Owen J. Roberts’ Zubey battles with Henderson’s Mulhern once again at District 1 Championships

CALN >> She’s seen a lot of Jenna Mulhern along the way … mostly in cross-country races around the state.

On Friday, Claire Zubey and the West Chester Henderson distance-running star went at it once again — this time on the all-weather track at Coatesville High School, site of the District 1 Championship meet. While she again ended up second-best behind Mulhern, Zubey credited her adversary with contributing to her silver-medal showing in the Class AAA 1,600.

“She’s fast, for sure. She helped push me along. I didn’t have a kick at the end . But at the end, I was able to stick with it.”

The Owen J. Roberts sophomore came away with one big positive. She cracked the five-minute mark by running a 4:59.13 that trailed Mulhern’s 4:57.51. It was a personal best for her.

“I’m happy to break five minutes for the first time. “I wanted PR today, wasn’t worried so much about place. First three laps were solid. Challenging, hoping to run well.”

It was a replay of the 2020 District 1-AAA cross country race last November, when Mulhern and Zubey went 1-2 by a difference of one minute. Mulhern went on to score a sixth-place finish in the PIAA AAA race, and Zubey 11th place.

It was in that stretch of the race Zubey and Mulhern put distance between themselves and the rest of the pack. The field included Perkiomen Valley representatives Summer Watts and Sienna Miller, other Zubey adversaries in Pioneer Athletic Conference cross-country circles who were part of the team’s third-place 4×800 relay along with Delaney O’Sullivan and Abrielle Schweitzer.

The Viking foursome ran a 9:34.91 in their third time competing in the event. The time, according to O’Sullivan, was their “best time by a lot, but there hasn’t been a lot of competition.”

“We got our district qualifying time at a dual meet,” she recalled. “But we’re happy with the time. We knew what we could do.”

Friday’s warm, sunny weather conditions, under which the meet was run, were described by Watts as a “lot better than I thought it would be.”

“This week, we had a chance to run in warm weather,” she said, “so we were ready for it.”

Spring-Ford’s Maura Baker was the other PAC competitor to score a silver medal. She achieved that in the shot put, going 41-9 on her second throw.

“I knew I’d have to throw at least 41 feet,” she said.

Baker will be making her first visit to states for the spring track championship. She had competed in the PIAA winter track meet her junior year, and she feels that will benefit her this time around.

“I think I’ll be better there for having that experience,” she said.

The Spring-Ford girls had several more medal winners, headed by Neme Mokonchu’s third in the high jump and ninth in the 400 with a state-qualifying time of 58.73. Kaleigh Hudson placed sixth in the 200 with a time of 25.67; she also came up short of another medal by going ninth in the 100, and Ester Mokonchu scored an eighth in the shot put (36-11 1/2).

Boyertown’s contingent was headed by Lillian Mauger and Renee Simmonds, who placed seventh in the long jump (17-3 1/2) and discus (111-0), respectively. They teamed with Samantha Devlin and Riley Ruyak for a fourth-place showing in the 4×100 relay (49.37).

For Methacton, Coco Dunham was fifth in the triple jump at 36-11 1/4. Madi Eastmure placed eighth in the 100 hurdles (16.20) and Addison Gormley went 5-1 in the high jump.

Owen J. Roberts’ Brooke Corson was seventh in the pole vault (10-6) and Pope John Paul II’s Gianna Cagliola eighth in the 3,200 (11:21.46).

Qualifiers for next weekend’s PIAA Championship Meet at Shippensburg University are Zubey, Baker, Mokonchu (two events) and the Boyertown (4×100) and Perkiomen Valley (4×800) relays. Additionally, the top eight placers in each events were awarded medals.

NOTES >> Spring-Ford was the highest-placing PAC school in the team standings. The Rams were tied with Avon Grove for 15th, both teams scoring 18 points. … Boyertown, Methacton and Owen J. Roberts were all tied for 25th with 10 points. … On the Class AA side, Dock Mennonite Ac. was the runaway team winner with 165 points to second-place St. Basil’s Academy’s 129. … The District 1 boys from Classes AAA and AA will take the spotlight Saturday, the schedule of events getting started again at 9 a.m.