Delco Championships: Haverford’s Lawson leaves it all on the track in school-record two-mile
ASTON — Patrick Lawson collapsed on the infield at Sun Valley High School shortly after winning the 3,200-meter run at the Delco boys track & field championships Wednesday.
He laid there on his back, arms folded over his face, for several minutes before he was helped to his feet by Haverford High teammate Quentin Ryan. Lawson walked about 10 yards before he dropped to the turf again.
The rest was well-earned.
Lawson said he felt he didn’t have enough energy during the race, but you would have never known it the way he ran. The junior distance runner broke the school record by nearly two seconds and came within a few seconds of the meet record in a wire-to-wire finish.
Lawson crossed the finish line in 9 minutes, 15.66 seconds to shatter the record of 9:17.40 set by Adam Bodine in 2013. His winning time was the third fastest in the event at the county championship meet in the last 10 years. Only the record-setting run of 9:13.98 by Cardinal O’Hara’s Kevin James in 2013 and the 9:14.40 turned in by Will McDermott of Bonner-Predergast in that same race were better.
“I’m pretty happy with that,” Lawson said of his school-record run. “That was one of my goals coming into the race. We’ve been talking about that for a while and this was a good day to do it.”
Lawson was referring to teammates Ryan and Ethan Fingerhut, who were second and third, respectively. Ryan crossed the finish line in 9:19.71. Fingerhut finished in 9:22.56. Those times rank eighth, 10th and 16th in the state, according to pa.milesplit.com.
Last week, that trio teamed with Gabriel Zwilling to finish fifth in the 4 x 800 Championship of America at the Penn Relays with a state-best time of 9:51.13.
“We push each other every day, in every practice,” Lawson said. “That really helps out. That support and encouragement is important.”
While the goal was to set the school record, Lawson said he didn’t feel as if he was on a record pace during the race.
“I think I ate something that bothered me today,” Lawson said. “I didn’t have enough energy during the race. I didn’t have enough spark to go faster. It was difficult because I was pacing the whole time. I had to keep the pace up and that took up a lot of energy to keep going.”
Lawson set that pace early, as was the plan. He took the lead from the start, grew stronger as the race went on and methodically pulled away from the field. He ran three laps of 1:08, three of 1:09 and two of 1:10, then covered the final 400 meters in 1:08.504, his fastest of the race.
“This was definitely a fast field,” Lawson said. “I felt if I didn’t lead it it wouldn’t have been a fast time so I had to do that if I wanted to get the school record.”
It all likelihood it’s the last time he will run the 3,200 this season. Lawson said the team is concentrating on the 4 x 800 and the 1,600 at districts.
“We ran really strong in the 4 x 800 at the Penn Relays so that’s going to be the focus,” Lawson said. “The team always comes first.”
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Springfield’s Robby Longo came out of the triple jump pit rubbing his chin after his final attempt in the event. Turns out, Longo banged his chin with his knee on that last try.
“That’s never happened before,” Longo said. “I tried to get a good jump on the last one.”
He did. Longo turned in a personal-best leap of 43 feet, 6 ½ inches to win by nearly two feet over Episcopal Academy’s Mekhi Rodgers. It was his second jump of more than 43 feet, clearing 43-4 ¾ on his first attempt.
It was only the second time Longo has competed in the triple jump this season. The first was last Saturday in the Springfield Invitational.
“I stopped for a while because of my knees,” Longo said. “I’m still a little rusty but if I fix it up, I should be good, hopefully qualify for states at districts. That’s the goal.”
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One attempt was all Haverford High senior Michael Powel needed to win the shot put. Powel unleashed a throw of 56-2 on his first attempt to top defending champ Patrick Donaher of Haverford School (53-7), Episcopal Academy’s Alphonso Koukou (52-3) and Tyler Klambara of Springfield (50-7).
For Powel, that was a personal-best of nearly two feet. His previous best (54-6) came in a Central League dual meet last month. It all came from hard work.
“My main problem was getting my foot underneath me,” Powel said. “I’ve practiced it all week. I didn’t throw any full throws all week. I just practiced on that. Everything felt good and it popped out of my hand.”
Episcopal Academy’s Joachim Johnson and Upper Darby’s Dorsey Shoultz III were the other winners on the first day of competition. Johnson won the high jump with a leap of 6-0. Shoultz III took the javelin with a personal0best throw of 134-1.
The championships conclude on Saturday afternoon at
