competed at the Penn Relays last weekend, which Rawley said was a ‘great experience.’

With attentions turned more local, the S-F girls don’t intend to let Monday’s result affect their pursuit of the team title at PAC Championships on May 10-11 at Norristown.

“We had a few people who were injured or out sick (Monday) so we’re really hoping to come out strong for the PAC Championships,” Rawley said. “We haven’t won in over a decade on the girls side. I would love to win PACs my senior year.”

“We have a lot of really great underclassmen this year, and they’ve been performing extremely well. As the year has progressed I feel we’re getting better and better.”

The Perkiomen Valley boys finished the dual meet season 4-1, their only loss coming in Week 1 to Owen J. Roberts (4-0).

Peterlin won the 100 hurdles in 15.32 and cleared 6-3 to win the high jump.

Track and field has offered the senior a redemptive arc after the Vikings’ football quarterback had the end of his final season derailed by an ankle injury and concussion that forced him to miss multiple games, including the PAC championship game.

He made the most of the opportunity in February when he won the state championship in the high jump at the PTFCA Indoor State Track and Field Championships.

“That was awesome,” he said. “I couldn’t have imagined when I was a freshman jumping 5-10 that I would be state champ as a senior. It was crazy but I was extremely happy.”

Last weekend he finished ninth at the Penn Relays, achieving a goal in the process.

“I went sophomore year to watch and that became my goal: I want to make Penn Relays, to be one of the kids jumping, by senior year,” Peterlin said.

In clearing 6-3½, he tied for best performance by a Pennsylvania athlete (Reading High’s Juan Mato-Segura also finished on 6-3½).

“I’m shooting for 6-10, that’s the goal,” Peterlin said. “I’m also running the hurdles now and hope to run really low 15s or possibly 14.9s.”

He’s looking at competing in track and field in college with Penn State and Liberty the current frontrunners, but old habits die hard.

“I miss football. But track is track. You look back and I do miss football … I wish I had another year of it,” he said.

Three-event winner Wagner won the shot put (53-7), discus (129-7) and javelin (152-11). Other PV boy winners were Anthony Bruno in the 100 (11.28), Azeez Adedokun in the 200 (22.85), Dylan Danowski (1,600, 4:35.39), Tyler Clifford (3,200, 9:52.49) and Albert Pickles (pole vault, 11-0).

Spring-Ford boy individual winners were William Byers (400, 51.95), Joseph Power (800, 2:01.09), Dean Wright (long jump, 20-2¾) and Josh Hellauer (triple jump, 40-6¼).