Methacton’s Duffy, PV’s Warren medal at states
She became the last link to Methacton High School’s 10-year-reign of supremacy in area scholastic track & field circles. Caroline Duffy accumulated an incredible number of medals in multiple events as a spring track star for the Warriors in sprints, hurdles and jumps just about every time she competed during an amazing four-year career.
Duffy made her final trip to Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium this weekend, and the senior made that journey quite a memorable experience. Duffy wound up bringing home a third-place medal in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and a fourth-place medal in the 200-meter dash to highlight area performances at the PIAA Championships Friday and Saturday.
Duffy was timed at 43.64 seconds in the 300 hurdles and a 24.89 in the 200 to end her sparkling scholastic career on a high note. The performance in the 300 hurdles was a personal best.
“This is bittersweet because this is my last high school race,” said Duffy, who will attend St. Joseph’s University in the fall. “But it could not have ended any better. Coming back from the hurdles was really difficult. I was coming off a PR in my hurdles. To do that, andmake it under 25 in the 200 is what I am so proud about. The hurdles was my PR at 44.64, and then to go under 25 in this here is just awesome.”
Duffy plans to continue running the 200 with the Hawks in college, but she is unsure about the hurdles since the event is 400 meters at the collegiate level as opposed to 300meters in high school.
“I’ll have to see about that,” said Duffy.
She competed with and against some of the best female track & field athletes around for the past four years so there are tons of memories stored away for future posterity.
“These past four years have been great,” said Duffy. “I have competed against some amazing athletes and some have become amazing friends. So while it is bittersweet that this is the end of a chapter of my life, the memories I am taking away are just priceless.”
Perkiomen Valley freshman Christina Warren earned a sixth-place medal in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.42.
“It’s exciting,” said Warren, who also competed in the long jump Saturday. “Coming into this season, my goal was to make it to states. So to get to states and get a medal, I have overachieved.”
Cheltenham junior Chanel Brissett captured the gold medal in the event with a state-record time of 13.19 seconds. The old standard of 13.35 seconds was set by Cheltenham’s Chiara Leonard in 2014.
“I am used to keeping the pace up with her,” said Warren. “I run in the same summer league with her. They tell me to push to stay with her, and that’s what I do. Coach tells me to try your best.”
Owen J. Roberts’ girls 4x800 relay finished seventh with a time of 9:18.37 after the Wildcats achieved their PR in the District 1-AAA meet at Coatesville last weekend at 9:15.05. That put Owen J. Roberts as the second seed behind only North Penn, which wound up winning the gold medal in 8:59.96.
The Wildcats’ unit consisted of Megan Bernotas, Emma Torak, Mary Bernotas and Ali Brunton on the anchor. Brunton made up some big ground that allowed the Wildcats to move into the seventh-place position.
“I think we really came on in districts when we ran our PR,” said Brunton. “That helped our confidence to run with this competition. We knew we had Wilson, who is incredible. But it was a really good experience against really nice competition in a difficult atmosphere.”
Perkiomen Valley junior Annie Glodek competed in Saturday’s first event, the 3,200-meter run, and finished ninth with a time of 10:52.65, just missing the medal stand.