PIAA Track & Field: Unhappy with silver, Odunjo leaves states savvier
SHIPPENSBURG — You could see the disappointment on Timi Odunjo’s face as the Penn Wood junior received the silver medal for his second-place finish in the boys Class 3A 300-meter hurdles.
All year, Odunjo had been ranked No. 1 in the event and expected to come away with the gold medal at the PIAA Track & Field Championships.
Northeast’s Godwin Kabana spoiled those plans when he edged Odunjo by 0.36 seconds in the final Saturday at Shippensburg University.
“My whole life I set high standards, and when I don’t reach them I’m pretty hard on myself,” Odunjo said.
While he was disappointed at the finish, Odunjo did come away with a valuable lesson.
“I learned not to panic and run other people’s races,” Odunjo said. “I was worried about what other people were doing. I have to focus on my race. That messed me up. My start wasn’t good, and I stuttered the whole way around.”
Odunjo came back later and teamed with Duncan Tarphen, Davon Battle and James Nmah for sixth place in the 4 x 400. The quartet finished in 3:19.41.
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While Odunjo was upset with his finish in the 300 hurdles, Ridley’s Tony Graham was not. He placed fourth with a time of 38.29 seconds.
“You can’t win every race,” Graham said. “All you can do is work hard and do the best you can. … I’m very grateful to be here. I couldn’t be mad at myself for coming this far. There’s no point to get mad, so why not be happy, even with a fourth place.”
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Haverford’s Aiden Tomov was thinking he had to switch things up in the Class 3A 1,600-meter run final if he wanted to come away with a medal.
As it turned out, the solution to a place on the medals podium was simple.
“I just raced harder,” Tomov said. “I wasn’t going to let myself walk out of here without a medal and a PR, and I did it.”
Tomov made a late push to finish in 4:16.50, the best time of his career. The Swarthmore-bound senior also moved up a spot with that final surge. It also was the second fastest 1,600-meter time in school history.
“The biggest takeaway is the lesson I learned from last year, overcoming failures and all that cheesy stuff, but it does carry meaning,” said Tomov, who was 11th in the event as a junior. “I’m really proud of myself that I could come back here and prove I can run with the big dogs.”
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Chichester’s Dominick Brown wasn’t expected to do much at the state meet. He was seeded 14th in a field of 24 in the Class 3A 400. Only eight advance to the final, the winner of each of the three heats, but the next five runners with the best time advance.
He came away with a sixth-place medal, the first time a Chi runner has won a medal at the PIAA championships since Carrington Queen won the 110 hurdles in 2003.
“Once I got to the finals, I gave it all I had,” said Brown, who will run track at Bloomsburg.
Brown ran 49.38 Friday to advance and then went 49.44, the third-best time of his career, in the final to take home the sixth-place medal. Brown gave a lot of the credit for his success to Chi coach Chris Milnes.
“He kept inspiring me during the whole trip,” Brown said. “He gave me the energy to push through anything. This was my first time here and I was very nervous, but this shows that anyone has a chance to win a medal if they work hard.”
And have the right support system.
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NOTES >> Haverford junior Chasen Wint finished 11th in the Class 3A discus. His best throw was 147-1 … Delco Christian’s Dante Falasco was unable to make it to the final in the Class 2A 200.
