TRACK AND FIELD: Record-setting performances by Kratz, Gregory lead to big day for OJR at PAC Championship

ROYERSFORD — More than a few enjoyed record-breaking days on Saturday at the Pioneer Athletic Conference Track & Field Championship. For the Owen J. Roberts program, it was an occasion to celebrate one of its all-time greats in her last PAC race while also enjoying a breakout sophomore who is already taking the league by storm.

Senior Jane Kratz won both the 800m and 1600m events, setting a meet record in the former, and sophomore Matt Gregory was victorious in the 100m, 200m and 4×100 relay races — breaking a 30-year-old meet record in the 100 — as both runners lead their respective programs to team wins on Saturday at Spring-Ford. The girls’ team accumulated 140 points (the next closest competitor had 109.5), while the boys side racked up 108 to narrowly edge Perkiomen Valley by four points.

“The main thing for me is having fun – it’s so simple but so true,” said Kratz, whose 2:12.40 in the 800 broke the record that Norristown’s Avah Savage set last year by a full two seconds. “It’s the last three weeks of my season, so having fun with the team and making memories is all that matters to me.”

The Penn State recruit has plenty of big races ahead of her, but her final three high school postseason races — PACs on Saturday with districts and states still to come — felt especially meaningful.

“I’m going to run in individual events, but we’re doing the 4×8 at districts and states and I’m putting all of my focus into that,” Kratz said. “This has been the most abnormal season of my life due to some injuries and setbacks, so right now I’m happy to be healthy. Just getting to the line is the most important thing. Hopefully I can do some big things.”

As for Gregory, his 10.54 mark in the 100 broke Phoenixville’s Carlos Garcia’s record of 10.64 that occurred all the way back in 1995. Gregory, who finished third in this event as a freshman, was already thinking about how he can top himself in the future.

“It means a lot; it’s a good record – I worked hard to get to it,” said Gregory, also a standout receiver on the OJR football team. “I’m looking forward to next year when I can try to break it again. I expect and hope to win the district race and try to break that record too; I don’t know what that is yet, but then after that hopefully go on to states.”

The Wildcats had plenty of other big moments on Saturday. Elliott Kish was victorious in the 110m hurdles while finishing second in the 300m hurdles, and teammates Amy Ryan and Robin Perles took the top two spots in the 100m hurdles on the girls’ side.

“It wasn’t my best, but I did all that I could,” said Kish, who ran a 14.91 in the 110 hurdles. “The competition was pretty good, so it helped me push myself in the finals. This is my second year running track as a senior and my goal is to qualify for states. We have a really good district and that’s going to help me push my time up.”

“It’s nice to have someone to push you,” added Ryan of teammate Perles. “She’s someone I enjoy spending time with. Every day I go to practice, even when I’m having a bad day, I know she’ll be there and we’ll lift each other up.”

OJR’s Julia Bold also captured victory in the girls’ long jump with a distance of 17 feet, 9.25 inches.

Other record-breaking performances included Spring-Ford’s Anthony Brittingham, whose 48.67 in the 400 broke a mark of 48.90 that had stood since 1997.

The Norristown girls’ 4×100 relay team ran a 48.05 and broke a 23-year-old record by 0.65 seconds.

Perkiomen Valley junior Ava Flicker obliterated the meet record in the javelin, as her mark of 152 feet, 3 inches was nearly 20 feet farther than the previous record set in 2014. Finally, Methacton sophomore Victoria James, although feeling like she did not have her best in the shot put, still threw a 40’-6.5” and broke the record of 39’-10.5” previously established in 2019.

“My throws were kind of bad today – I was off balance and fouled my first one,” James said. “I was a little rocky but I still think I did good, and you can only do your best. All of the girls did amazing. I aspire for more during districts as I was hoping to hit 42 today; I’m still proud of myself for getting 40 today, especially because I was off balance.”

Another Methacton athlete who had a huge day was junior Colin O’Donnell, who claimed victories in both the 1600 (4:19.03) and 3200 (9:42.40), holding off PV’s Cooper Hey in the former and Nathan Boyer in the latter. Following his victory in the 1600 in which he broke his own personal record by four seconds, O’Donnell reflected on how far he had come in his high school career. As a freshman he was just happy to be at PACs, then made it to the podium as a sophomore but knew he still had a ways to go before being a contender that could actually win races.

