Strath Haven girls make history with first team title
BETHLEHEM » Gwen Stach immediately thought the worst when Strath Haven coach Bill Coren started informing the Panthers where they finished as a team in the District 1 girls Class 3A championship race at Lehigh University Friday morning.
“I guess I’m a little negative,” Stach said. “When he said, ‘We didn’t get sixth,’ I said, ‘Oh shoot, we got seventh.’ I was really worried.”
Seventh would have been a disaster. The top six teams in Class 3A qualify for next week’s PIAA championships in Hershey. A seventh-place finish would have left the Panthers out of the state meet for the second year in a row. The Central League did not participate in districts last season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Stach wasn’t being negative, she just fell into Coren’s ruse. Being the poker player he is, Coren was bluffing, and setting the stage for what turned out to be an historic day for the Panthers. He went down the places until he finally told the runners that they were the first team in program history to win a district championship.
“We were all freaking out when we found out,” Stach said. “It was just mindblowing.”
Strath Haven’s victory was part of a big day for Delaware County runners. Ella Hines of Delco Christian won the Class A individual title and was one of four county runners to advance to states in that classification. The Haverford girls also earned a trip to Hershey as the third-place team in 3A, while Penncrest’s Ruby Schwelm also punched her ticket to Hershey in 3A.
For Strath Haven, though, the team title was a bit of a surprise, even in a wide open field.
“Our goal was to make states,” Stach said. “We didn’t expect to win it.”
Senior Rowe Crawford finished 16th in 19:23.70. Sophomore Hannah Prokup placed 21st in 19:29.10. Stach was 40th (19:54.70). Sophomore Chloe Browne took 50th (20:04.50) and Morgan McErlean placed 81st (20:33.20). That was enough to edge Owen J. Roberts, 205213, for the team title in an extremely tight race where 47 points separated
sixth place from first.
“Winning the team title is more exciting than having one star do well,” Crawford said. “And to be the first team to do it is just unbelievable.”
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Haverford’s Camryn McGeehan has had quite the freshman season. She was third at the Delco championships, fourth at the Central League championships and now she’s headed to Hershey for the PIAA championships after an 11th-place finish in the District 1 Class 3A race.
“I really mentally prepared for this race,” McGeehan said. “I prepped for rain and wind. I knew I had to get off fast again. I knew I had to have more even splits and I did. And I used the cornfield because it’s rolling hills and I’m really good at those.”
McGeehan won’t be going to Hershey alone. Mairead Plunkett (52nd), Olivia Thompson (53rd), Mackenzie Gillespie (59th) and Audrey Pham (60th) helped the Fords finish third in the team competition with 230 points to earn berths in the state meet as a team.
Schwelm continued her outstanding freshman season. The Cental League champion and Delco runnerup finished 20th at the district meet to earn a medal and a trip to Hershey.
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A hip injury, combined with the pandemic,
prevented Delco Christian’s Hines from playing soccer and running cross country last year. She planned to participate in both sports this year until a quad injury forced her to limit her fall season to cross country.
“I decided it’s not going to work balancing both so I decided to put my effort into cross country, which is fine with the amazing team we have,” Hines said.
The move paid off for the senior. Hines topped New Hope-Solebury freshman Skyler High by nearly eight seconds to win the District 1 Class A individual title with a winning time of 21:04.50.
“It’s incredible,” Hines said. “This has been my goal and my dream since I started to run cross country (in her sophomore year), but I couldn’t have done it without Doc (head coach George McFarland) pushing me along. He was so encouraging, and obviously the team. We’ve been working together the whole time. I love them and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Two of her teammates are also going to Hershey. Liza Lee finished fourth and Bethany Jacox was seventh as the Knights just missed winning the team title, finishing second to New Hope-Solebury, 29-32.
Sophomore Mackenzie Fisher of Sacred Heart also qualified for the PIAA championships in Class A with a fifthplace finish.