Photo Gallery by Maroon News of the Simon Gratz and West Catholic Sprint Medley Relay wins on Friday 3/10 at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships
Photo Galleries of PA athletes and relays at the 2006 Nike Indoor + National Scholastic Champs
Forum posts from NIN by Don Rich (PAfan) for all the top PA results.
NIN Unofficial Splits and Synopis from both days of NIN by MileSplit's Ben Thomas
Video clips by Brandon Miles from the Nike Indoor Nationals (Subscription only)
NSIC Sunday: How about improving on your US #1 time and adding another national title to your resume as a fitting end to your high school indoor career? Well, that's exactly what Latavia Thomas did as the West Catholic star won a loaded race in 2:07.92, beating Easton's Chanelle Price for the 2nd time in two weeks. Price ran 2:08.47 for 2nd. Her time was exactly two seconds faster than her state runner-up mark on February 25th. Thomas also helped her Burrs' teammates take 3rd in the 4x400, running 3:47.91. Simon Gratz captured 6th in the boys' 4x400, going 3:20.82. In the 4x200, Simon Gratz ran 1:28.20 for 2nd place. The boys of North Penn improved their PA title time by a nose, but this time there were three other teams a bit stronger. Their 7:53.52 will keep them atop the rankings in PA as the season is now in the history books. Simon Gratz finished 6th in the race in 7:58.30. In the 200 finals, Council Rock North's Ricky Goettel was 12th in 22.42.
NIN Sunday:
60 Dash: Prelims of the 60 dash, Breehanna Jacobs (Laurel Highlands) and Tierra Flowers (Coatesville) advance, Jacobs with 2nd fastest 7.51 and Flowers at 7.75. Anthony Bishop (7.00 first to miss semis) of Philadelphia and Chris Muvdi (7.07, 24th) (Holy Name) do not advance. Jacobs then takes 2nd in the 60 Dash in 7.43, while Flowers is 6th in 7.75 seconds.
60 Hurdles: Methacton's Ryann Krais advanced to the Semis in 60 Hurdles. She won her heat in 8.75. which was 5th best in the Prelims. Lindsay Dolan, Center, also advanced (even with an injury) with 9.13. Amber Koon (Coatesville) did not advance. Krais went 8.71 in the Semis, and then drew lane 6 for the finals, and tripped over the next-to-last hurdle and hit the ground, but finished the race to take 6th. Carrington Queen, Chichester, advanced with 7th best time of 8.13 (just takin' it easy), and Kamal Marell, Penn Charter, snatches the last spot with his 8.31 winning a tiebreaker for that spot by .001. (nice lean Kamal). In the Semis of the 60 Hurdles, Queen finished 7th and missed the finals by one spot with his 8.03.
200: In the finals of the 200, Brehanna Jacobs of Laurel Highlands took 3rd, running 24.66.
400: Bensalem's Reggie Carter wins the 400 Dash in 48.71 seconds to add a national title to his state one...
800: In the 800, Brittany Jackson, Girls High, 2:22. 49. Dan Brown, Conestoga, 2:05.11, Jonathan Jackson, Carlisle, 2:05.35. In the final section, Chester's Shaniel Chambers finishes 6th in 2:15.18. In the boys' race, Germantown Academy's Elliot Rhodes finished 5th in 1:56.58, while state champ Aaron Kauffman of Red Land took 6th in 1:56.73.
Mile: Chambersburg's Sarah Morrison had an off day, running to a 5:16.31 to finish 21st, while State College's Katherine Ward was 22nd in 5:16.54. In the Freshman Mile, LaSalle's Philip Wood was 6th in 4:31.23. And in the girls' Frosh Mile, Cecelia Forshee of Chambersburg was 13th in 5:24.94.
2 Mile: In the 2 mile in morning (non seeded heats), Sarah Lonzi, Bradford ran 11:27.85 in the first heat. Matt Fahey from Conestoga was a DNF with a quad injury. Lonzi would finish 15th overall after the afternoon's final heat.
4x200: The Penn Hills girls take 6th in the 4x200 in 1:43.69, Coatesvlle is 12th in 1:45.89, and Donwingtown East was 16th in 1:46.38. Like the Penn Hills girls, The Penn from the other side of PA, Penn Charter, also took 6th in the 4x200, going 1:31.33.
4x400: Conestoga came back with three of the same runners to place 7th from the 3rd from final heat of the 4x400, running 4:00.69. Milton Hershey was 7th at 4:00.71. Harrisburg's 3rd leg lost a shoe at the handoff and never recovered. They would finish 8th overall in 3:25.71. Bensalem was 10th in 3:26.96.
4x800: The Conestoga girls took 4th in the 4x800 in 9:33.16, using splits of 2:19, 2:30, 2:25 and 2:19. St. Basil was 8th in 9:35.29 from the 2nd section. The Bradford Area boys team was the top PA finisher, getting 20th in 8:17.07. Archbishop Carroll was 21st in 8:17.22.
