Radnor’s Hill keeps rising to challenge with Delcos pole vault win

UPPER DARBY — After recording a personal best of 10 feet, 2 inches to lock up the gold medal in the pole vault Friday at the Delaware County Girls Track & Field Championships, Radnor sophomore Sophia Hill could have called it quits.

But that’s not her style.

“I’m such a competitive person,” Hill said. “I love the sport and I wanted to give it my all because the crowd was so supportive.”

And so Hill chose to press on and take a shot at the meet record of 10-6, which was set by Upper Darby’s Brooke McDonald in 2008. Hill had the officials set the bar at 10-7.

“I was feeling good,” Hill said. “The poles were good so I figured I’d give it a try.”

She did not get the record. Hill came close on her second attempt but missed on all three tries. She was not disappointed.

“I have to keep working on my form,” Hill said. “I recorded myself when I was competing and I went back each time and looked at the video. I have to focus on my form and put a little more power into it and go for it.”

Hill is relatively new to the pole vault. She saw the event in a meet in Oregon, found it interesting and decided to give it a try. Hill has been practicing the vault for a little less than a year, and this is her first season competing.

Her progress has been steady. She opened the season with four straight wins and vaulted 9-10 in the final Central League meet of the season for what was then a career best until she broke the 10-foot mark Friday.

She’s looking to keep the improvement going.

“That was a big confidence boost,” Hill said. “I’m happy.”

• • •

Penncrest senior Ashley Rodgers had a busy day. She was entered in the javelin and the shot put. In order to compete in two events contested simultaneously, Rodgers was in the first flight in the shot put and the second flight in the javelin, competing with little break in between.

“It was a lot harder today because it’s usually shot put and then javelin,” Rodgers said.

Running back and forth between events was not a problem. Rodgers won the javelin with a personal-best throw of 118-11. They she ran back across the field at Upper Darby for finals in the shot put where she took fifth with a heave of 30-9 ½ to become the only double medal winner during the first day of competition.

“This season has been tough because we’ve had fewer meets than we usually have, Rodgers said. “That’s made it a little harder to PR because of weather, wind and everything that goes into it, but today was a really nice day to throw.”

Rodgers will attend Saint Joseph’s University where she hopes to walk on to the track team.

“I’m considering it,” Rodgers said. “I would really love to do the javelin in college. I feel like I have a lot of unfinished business but I haven’t been in touch with the coach yet.”

• • •

Strath Haven’s Alexa Brown and Geena Seflin went 1-2 in the shot put. Brown, a sophomore, won her first county title with a heave of 36-2 ¼. Seflin’s best put was 32-4 ¼.

That was not a surprise. Brown and Seflin have been quite a 1-2 punch for the Panthers this season.

“We push each other a lot,” Brown said. “We’ve been together for so long and it’s so nice to have someone to compete against.”

• • •

Aubrey Leneweaver did not like her chances of winning the high jump. It wasn’t for a lack of confidence but a lack experience in competition. The sophomore from Haverford only competed in the event once in the last month when she took eighth place at the Father Judge Relays last weekend.

“I do so many other events,” Leneweaver said. “I run the 300 hurdles, the 4 x 4, 4 x 1 and sometimes the 100 hurdles. I do so many different things that I really haven’t competed in the high jump.”

Still, she was able to match her career best with a leap of 5-1 to take home the gold medal. Aniya Boland of Interboro was second at 4-10.

“Sometimes when I don’t compete in an event for a little while I have some issues with mechanics,” Leneweaver said. “It took me a little while to get my steps down and sometimes I sped up too much but once I was able to settle in I was fine.”

• • •

It was a sweep of the top three places in the triple jump for Upper Darby. Alice Etienne won the gold with a leap of 35-5. D’Nayzah Heyward was second at 33-11 ½ and Nija Bey took third at 33-10 ½.

“It was pretty cool,” Etienne said.

All the track events were trials, but Chester’s Alina LaForest and Jiya Clayton had a good day. The pair finished with the top two times in the 300 hurdles. Clayton turned in the top time in the 400 while LaForest was third. Clayton also qualified for the final in the 200.

Penn Wood’s Nevaeh Davis was the top qualifier in the 100 and 200. The championships resume with the finals starting at 3:45 Saturday.