Lady Knights kicking into gear

Placing in the top five in every field event as well as notching a top-five spot in six events on the track, the North Penn girls were a steady force anywhere and everywhere at Saturday’s CB West Relays.

“We all stretch ourselves out over all of the events and we’re just really deep this year,” junior Mikaela Vlasic said. “We have a lot of really good freshmen who are really helping us out a lot.”

North Penn put a tremendous foursome together in the 4x800meter relay, as sophomore Ariana Gardizy, senior Phoebe Clowser, freshman Jenna Webb and Vlasic raced to a first-place time of 9 minutes, 32.17 seconds, winning the event by seven seconds.

Out in the field, the medals kept coming, as Uche Nwogwugwu won the triple jump (34-4) and was second in the high jump (5-2), Natalie Kwortnik was the long jump winner (16-0.75), Dela Matthew was third in the javelin (102-11), Sydnee Towns was second in the shot put (34-4.25) and teammates Morgan Kull and Alyson Sharkey tied for third in the pole vault, each clearing 9-6.

North Penn has a plethora of strong 800 runners this spring, many of whom can be affective in the quarter mile.

Said Vlasic, who helped the 4x4 relay to seventh: “It’s been like that since my freshman year, and I like it because my 400 helps me with my 800, my 800 helps me with my 400 — they complement each other.”

Sizzling at Shipp

Christopher Dock’s Austin Kratz and Haley Anderson put on quite a show at the Shippensburg Jack Roddick Invitational on Saturday.

Kratz set a meet record in the 200 and also ran the fastest time in the state this spring with an impressive 21.74.

Kratz won three events in Class AA, taking first in the 100 dash with a 10.95 — third fastest in the state this spring — and first in the long jump with a leap of 22-8.5 — second best in PA.

Anderson, meanwhile, was busy taking first in the 300 hurdles (46.79), the triple jump (36-2.75) and the 100 hurdles (15.97).

Also from the area, Hatboro-Horsham’s Nick Marino cleared 15-6 in the AAA pole vault, taking first in the event and shooting up to No. 2 all-time in Hatter history.

Kratz, Anderson and Marino all hope it was a preview of things to come, as they all vie to make it back to Shipp in May for the State Championships.

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO North Penn’s Phoebe Clowser takes the baton from Mikaela Vlasic competing in the 4x800 relay event during the Pennsylvania Track Classic at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School on Saturday. March 28,2015.

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE PHOTO Souderton anchor Austin Miller takes the baton from Shamar Jenkins and Christopher Dock anchor Cole Rupert takes it from Austin Kratz in the boys 4x 100 Mar. 21, 2016 at Christopher Dock.