Pottstown’s Phillips, Methacton’s Mellow leap to gold in District 1 Track and Field Championships
COATESVILLE >> The Pioneer Athletic Conference was well represented in the long jump during the District 1 Track and Field Championships on Friday.
The event was swept in Class 3A among both boys and girls, Pottstown’s Terryece Phillips and Methacton’s Summer Mellow leaping to gold with distances of 22-3½ and 19-5½ respectively — both landing the winning distances on their second jumps of the day.
Phillips previously took a share of the Pottstown school record during the PAC Championships last weekend, hitting the 23-1 mark set by Corey Baker in 2012. In just his first season competing in track and field as a senior, Phillips has secured district gold and booked a trip to the state meet at Shippensburg.
“This is pretty big. I felt good about it, coming in today thinking, ‘I have to get first. I have to.’ I want to keep going, I want to go as far as I can,” Phillips said. “This is my first year, so I want to see what I can get into next year.”
Having entered as the top-seeded jumper in the event, Phillips credited his years of playing basketball — this past season being Pottstown’s first run in the PAC tournament in 11 years — as a key to his preparation after jumping into the sport in his final year of high school.
“I was already in good shape so I just came out here and they saw me run a bit and they told me, ‘You have to run track.’ I think it’s my athleticism that’s really helping me with my success,” Phillips said.
Norristown’s Miles Daniels took silver behind Phillips with a 22-0¾ leap.
Mellow had previously taken silver behind Pottsgrove’s Athena Phinnessee last weekend at the PAC meet with a mark of 17-1¼.
By adding 2-4¼ on her mark in a bigger and deeper field of competition, the junior came out with a step higher on the podium, holding a golden ticket to states.
“I was happy, but disappointed at PACs because with my knee. It didn’t go very well,” Mellow said. “Today was a great turnaround and I feel really happy.”
Mellow ran the 200-meter dash last weekend and needed an ice pack on her leg afterward.
“I think I just overextended it. I have quad tendinitis right now, so until track is over, I have to just deal with it until it goes away,” Mellow said.
Maeve Gallagher has shown that after being a prominent component of an undefeated, state champion Pope John Paul II girls volleyball team this past fall — the school’s first — the sophomore isn’t done etching her name into Pope John Paul II’s history.
With a heave of 121-02, Gallagher set a new school record in the discus and took silver in the event behind Haverford’s Mollie Carpenter (123-01).
“I think zoning in and realizing that there’s a lot of competition around me and really needing to work up to them (has helped),” Gallagher said on her timely record-setting toss.
Friday also marked the third time this season Gallagher has set the new girls discus school record for Pope John Paul II. She initially shattered the original mark by seven feet, one-inch to surpass Bridget Ronca’s mark in 2013 with a 105-6 heave. Her original distance was just 94.
Gallagher also holds the Pope John Paul II shot put record (36-9) and is primed to extend her postseason with an appearance at Shippensburg.
“This makes me feel I can do something with this,” Gallagher said. “Right now I think I’m the No. 1-ranked sophomore in the state, so it definitely boosts my confidence and makes me want to constantly be better since I’ve improved so much from freshman to sophomore year.”
Boyertown’s Cyenna Martinez joined Gallagher on the discus podium after placing fourth with a 115-08 finish.
Pottsgrove had a silver medalist in Cory Jubilee-Scott, who made a 52-¼ toss of the shot put. Springfield-Delco’s Tyler Klambara placed first at 54-06.
With his season extended to next weekend, Jubilee-Scott is making the most of his postseason after it was taken from him last year.
“Every meet in the postseason last year, I missed out on because I had Covid,” Jubilee-Scott said. “This year, I’m back and I’m feeling great.”
If adding three feet to his PR (55-3½) last week in the PAC Championships wasn’t any indication of it, Jubilee-Scott most certainly is back. And while his throw last weekend would’ve been enough for gold at Coatesville, there’s still some season left to keep at it for another 50-plus finish.
“Honestly, I could’ve done better today, but second place isn’t all too bad. This is what I’ve worked for and I feel great about it,” Jubilee-Scott said. “Now I’m going to states, getting back in the weight room and back to practice. We’ll see how it goes from there.”
Upon setting the PAC meet record (9:25.91) last weekend, the Perkiomen Valley girls 4×800 squad finished ninth with a state standard of 9:29.87. The Vikings had individual medalists in third-place Ian Johnson (4:19.29) in the boys 1600 and fifth-place Audrey Ramsey (118-05) in the javelin throw.
Owen J. Roberts’ senior Claire Zubey — a four-time Mercury Runner of the Year in cross country — finished fourth in the girls 1600 at 4:56.31 to qualify for the state meet. Haverford Township’s Olivia Cieslak finished first in 4:51.55.
The Wildcats also had a silver medalist in the javelin throw after a 124-10 toss from Gianna Leimester. Mia Rivera of Central Bucks East took gold at 128-07.
The top five finishers in each event receive automatic bids to the state finals at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium May 26-27. The following three finishers outside the top five also clinch trips to the PIAA meet if they hit the state standard in their event.
