Record-setting 4x800 relay leads Perk Valley to team title

On a gray and muggy Saturday at Norristown, it was Perkiomen Valley that threw enough logs on the fire to burn the brightest on the third and final day of the Pioneer Athletic Conference girls Track and Field Championships.

With a team score of 152 points, the Vikings cleaned house to take the PAC team title. The tone was set in the first event of the morning when Abrielle Schweitzer, Lily Tremba, Emerson Whetstone and Summer Watts ran the 4x800 relay in 9:25.91 — shattering the meet record of 9:31.88 set by Owen J. Roberts in 2015.

Perkiomen Valley junior Mackenzie Owens followed up with another gold medal for Perkiomen Valley in the following event. Having won the 100-hurdles last year, Owens repeated with a personal record of 15.77. The time is a PA Top 50 mark.

“It was really good to get a Pa. top 50 time today because I’ve kind of been all over the place this season with low 16s, high 15s,” Owens said. “It’s good to see the times dropping moving into the bigger meets.”

Owens also took the 300 hurdles the day prior as well, giving her a sweep of both hurdles events in the PAC meet. Methacton’s Analiesa Geiling (15.86, PR) and Boyertown’s Emily Wilson (16.69, PR) took second and third in the 100 hurdles respectively.

“Last year I came in second in the 300 hurdles, so I was really determined to clean-sweep,” Owens said. “It’s definitely a confidence boost going into districts because there’s really good competition in the PAC, and even more at districts. It just kind of gets me prepared for it all.”

Perkiomen Valley’s 4x400 relay team nearly broke a PAC meet record as well by finishing first in 4:00.47, less than a second more than the 3:59.52 — another mark set by Owen J. Roberts in 2015.

The Wildcats took second in the team standings at 127.5 points. Owen J. Roberts was fueled by a trio of first-place finishers on Day 3 of PAC competition, spearheaded by Claire Zubey and Jane Kratz in track events.

Zubey — a four-time Mercury runner of the year in cross country — repeated as the 1,600-meter champion in 5:02.91. Her mark is a Pa. top 25 time.

The Penn State signee entered the 1,600-meter with a seeded time of 4:53.25, well below the meet record of 4:59.64 set by Methacton’s Kara Steinke in 2012. But for Zubey, the plan was more about winning and preparation for the road ahead rather than going all out.

“I knew that wasn’t today’s goal. The goal was to win,” Zubey said. “I wanted to stay relaxed the first half and then move up the second. I want to do the 3,200 at districts. It’s going to be a lot more on my body, so I wanted to take it easier today.”

Kratz finished second behind Zubey at 5:06.22 — top 50 in Pa. — but the sophomore soared even higher later in the afternoon. Within one of the deepest fields of competition in the 800-meter, Kratz took gold in 2:18.15.

Against Methacton defending champion Kate Thomas, who took second with a PR of 2:18.52, Kratz shook off an eighth-place finish from last year in the event. Kratz’s PR a year ago was 2:26, eight seconds more than the numbers she put up to reach the top of the podium Saturday.

“It’s really big. I’ve been working really hard these past couple months,” Kratz said on her uptick. “I took winter track this past winter for the first time, so I got a lot of speed work in. I think that’s really transformed my race completely.”

Like Zubey, Kratz entered as the top-seed with a time below the PAC meet record. Kratz entered with a seeded time of 2:14.69, just under two seconds under the current PAC championship record of 2:16.00 set by Spring-Ford’s Heather Giovagnoli in 2007.

“I’ve just been staying consistent and taking every workout really strongly and making my recovery really important to me as well,” Kratz said. “Just keep on improving.”

Zubey wasn’t the only repeat champion for Owen J. Roberts. Having won gold in the javelin throw as a freshman, Gianna Leimeister once again stood atop the podium with a heave of 111-4, setting a new PR in the process.

“Just staying focused and having fun (has helped me). It keeps me motivated with my teammates and everything,” Leimeister said on going back-to-back through her underclassman years. “It’s really great, it makes me want to win next year and the year after.”

Spring-Ford’s Madison Johnson has pieced together an impressive freshman campaign, entering the 400-meter as the top seed (58.12). Johnson dialed it up in the finals, finishing first in 57.72 for a new PR, as well as a mark in the top 25 in Pa.

“It’s been stressful most definitely,” Johnson said on her first PAC championship meet experience. “I think going up against older people, upperclassmen, it’s a little bit intimidating. But we still do it.”

Much of the intimidation factor came in the form of Perkiomen Valley junior Ashley Pickles. As the defending champion of the event, Pickles gave Johnson a battle and finished as the runner-up in 58.76, a top 50 in Pa.

“It was definitely scary. But she did push a fight with me and that helped push myself, to PR and to win,” Johnson said. “Going up against older kids, that push, it pushes me to want to be better and it pushes everyone else to be better because no one wants to be beat by a freshman. Competing in a friendly way so we can both benefit off of it.”

Spring-Ford’s 4x100 relay team also took first in 49.39, followed by Methacton (49.57) and Boyertown (49.60).

Methacton’s Summer Mellow won last year’s 100-meter dash by milliseconds and had another close shave on Saturday. Mellow once again took first in 12.13, just .21 faster than Boyertown’s Harper Glennon.

Glennon rebounded with gold in the 200-meter (25.19) while Mellow took bronze (25.65) behind Perkiomen Valley’s Kiara White (25.58). Both Mellow and Glennon’s first-place times were in the top 25 of Pa. respectively.

“I’ve been doing a lot more strength training, weights and stuff. I’ve gotten stronger. I was really looking forward to racing Harper though,” Mellow said. “She’s so fast and I can’t wait to see what she does next year. She pushes me a lot, and I appreciate that very much.”

Mellow took silver in the long jump (17-1¼) behind Pottsgrove junior Athena Phinnessee (17-3½). Pickles placed third with a 15-5 mark. Mellow and Pickles both hit a PR in the event.

The District 1 Championships will be held at Coatesville on May 19-20.