TWIN VALLEY BOYS, WILSON GIRLS REIGN AT FIRING MEET
Boys: Matthew Crow, Gavin Springer each win two events to lead Twin Valley to the county title
Twin Valley’s Gavin Springer won the 100 in 11.26 and the 200 in 22.67 while Matthew Crow won the 110 hurdles in 15.00 and the 300 hurdles in 39.53 to help lead the Raiders to their first county championship in school history at the 79th annual William H. Firing Memorial Victory Meet on Saturday at Shillington..
Twin Valley finished with 117.50 points, but did not surpass second-place Wyomissing, which finished with 116 points, until the final event when the Raiders earned eight points after a second-place finish in the 1600 relay. The Spartans finished eighth in the final relay.
“I think it feels unbelievable,” Twin Valley coach Brian Holden said. “Having a meet come down to the four-by-fours is every kids’ dream whether you win or lose, and when you walk away with the win it’s just that much more special.
“We don’t accomplish anything this season without Matthew Crow and Gavin Springer, who are two of our critical seniors and our top point-getters today. They’re two special kids. They’re not just great runners, they’re great leaders.”
Springer’s wins in the 100 and 200 are his first career gold medals at the county championships and Springer expressed that the comeback victory in the team standings capped the day.
“It’s been a nail-biter all the way through,” Springer said. “I’ve been running nonstop for the last half a decade. But to close the gap and seal the deal, I couldn’t ask for a better conclusion.”
Crow also said that the Raiders came into the meet hoping to win as a team and that the motivation for a strong result as a program helped everyone heighten their individual performances.
“I knew we were trying to win as a team,” Crow said. “Our 400 relay did a lot more than expected, so it brought us back into the game and that’s why we had to go for it. We all wanted to win because the banners will stay; the records will break again.”
Twin Valley now looks ahead to districts.
“I got a lot of things to work on; get my speed back up,” Crow said. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks with double meets and dual meets during the week and then an invite of Fridays, but I think if I just work on the things I need to I’ll get it in.”
Wilson, which finished third in the team standings with 73 points, had an impressive showing in the relay events as the Bulldogs won all three. Wilson won the 400 relay in 43.50, the 1600 relay in 3:25.88, and the 3200 relay in 8:11.76. The Bulldogs did not report the full list of relay runners.
Wilson’s Jonathen Tamayo won the 400 in 49.84 and also ran in the first-place 400 relay and 1600 relay teams. Tamayo noted that he felt confident in the Bulldogs’ chances of winning relays at districts.
“For the 4×100, I really think we have a chance of winning it,” Tamayo said. “The same goes for the 4×400. We’re all ready, we’re all experienced and we’re going to be ready to get at it.”
Schuylkill Valley’s Luke Seymour won the two distance events run Saturday, as the senior broke his own school record of in the 1600 with a 4:16.95 and also won the 800 with a 1:54.86. The previous school mark in the 1600 had been 4:17.03.
“It was a really good pace; just like a cruise,” Seymour said of his record-breaking run. “It was like a 1:06, 1:06, and 1:06, so I did think the time was going to be slow because that is a higher time-lapse than what I’m used to. But then for the last lap I dropped a 58-second lap so it really did lower the time then.”
Seymour is the top-ranked runner in District 3 for the 800 and 1600 and has his sights set on working toward states.
“For districts, I’ll be doing the 800 and 1600 and I’m ranked first for both of them with a pretty decent gap,” Seymour said. “So I just want to go out there and run fast times and then get ready for states.”