“This year I was seeded second and knew I had a good chance to race for the win,” O’Donnell said. “My PR before this was 4:23, so it’s a huge confidence booster that will get me into the top heat at districts, which in turn will allow me to compete for (a spot in) states. Now that I know I can race with the best and compete with everyone, that really helps with my confidence.”

Additional athletes who claimed multiple wins on the day included Perkiomen Valley junior Colin Sturges (discus, shot put) and Pottsgrove senior Kamal Curry (long jump, triple jump).

The complete list of individual medalists and team scores are listed below:

Individual Results – Boys

100m: 1. OJR- Matt Gregory, 10.54; 2. PJP- Brandon DeAngelo, 10.95; 3. Upper Perkiomen- Asher Zonis, 10.98

200m: 1. OJR- Matt Gregory, 21.71; 2. PJP- Braden Reed, 22.13; 3. Spring-Ford- Anthony Brittingham, 22.41

400m: 1. Spring-Ford- Anthony Brittingham, 48.67; 2. Upper Perkiomen- Darius Reid, 48.80; 3. Norristown- Richard Matthews, 48.92

800m: 1. Boyertown- Aiden Voth, 1:56.00; 2. Perkiomen Valley- Cooper Hey, 1:58.03; 3. Upper Merion- Hudson Etezady, 2:02.17

1600m: 1. Methacton- Colin O’Donnell, 4:19.03; 2. Perkiomen Valley- Cooper Hey, 4:20.51; 3. Upper Merion- Anthony Tornambe, 4:27.44

3200m: 1. Methacton- Colin O’Donnell, 9:42.20; 2. Perkiomen Valley- Nathan Boyer, 9:44.69; 3. Perkiomen Valley- Zachary Krantz, 9:53.73

110m hurdles: 1. OJR- Elliott Kish, 14.91; 2. Pottsgrove- Montee Johnson, 15.32; 3. Pottstown- Di’tice Duren, 16.03

300m hurdles: 1. Methacton- Warren Simard, 40.85; 2. OJR- Elliott Kish, 40.99; 3. PJP- James Dauphinee, 41.08

4×100 relay: 1. OJR, 42.48; 2. PJP, 42.73; 3. Boyertown, 43.00

4×400 relay: 1. Norristown, 3:26.66; 2. PJP, 3:27.96; 3. OJR, 3:29.05

4×800 relay: 1. Perkiomen Valley, 7:57.04; 2. Boyertown, 8:06.04; 3. Upper Merion, 8:31.97

High jump: 1. Upper Perkiomen- Darius Reid, 6’-8”; 2. OJR- Declan Gallagher, 6’-7”; 3. Upper Merion- Eric Green, 6’-6”

Long jump: 1. Pottsgrove- Kamal Curry, 23’-7”; 2. OJR- Jonathan Miller, 23’-2”; 3. Spring-Ford- Justin Johnson, 22’-11.5”

Triple jump: 1. Pottsgrove- Kamal Curry, 45’-6.25”; 2. Perkiomen Valley- Ethan Pile, 44’-10”; 3. Spring-Ford- David Judisch, 44’-8”

Pole vault: 1. Spring-Ford- Abe McNelly, 13’-6”; 2. Phoenixville- Trevor O’Neill, 11’-6”; 3. Spring-Ford- Nasif Ataher, 11’-0”

Discus: 1. Perkiomen Valley- Colin Sturges, 150’-4”; 2. Boyertown- Ethan Dierolf, 147’-1”; 3. Spring-Ford- Parker Delgado, 141’-2”

Javelin: 1. Phoenixville- Talon Romance, 182’-8”; 2. Spring-Ford- Parker Delgado, 168’-7”; 3. OJR- Ryan Kerlin, 166’-7”

Shot put: 1. Perkiomen Valley- Colin Sturges, 59’-9”; 2. Perkiomen Valley- Eddie Smith, 50’-9”; 3. Phoenixville- Cameron English, 49’-2”

