Over the weekend came word that the sprint medley relay team from Springside Chestnut Hill Academy won the Emerging Elites division at the 2014 New Balance Indoor Nationals in New York City. Pictured are (from left) freshman Terri Turner, sophomore Brooklynn Broadwater, junior Bridget Lipp, and sophomore Julia Reeves.

by Tom Utescher

Their time of 4:03.83 was more than five seconds faster than the mark turned in by the second-place foursome.

On the first of the month, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s Brooklyn Broadwater put on quite a show at the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association Indoor State Championship at Penn State University. The Blue Devils sophomore won the 400-meter final and came in third in the 200 meters.

In the 400, her winning time of 56.22 seconds put her the better part of two seconds ahead of the runner-up from Emmaus High School (57.98). A time of time 24.95 earned her the bronze in the 200 (WT – 24.42), where her SCH classmate Julia Reeves placed 15th in 25.91 and Germantown Friends junior Taryn Milbourne was 27th in 26.35.

Germantown Friends middle-distance ace Sarah Walker, a tenth-grader, placed fourth individually in the 800-meter final, finishing in 2:15.57 (WT – 2:14.22). She also ran the 1600-meter anchor leg for the Tigers on their third-place distance medley relay team. Junior Brigit Andersson, Milbourne, and sophomore Alice Wistar preceded Walker in the race order, and the Tigers logged a time of 12:35.75 (WT – 12:09.22).

In the individual 800-meter final, Springside Chestnut Hill freshman Terri Turner finished eighth in 2:16.70, and Germantown Academy senior Kerri Lawlor ran 17th in 2:19.8.

GA got a gold medal performance from Penn State-bound Megan McCloskey, who easily won the high jump by clearing the bar at 5’6”. Coming in 10th was Mount St. Joseph Academy senior Sarah Lynch, who leapt 5’2”.

Striving for distance rather than height, SCH’s Reeves placed 12th in the long jump, traveling 16’9” (WD – 18’10.75”). In the girls’ distance medley relay, the Blue Devils finished one spot behind GFS, coming in fourth (12:41.75) with the quartet of Turner, Broadwater, and juniors Bridget Lipp and Jamie Costarino.

In boys’ competition, top-10 efforts were produced by GA, GFS, and Penn Charter. GA’s Matt Miller pole-vaulted 13’6” to finish ninth in his event (WH – 15’0”), and another senior, PC’s Tre Williams, placed 10th in the 800 with a time of 1:57.49 (WT – 1:50.55).

Tenth place also went to the distance medley relay foursome from Germantown Friends. Sophomore Grayson Hepp, junior Guilian McFarland, senior James Finney, and freshman Nick Dahl took the baton around in 10:42.55 (WT – 10:24.16).

PC senior Scott Mason was 11th in the 3000-meter run, where he was timed in 8:54.39 (WT – 8:30.82). SCH senior Graham Allen placed 14th in the 800 in 1:58.70, and GA junior Sam Ritz went 4:28.82 to finish 21st in the mile (WT – 4:12.65). An SCH relay team took 12th place in the 4 x 200, completing the race in 1:32.20 (WT – 1:29.05). The line-up here consisted of senior Craig Alleyne, junior Alex Mollick, and sophomores Nick Rowland and Jordan Johnson.