Boys Delcos: Walton Garnett, Chester ‘ramping it up’ instead of wearing down
Walton Garnett didn’t have a lot of down time between his first two events at the boys Delco Track and Field Championships Saturday at Sun Valley High School.
The senior from Chester was the top seed in the 300-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash, which were two of the first three events scheduled to be contested on the track.
“I had about 20, 25 minutes between the end of the hurdles and the start of the 400,” Garnett said.
The short time between events did not stop the All-Delco sprinter from having a career day. Garnett set personal bests while winning the two events. He won the 300 hurdles in 39.34 seconds and took the 400 in 47.96.
“I felt like the 400 came up real fast after the hurdles,” Garnett said. “I was still kind of tired. Races can switch up at any time so we try to work on being consistent with our sets. I was tired but I knew I could go out there and take a chance.”
Garnett wasn’t done for the day after the 400. He anchored Chester’s 4 x 400 relay team to gold at the end of the meet. Quamere Cosby, Jayden Bantum and Zion Spotwood were also on that relay team. The Clippers ran a season-best 3:20.83. That’s fourth in the state and third in District 1.
The real test, though, came early in the day and Garnett had a lot of support to get him through that part of the ordeal.
“I really have to thank my other coach, ‘Coach Shake,'” Garnett said of Chester girls coach Jamal Allen. “He helps me out a lot. I really don’t do a lot of drills in the hurdles. I haven’t really trained for hurdles; I just run it and get over the hurdles. Mainly what Coach J (Chester boys coach Jamie Wharton) told me to take out the first three hurdles and then just relax and finish, save the rest for the open 400.”
The 400 has been Garnett’s primary event for most of his career at Chester. He’s a two-time district medalist in the event, placing seventh as a sophomore and fifth as a junior to earn his first trip to the PIAA Championships. He’s run the hurdles in the past but said that this year he is taking the event seriously.
Running the 300 hurdles and the 400 is a unique double, one not many athletes are willing to attempt because of the short time between the events. Garnett, though, was more than up to the challenge.
“The coaches asked if I could make history and do this triple and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s try it.’” Garnett said. “I just did. It’s that time of the year to start ramping it up. There’s no need to hold back.”
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Episcopal Academy’s Michael Woolery joined an exclusive club. He became the sixth athlete in the history of the county championship meet to win the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.
Woolery won the 3,200 Wednesday in a personal best time of 9:28.91 and came back Saturday and captured the 800 in a PR of 1:54.14 and the 1,600 in 4:16.70, which was just .24 seconds off of his career best. Woolery led a 1-2-3 EA finish in the 1,600. Aidan McHugh was second and Dakin Ebmyer third.
Woolery is the first athlete to complete the distance triple since EA’s Elias Lindgren accomplished the feat in 2018.
Woolery’s performance helped the Churchmen claim the overall and American Conference team titles. EA scored 112 points overall and 146 against American Conference foes. Abaas Hunter took second in the 100 and third in the 200 for EA.
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It was a day of personal bests as the overall winners in eight of the 10 individual events set PRs on the final day of competition.
Upper Darby’s Lavar Jackson won the 100 and 200, taking the 100 in a personal best time of 10.92 and the 200 in 21.94. The latter performance was .01 seconds off his career best in the event.
No one had a bigger improvement in his PR than Jey Brown of The Haverford School. Brown won the discus with a throw of 144-8. That topped his previous best by 13 feet, 5 inches. Teammate James Gates equaled his personal best to win the pole vault (12-5).
Rodrigo Davis of Archbishop Carroll topped his personal best in the long jump by more than a foot with a winning leap of 22-10¼. Strath Haven’s Emerson Hull won the 110 hurdles in a PR of 15.15. Academy Park won the 4 x 100 in a season best 43.58. Haverford ran its season best to take gold in the 4 x 800 (8:01.79).
Jesufifunmi Olubenga took second in the long jump (20-8½) and third in the 400 (50.14) to help Ridley edge Penncrest, 5-3, for the National Conference title. The Green Raiders finished second in the overall standings with 79 points.