Team Scores – Boys

1. OJR- 108 points; 2. Perkiomen Valley- 104; 3. Spring-Ford- 99; 4. Methacton- 80; 5. PJP- 59; 6.  Boyertown- 55; 7. Upper Perkiomen- 46; 8. Pottsgrove- 44; 9. Phoenixville- 39; 10. Upper Merion- 35; 11. Norristown- 27; 12. Pottstown- 6

Individual Results – Girls

100m: 1. Norristown- Aniya Smith, 12.09; 2. Phoenixville- Kaycie Hodges, 12.15; 3. Upper Merion- Kennedy Coles, 12.25

200m: 1. Phoenixville- Kaycie Hodges, 25.09; 2. Phoenixville- Maraya Wilson, 25.47; 3. Norristown- Natalia Johnson, 25.48

400m: 1. Spring-Ford- Madison Johnson, 59.12; 2. Norristown- Jorgia Ollarvia, 59.86; 3. Upper Merion- Zymirah Freeman, 1:00.30

800m: 1. OJR- Jane Kratz, 2:12.40; 2. Norristown- Avah Savage, 2:15.62; 3. OJR- Amelie Blatz, 2:20.48

1600m: 1. OJR- Jane Kratz, 5:08.59; 2. Phoenixville- Emily Birdsell, 5:12.93; 3. Perkiomen Valley- Allison Matasich, 5:14.62

3200m: 1. Perkiomen Valley- Allison Matasich, 11:02.37; 2. OJR- Khya D’Angelo, 11”24.22; 3. OJR- Halle Kish, 12:15.32

100m hurdles: 1. OJR- Amy Ryan, 15.29; 2. OJR- Robin Perles, 15.36; 3. Norristown- Layah Rose, 15.52

300m hurdles: 1. Norristown- Nylah Kindell, 47.75; 2. OJR- Robin Perles, 48.63; 3. Boyertown- Brianna Stankina, 49.76

4×100 relay: 1. Norristown, 48.05; 2. Spring-Ford, 48.87; 3. Phoenixville, 49.15

4×400 relay: 1. Norristown, 3:59.75; 2. Upper Merion, 4:10.93; 3. OJR, 4:16.89

4×800 relay: 1. Boyertown, 9:51.70; 2. Spring-Ford, 9:52.75; 3. OJR, 9:56.69

High jump: 1. Boyertown- Samantha Hemingway, 5’-4”; 2. Perkiomen Valley- Jane Fisher, 5’-2”; 3. Norristown- Jorgia Ollarvia, 5’-0”

Long jump: 1. OJR- Julia Bold, 17’-9.25”; 2. Upper Merion- Kennedy Coles, 17’-7.75”; 3. Upper Merion- Jade Webb, 17’-5.25”

Triple jump: 1. Phoenixville- Maggie Daly, 37’-9”; 2. OJR- Julia Bold, 37’-7”; 3. Phoenixville- Kaycie Hodges, 35’-10”

Pole vault: 1. Upper Perkiomen- Samantha Pedrick, 10’-9”; 2. Upper Merion- Rebecca O’Neil, 10’-6”; 3. Phoenixville- Alexa Irons, 10’-0”

Discus: 1. Phoenixville- Emine Ulcay, 113’-2”; 2. Perkiomen Valley- Ava Flicker, 107’-0”; 3. Methacton- Aselle Zabun, 103’-3”

Javelin: 1. Perkiomen Valley- Ava Flicker, 152’-3”; 2. OJR- Gianna Leimeister, 134’-2”; 3. Upper Perkiomen- Morgan O’Hara, 132’-2”

Shot put: 1. Methacton- Victoria James, 40’-6.5”; 2. Phoenixville- Emine Ulcay, 38’-5.5”; 3. Spring-Ford- Abigail Lorch, 36’-2.25”

Team Scores – Girls

1. OJR- 140 points; 2. Phoenixville- 109.5; 3. Spring-Ford- 84.5; 4. Norristown- 82; 5. Perkiomen Valley- 81; 6. Upper Merion- 63; 7. Methacton- 44; 7. Boyertown- 44; 9. Upper Perkiomen- 25; 10. Pottsgrove- 18; 11. PJP- 7; 12. Pottstown- 4