Flack, field excellence fuels Upper Perk boys in win over Phoenixville
PENNSBURG >> He’s got bigger stakes to shoot for.
Hunter Flack has his sights set on standing out in high-school track and field’s post-season. To that end, dual meets — like Upper Perkiomen’s hosting of Phoenixville Wednesday — basically serve to get him ready for higher-level competition around the region and the state.
But that’s not to say Flack is dismissing the significance of duals in the overall big picture. The UP senior helped his team get past the Phantoms, 79-66, to take sole possession of first place in the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s Frontier Division standings.
Flack handily won the pole vault, his 13-6 mark an even two feet higher than teammate Keaton Durning’s 11-6 jump. Flack last week cleared a school-record 15-6 in a meet against Pottstown. He also scored seconds in the javelin (139-4) and high jump (5-8), kicking in a total 11 points to UP’s tally.
“I want to hit 15-6,” Flack said, noting he has already surpassed the qualifying mark (13-0) for the District 1 meet. “I just want to win.”
Flack was part of a solid showing in the field by UP (3-0), which swept the throwing events through the efforts of Brady Thompson (shot put), Damon Faraco (discus) and Tommy Flud (javelin). Owen Sabastro added another first in the long jump. Overall, the Indians outscored their guests in the field 44-19.
“The field (results) was huge,” UP head coach David Dusza said. “We’re really strong there, and that helps a lot.
“We have some new kids there this year,” he added. “We began the season knowing we’d have people on top. But they’ve achieved more than we expected.”
The Indians also have some strength on the track. Against the Phantoms, Logan Simmon won the 100 (11.48) and 200 (23.67), Blandin Conklin headed the 1,600 (4:43.76) and Donnie Miller led the way in the 3,200.
“Miller is developing a lot of speed this year,” Dusza noted. “He’s progressing like we thought he would.”
On the girls’ side, Phoenixville won nine of 11 races. Lizzy Behnke dominated the sprints with her firsts in the 100 (13.02) and 200, and Kenzie Padilla led the way in the 1,600 (53.01).
In the field, the Phantoms got pairs of firsts from Olivia Churchill in the shot put (23-3½) and discus (79-3), and McKenzie Hodges topped the long jump (14-8) and triple jump (32-4).
“We’ve exceeded, to be honest, where we were two years ago,” first-year head coach Justin Winters said. “I thought we’d get beat a lot, but we’ve shown tremendous growth. The kids are buying into what we’re doing.”
Phoenixville’s development hasn’t been limited to just the girls’ team, either. Winters praised his boys (2-1) for its work this spring; in particular Kris Grinstead, who won the triple jump (39-4) and high jump (5-10).
“Our jumping has improved,” he said. “Grinstead has been winning 3-4 events a meet. We’ve improved a lot on the track, too … the sprints have improved in and out.”
Another Phantom standout was Keddar Vyas, who swept the hurdles. Vyas went 18.97 in the 110 highs and 46.21 in the 300 intermediates.
For the UP girls, Lilliana Goodrich and Ashlyn Gatto gave their team a sweep of the hurdle races. Goodrich won the 110 highs in 18.06 while Gatto took the 300 intermediates in 53.70.
Erin States and April Romanowski scored firsts in the field for the Indians. States won the pole vault by clearing the bar at the seven-foot mark, and Romanowski took the high jump with a 4-6.
NOTES >> An interesting sight is seeing Flack pack up his assortment of poles (10) in a long plastic tube covered by a sleeve with the Philadelphia Jumps Club logo on it. “It depends on how I run, how I drive into the box,” he said of the selection process for which pole he uses in a meet. … Flack, on competing in the high jump for the first time Wednesday: “I was just trying to get some points for the team.” … Winters indicated Phoenixville will be looking to enter some of the PAC-hosted invitationals being staged between now and districts. “There’s not a whole lot of total opportunities,” he said. “There’s the conditions and rules we have to operate under. But the kids are super-eager to represent the school. It’s inspiring. the way they’ve taken the (pandemic) situation and made it one better.”