High Jump: Erin Hannon, Bradford, cleared 5-08.75 to take 2nd in the High Jump, while Coatesville's Emily Moles was in a 8-way tie for 5th by clearing 5-05.00.
Long Jump: After winning the Pentathlon, taking 6th in the 60 Hurdles, and trying to preserve what energy she has left for the 4x400, Ryann Krais withdrew. Downingtown East's Alex Tremblay finished in a tie for 9th after jumping 22-01.75. PA State Champ Scott Henkelman did not compete because of an injury.
Pole Vault: Brooke Borso of Whitehall was PA's top finisher in the Pole Vault, clearing 12-01.50 for 7th. North Allegheny's Sean Gil finished tied for 8th, clearing 15-00.25.
Shot Put: Samantha Fetter and Allyn Laughlin tie for 3rd in the Shot Put with throws of 44-05.25, and and Karen Shump finishes in a tie for 5th with a throw of 43-0.25. Chestnut Hill Academy's Wayne Crawford was PA's top finisher in the Shot Put with a throw of 55-03.00 to get 10th.
Freshman Mile: LaSalle's Philip Wood is 6th in 4:31.23. Cecelia Forshee of Chambersburg, is 13th in 5:24.94.
NIN Saturday: Methacton sophomore Ryann Krais continues to amaze her coaches and teammates, not to mention herself. She rode outright wins in the 60 Hurdles, Long Jump, and somewhat surprisingly, the 800, to capture her first national championship. Her 8.80 60 Hurdles was .06 better than the eventual runner-up, Alexandra Coppadge. Krais followed that over the course of the day with a 5-03.25 High Jump, 31-00.50 Shot Put, 18-05.25 Long Jump (1st), and 2:26.12 800 (1st). Bradford's Erin Hannon, suffering from a respiratory infection, finished 4th to also earn all-American status, while Center's Lindsay Dolan, who has achilles tendonitis and a bone spur, survived the pain to take 12th. In the 200, In the 55 Shuttle Hurdles Relay, St. Basil won all-American status with a 4th place 35.15. Brehanna Jacobs of Laurel Highlands, moved on to the finals in the 200 with the fastest qualifying time of 24.47, while Bensalem's Reggie Carter had the 3rd best qualifying time in the 400 at 49.20. Downingtown East was 6th in the Sprint Medley Relay in 4:15.75 (Kathryn Shannon, Sami Keenan, Amanda Egan, and Marie Thompson). The Strath Haven boys took 8th in the 4xmile, going 18:27.94. The Baldwin girls ran 22:27.21 for 10th in their 4xMile. Germantown Academy's Alex Holcombe was 10th in the Pentathlon with 3292 points. Girls' High of Philadelphia was 11th in the 1600 Sprint Medley Relay in 4:18.12.
NSIC Saturday: The Simon Gratz boys qualified for the finals of the 4x200 with a 3rd best on the day of 1:29.08. Cardinal O'Hara was 10th and also advanced , going 1:31.18. Council Rock North's Ricky Goettel advanced to the finals of the 200 with his 22.32. Springfield-Delco's Andre Nelson did not advance to the finals of the 60 with his 7.00. Cardinal O'Hara took 5th in the 4xMile, going 17:51.09. And three PA girls tied for 4th in the Pole Vault with Abby Schaffer, Easton, Brooke Borso, Whitehall, and Beki Finn, of Liberty, each cleared 11-11.25.
NSIC Friday: The West Catholic girls and Simon Gratz boys posted US#1 1600 Sprint Medely Relay times on Day 1 at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships. West Catholic went 3:57.83, while Simon Gratz boys ran 3:26.79. In the girls' SMR, Engineering & Science was 10th in 4:10.86. Trevon Rainford, Engineering & Science, took 4th in the 5000, going 15:04.23, with Curtis Bixler of Cumberland Valley, 5th in 15:09.17. Allyn Laughlin, Center, captured the first half of her attempt to both national meet titles, taking the Shot Put with a throw of 47-08.00. Both West Catholic (girls) and Simon Gratz (boys) advanced in the 4x400 with 3:51.38 and 3:20.14 times, respectively. The Engineering & Science girls will join West Catholic after going 3:58.49. And Cardinal O'Hara finished 13th in the Distance Medley Relay with their 10:33.57.
Preview
Some of PA's best are competing at the two national indoor finales this weekend, beginning with the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in NY Friday, and running through Sunday both in NY and at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Maryland. I will be covering my first NIN after six straight years in NY, but will have photography help at the Armory. On interesting entry is Ryann Krais in the Indoor Pentathlon in MD.
Llindsay Dolan in her 9.23 60 Hurdles for 3rd after one event.
Erin Hannon in her 9.36 60 Hurdles to tie for 6th after one event.
Khaliff Featherstone unleashes a 1:52.2 to hold off a sub-1:52 to win the SMR in 3:26.79.
Photo by Open Photo
Latavia Thomas anchors West Catholic to an SMR win of 3:57.83.
Photo by Open Photo
Curtis Bixler was 6th in the 5000 on Friday at NSIC in 15:09.17.
Photo by Open Photo