LOWER MERION — Stitch together the event program of Isabella Tront and you get one wild tapestry. The commonality, as much as the Garnet Valley junior’s superlative athleticism, is her curiosity to try new disciplines.
So Wednesday, at the Central League track and field championships, there was Tront winning the girls high jump, clearing 5 feet, 2 inches, the only one in the field to meet the District 1 standard. That came less than an hour after Tront had finished fourth in the discus with a best throw of 95 feet, 8 inches.
She’s had dalliances with the long and triple jump, and she throws javelin, all why being a pivotal middle blocker on the Jaguars’ powerhouse volleyball team.
The common thread for Tront is more mental than physical.
“I think the common thing is centering myself,” she said. “I find the commonality in before I do my jump and before I step in the disc circle to spin, I have a routine. That’s a big commonality that helps me go from discus mode to high jump mode.”
The more impressive skill might be a willingness to learn. The solitary pursuit of high jump and the team dynamics of volleyball occupy opposite ends of a spectrum. The straight-line momentum of javelin and the rotational dynamics of discus are also very different.
Tront’s strength is in wanting to try. As a freshman, she focused on the jumps. She “fell in love instantly” with the high jump during her sophomore indoor season. Discus came last spring, despite a mortifying first attempt where she through she’d lost a ground-colored discus that she couldn’t find in the sector.
That process of striving and improving bubbles out of Tront when she describes her passions.
“It’s a ton of trial and error,” she said. “My coach is super helpful in figuring out what works for me and what works for each person on the team. It’s a lot of encouragement, a lot of, ‘hey just tweak this one little thing.’ And being able to put those puzzles pieces together in a sense is what makes me be able to shine throughout it.”
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Joseph Garzio was fast Wednesday afternoon. Not as fast as the pack of Radnor runners — and a few training partners from other schools — that swarmed him at the finish line, live results in hand.
Garzio broke the tape in 1:54.15 in the boys 800 meters. That’s a school record for the Radnor junior, with just enough gas in the tank to hop around in celebration before falling to the infield turf at Lower Merion.
“I was super excited,” Garzio said. “I wasn’t sure I broke 1:54, but either way, I was super happy with a PR. I went straight to my mom, first person I went to. It was crazy.”
Garzio was fifth at Delcos on the weekend in 1:55.55. That race was won by Ridley’s Jackson Kane, who opted for the 1,600 at Centrals. Kadin Salaria of Penncrest, third at Delcos, ran the 400. EA’s Dawson French was second.
So with the door open, Garzio resolved to barge in. He was held back from the 4 x 800, which he’d run at Delcos. Having gone 1:55.4 in the relay, he felt confident.
But he knew Strath Haven’s Colin Ruether, who beat him at Delcos, and Brendan Hefferan of Penncrest possessed potentially superior finishing kicks. The backstretch, then, was all about fleeing.
When Garzio succeeded, it was time to celebrate.
“I knew 300 (meters) in, I had to go so he couldn’t catch me, because I knew he had speed,” Garzio said of Ruether. “Just get as far away as possible so I don’t get outkicked. … My entire mode that last 300 was, do not get passed.”
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It can’t be a coincidence, Abigail Defruscio knows, that she so often has a teammate in the top flight of throwing events at meets like Central.
You know, aside from the whole PIAA championship/District 1 runner-up thing Haverford had going on last year. But in adding the high score at the Central League Championship meet to their Delcos crown, Defruscio sees the connections.
“We for sure push each other to be better,” the junior said. “We’re always supporting each other, and I think that’s why we’re connected so well and do our best in our events.”
Defruscio reflected after her best throw of 125-2 won the girls javelin … with teammate Abigail Crowley third. Defruscio had earlier won the discus in 105-2, in a 1-2 with Lucy Filkin … who then won the shot put in 34-3.5, while Crowley was off finishing fourth in the triple jump.
All those points add up, and not just to the truism that a team title relies on contributors across the board.
It doesn’t stop at athletes wearing a yellow H on their chests, though. Defruscio, though not a senior, carries herself like an elder statesman in the throwing community: consoling, counseling and cheerleading, teammates and opponents alike. In part, it’s a facet in her process.
“I love helping everybody out,” she said. “It calms me down and distracts me from focusing on my throws. When it comes down to it, I focus, but it gets me distracted and ready for my throws.”
Haverford tallied 140 points to be the high scorers at the meet, leading Penncrest’s 108.5 and 93.5 for Conestoga. (Penncrest, which went 11-0 in the regular season, was crowned the league champion, with points for head-to-head wins factored in.)
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The boys championship went to Ridley, which scored 121.5 points after an 11-0 campaign. Conestoga was second in 107, trailed by Penncrest (93) and Strath Haven (87).
The Green Raiders went 8:19.77 to win the 4 x 800 relay and 3:20.19 to romp in the 4 x 400. They were second in the 4 x 100. Jackson Kane powered away from the pack to claim the 1,600 in 4:15.13, 3.5 seconds up on Radnor’s Luke Bodden. Kane was third in the 3,200, won by Lower Merion’s Nicholas Mazzeo.
Jesufifunmi Olugbenga won the long jump in 23-6.5, his best of the season. Springfield’s Keenan McGurk was second, and Ridley’s Jayden Brown was fourth. Olugbenga was second to Radnor’s Noah Wampole (6-6) in the high jump and third in the 400, a spot behind AJ Glavicic of Strath Haven. Brown won the triple jump in 47-4.75 and also tied for fifth in the high jump.
Penncrest’s George Bostwick did the hurdles double on the boys side, winning in 39.18 over 300 meters and 14.49 over 110. Upper Darby’s Abdoulaye Sangare was third in the 110 and fourth in the 300; the former came with the Royals finishing 2-3-4, Sangare bookended by Daniel Chukwu and Gabiel Tsayo.
Harriton swept the boys sprints, Scotty Coffi winning the 100 and Ade Lloyd the 200.
Strath Haven’s Gavin Schmidt dominated the discus with a winning throw of 173-10, a 1-2 result with Brian Seals. Schmidt claimed the shot put in 47 feet. Enoch Liu won the javelin for the Panthers in 165-8.
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Olivia Cieslak did Olivia Cieslak things, sweeping the 800 and 1,600. She went 4:54.30 to power away from the field in the mile, nearly 10 seconds clear of runner-up Sophia Kurtis of Cieslak. She then went 2:17.83 to control the field in the 800 and book a 1-2 result with teammate Ava Cavanaugh.
Cieslak brought home Haverford’s winning 4 x 400 relay in 3:54.44.
Springfield’s Layla Duggan blew away the field in the 100 hurdles, winning by 1.4 seconds in a time of 15.26.
Olivia Clark outran Joy Onyewuchi of Ridley down the stretch to claim the 400 meters. The Penncrest senior clocked in at 58.25. Zoe Clark was second to Harriton’s Milan Ramey in the 200. Ramey also won the 100. Kamryn Ohm cleared 12 feet to win the pole vault for Penncrest.
Garnet Valley won the girls 4 x 100 relay by .02 seconds over Conestoga. Felicia Grimmelbein, third in the 100, was on that relay.
Radnor claimed the 4 x 800 relay. Auldine Turay of Ridley captured the girls triple jump in 35-9.
