Allentown’s Mulryne qualifies for the MoC in four events
BAYVILLE » Before she could go to prom, Kassidy Mulryne had business to take care of in the Group III track and field meet at Central Regional on Saturday afternoon.
The Allentown High senior is headed to the Meet of Champions as a Group III winner in high jump and a 4-for-4 qualifier.
“It was amazing,” Mulryne said. “Last year I remember being so excited just to be in the finals for long jump. I knew high jump is the thing taking me all the way, but this year I had an opportunity to advance in all my events and it’s just awesome.”
The top two finishers in each group qualify automatically for the MoC with the next best nine results from the Central Regional site receiving a wildcard.
Mulryne qualified in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 100 meter hurdles.
“She turned the corner this season,” Redbirds assistant Rick Smith said. “She hasn’t triple jumped before in her life. She was always beat up coming off of soccer. I knew she would be good at it, so she’s still trying to figure that out — 37-38 feet is a beautiful thing. She’s dropped over a second in hurdles this season, so that’s humongous. She just kind of still finding out what she can do.”
Call it untapped potential. “I switched my events to more events that I like,” Mulryne said. “I really believed in myself and in practice my coaches have found drills for where I need specific work. My start is one thing and we really work on it. I just want to win.”
That’s exactly what the TCNJbound Mulryne did in the high jump, her best event, when she was the only girl to clear a PR 5-08.00 among the three groups here.
“It’s feels pretty awesome to finally do it,” Mulryne said. “Last year I was so happy to win the sectional title. It’s just amazing to see how far I’ve come in a year.”
She finished fourth in the triple jump (37-07.00) and seventh in the 100 hurdles with her 14.92 in the preliminary heat enough to earn a wildcard.
The Lawrence duo of Mijah Collier (14.63) and Khalin Hemingway (14.86) also advanced from Group III in the hurdles.
Mulryne began her meet with a third place in the long jump (18-06.75) on Friday.
The plan is to take on all four at the MoC.
“She’s been going to Meet of Champs in high jump for a long time, but now she’s got all four,” Smith said. “It’s pretty wild and she wants to do all four. She’s chomping at the bit.”
Mulryne has put together a special senior season that has her in the mix for Athlete of the Year alongside teammate Devon Hoernlein.
Hoernlein ran a PR 4:57.01 in the 1600 to qualify for MoC on Friday to give the Redbirds three athletes at the showpiece event. Carly Roche also advanced in pole vault.
Mulryne also won a state title in soccer and plans to play both next year at TCNJ.
“Going into both sports, we lost so many people and we had no idea what we could accomplish on the track team and the soccer team,” she said. “Everybody put everything they had into it, and it’s awesome.”
First a prom. Then the Meet of Champs.