North Penn continues early push, tops rival Pennridge
TOWAMENCIN >> The first real hints of spring shined through on Tuesday, up above and on the track.
On a sunny afternoon at Crawford Stadium, North Penn rode strong performances in several races and out in the field to a commanding 91-58 victory over rival Pennridge in a Suburban One League Colonial Division meet.
The Rams also showed some promising signs as both squads battled it out on one of the first warm days of the season.
“I think we competed pretty well,” Knights coach Brandon Turner said of the defending division champs. “We’re getting better but we still have a long way to go.
“It’s a really good group. We have a ton of kids coming back from last year. And we were a good team last year so I feel we should definitely be able to build on that.”
Miranda Jimenez hurdled to victories in the 100 (16.7) and 300’s (47.1) for the Knights and North Penn took all three relays. Jael Sykes sprinted to a win in the 100 dash (11.9) for NP and Gianna Williams was a winner in the 200 (26.3).
Maddie Lewis long jumped to first (16-6.5) for the Knights, Gemma Chevoor pole vaulted to a victory (7-6) and Isabella Fiore beat all comers in the triple jump (33-4).
“We have a lot of seniors and kids who have been to a lot of league meets and district meets and even beyond,” Turner said of his squad, now 2-0 in the division. “We’re hoping we can put it all together. That’s the biggest thing.”
Nora Ritting pushed to a win in the 1,600 (5:34.4) and 3,200 (12:49.08) for Pennridge (1-1 Colonial) and Ashley Landis was also a double winner, tackling the 400 (58.9) and 800 (2:25.6) in a quick turnaround.
Peyton Meehan (shot put, 34-4.75), Lindsay Balmer (high jump, 5-4) and Nicole Rindone (discus, 88-0) all notched victories in the field for the visitors.
“The long jump was better for us and we sprinted a little bit better today than what we had been doing,” Rams coach Bill Smith said. “Ashley is a star – she’s good. That 400-800 double is a hard double.
“We had a very good 4×8 indoors and we’ve gotta get it back together again. I backed off doing the 4×8 but we’ll be better. The switches are getting turned to do some more things.”
Added Smith: “We have a lot of young kids that are learning how to get through a whole season. And North Penn is good. They have a great program and we just hope to compete with them. And we did win a few events. We’re still not up to the capabilities that I think we’re capable of but we’ll get there.”
