Downingtown West sets championship pace at 129th Penn Relays

By Bruce Adams

badams@21st-centurymedia.com

Philadelphia — Downingtown West continued its championship pace Saturday at the 129th running of the Penn Relays Presented by Toyota at Franklin Field.

On Saturday morning, the Whippet quartet of freshman Sophia DeAngelis, freshman Elena Geanopulos, freshman Samiya Milbourne and junior Molly Weitzman won the High School Girls’ 4×400 Suburban ChesMont race with a personal best of three minutes, 56.85 seconds. The Whippets made a late burst down the stretch, as Weitzman clocked 55.82 seconds as the anchor.

Downingtown West sprint coach Tracy Robinson said, “The key for them, with (a team of) three freshman and one junior, was believing in their talent and training. They were a little nervous, but they believed in themselves and they got us (to first place).”

Weitzman said, “Today and (Friday) has been an amazing experience. …We definitely didn’t want to use up too much power too quick. You want to go out hard your first 16, 17 steps and get a nice start, then back off a little so you don’t use up too much energy. The last 200 (meters) you want to give it everything you have left in the tank.”

Milbourne said, “I think the key was pacing ourselves and really bringing it together on the last stretch.”

Finishing just behind Downingtown West in the High School Girls’ 4×400 Suburban ChesMont race Saturday were a trio of closely-bunched teams — the Coatesville foursome of Ciana Rosado, Ava Weldon, Genesis Bradshaw and Jalyncia Christman (second place, 4:01.05), the Great Valley quartet of Natalie de Rezende, Phebe Elliott, Nina Fornataro and Hannah Pinnock (third, 4:02.40) and the Downingtown East foursome of Olivia Dever, Corina Colmenares-Bittar, Julie Zajac and Katrina Daversa (fourth, 4:02.66).

On Friday, the Whippet foursome of junior Josiah Wade, junior Ryan Witherspoon, junior Olo Kolade and senior Andrew Ernst broke a 29-year-old state record for the Penn Relays with their clocking of 3:12.69 in the High School Boys 4×400 Championship of America. They placed seventh in the race, behind four teams from Jamaica, one from Maryland (Bullis School) and one from New Jersey (Toms River North).

“The key for them was rest and recovery and believing in themselves,” said Robinson. “They’ve been one of the top (4×400) teams in the nation since our indoor season – all four of them ran really well (Friday).”

On Thursday, the same quartet finished first in the High School Boys 4×400 Suburban ChesMont race with a meet record of 3:15.18, breaking Coatesville’s 1974 record of 3:17.10 when the distance was measured in yards.

Ernst, who will compete in track for the College of William & Mary next spring, also finished seventh in the High School Boys Long Jump Championship Thursday, with a mark of 6.85 meters (22 feet, 5.75 inches).

Finishing second to Downingtown West in the Boys 4×400 Suburban ChesMont race was the West Chester Rustin quartet of Yiannis Makris, Brady Bley, Jonathen Sanchez and Yashil Shah with a time of 3:21.70.

The Downingtown West quartet of Simone Wilford, Geanopulos, Macy McCormick and Weitzman finished seventh in the High School Girls’ 4×100 Northeast Saturday with a clocking of 48.91. On Friday, this foursome ran a personal best 47.95.

The Whippet quartet of Gavin Seavey, Witherspoon, Jaden Midgett and Ernst finished fifth in the High School Boys 4×100 Northeast Friday with a clocking of 41.71.

Other local standouts Friday included Malvern Prep’s Brock Yoder, who finished 10th in the High School Boys 3000 meter Championships (8:31.53); and Avon Grove’s Lexi Boiardi, who placed ninth in the High School Girls High Jump Championship with a mark of 5-5.

Yoder was Malvern Prep’s first-ever qualifier for the Penn Relays 3000 meter run, and he lowered his own school record of 8:36 which he set at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships. His 10th-place finish was Malvern Prep’s highest finish in an individual Penn Relays event since 2008.

“Brock ran a great race,” said Malvern Prep head coach Mike Koenig.

NOTES: Total attendance for the 129th running of the Penn Relays Presented by Toyota was announced as 102,365 for the three-day event.