Gold-medal start for SOL standouts at District One Championships

COATESVILLE — It was sweet, sudden victory for Upper Dublin.

“It was a great win. I’m really happy with it,” said a smiling Mason Kullman. “Honestly, it was surprising. None of us were expecting to win the whole thing so it’s a nice surprise.”

The Cardinal 4×800-meter relay brought a little bit of magic to the Coatesville track Friday morning, defying their No. 6 seed and racing to the gold medal in the District 1-3A Championship.

“I was really excited for that run. We really wanted to make states this year but we weren’t expecting to come out of our district first because our district is so good,” Emily Kulak said. “But we did it. We have a great relay this year. And we’re excited for states.”

got off to a tremendous start on Day One of districts, on the track and out in the field.

Hatboro-Horsham’s Brian DiCola raced to the title in the 1,600 in 3A (4:14.78) and John Byler of Jenkintown captured the gold in 2A (4:44.43).

Mount St. Joseph’s Veronica Vacca pole vaulted to a gold medal in Class 3A (13-0) while Methacton’s Summer Mellow made it to the top of the medal stand in the 3A girls long jump (19-5.5).

Upper Moreland’s Colin Graham is also headed for states, his high jump of 6-5 winning the event in Class 3A while Mia Rivera threw 128-7 in the javelin, winning the event for Central Bucks East.

In the team standings, Dock Mennonite Academy leads Class 2A girls after one day, 42-33 over second-place Delaware County Christian while North Penn (second) and Mount (third) are in contention in Class 3A. The Hatter boys are currently in second in Class 3A.

For the Cardinal girls 4×8, who shaved nine seconds off their seed time, elation was mixed with a little bit of redemption.

“That was very much a relief because we didn’t make it to states last year,” said Lilly Pittakas. “And now to come in first is really exciting. We all ran really well…We got our job done.”

The foursome combined for a winning time of 9 minutes, 17.25 seconds in a stacked field. Pennridge (9:20.59) and Penncrest (9:21.48) surged to second and third.

Central Bucks East (9:22.65), North Penn (9:22.72), Lower Moreland (9:27.10), Unionville (9:28.17) and CB West (9:29.17) all punched their ticket to states.

“My teammates summed it all up. I’m actually in shock that we pulled that off,” said Upper Dublin’s Talia Hoffner, who helped the Cards blaze to the No. 31 time in the nation. “We all ran really well…And got the best possible outcome.”

DiCola continued his charge in the 1,600, pushing to the finish in 4:14.78 and holding off Patrick Lawson of Haverford (4:16.76) and Ian Johnson of Perkiomen Valley (4:19.29).

Vacca was able to clear 13 feet in the pole vault for the Magic, ascending to the top spot. Julia McBride of Springfield Montco was fifth in the event (11-6), also punching her ticket to states.

Day Two of the event is Saturday at Coatesville, with both running and field events getting started at 9 a.m.