Senior helps South earn Penn Relays win
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
PHILADELPHIA — Sara Lemley and Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt did the same things for their teams at the Penn Relays.
Both took the baton and pushed their matching yellow and green teams into first-place finishes, Bolt for the Jamaican national 4×100 team before a record 54,000 fans at Franklin Field on Saturday, and Lemley for the West Windsor-Plainsboro South 4×400 girls team that won its high school girls heat for the second straight year Thursday.
”I just remember taking the baton from Katie (Calder) and thinking, I need to get in first,” said Lemley, a South senior who ran the second leg. “I remember taking off. I had no idea how far ahead I was. I just kept going.”
The Princeton High School boys’ outstanding spring continued with a win in their heat of the 4×400. Max Reid, Peter Marchetta, Gerhard Gengel and Ajamu Kambon ran 3:25.88 to top a pair of New York schools, three Jersey schools, two from Maryland and one from Pennsylvania. The PHS girls ran 52.78 for fourth in their 4×100 heat, and finished third in their heat of the 4×400 in 4:14.64.
WW-P South’s Caroline Kellner was 11th in the girls 3,000 championship in 9:57.53. The Pirate girls 4×100 was sixth in its heat in 52.28. The Pirate boys distance medley relay was eighth in 10:18.83. The boys 4×400 was fourth in its heat in 3:32.10.
The Stuart Country Day 4×100 ran a new school record 52.20 for fourth place in their heat. They also placed 11th in their girls 4×400 heat.
Montgomery High School’s Lara Shegoski was 16th in the girls 3,000 championship in 10:11.15, well ahead of her 23rd-place seeding. Fiona Paladino was 16th in the girls high jump championship. The Cougar girls were sixth in their heat of the 4×400 and fourth in their 4×100 in 51.43 seconds. The Cougars boys’ 4×100 was second in 44.04 seconds and their 4×400 was eighth.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North girls 4×400 of Sara Hayduchok, Marilyn Allen, Ryan Williams and Christina LiPuma was second in their heat in 4:03.41. The girls 4×100 ran 51.15 for third in their heat. The Knight boys distance medley relay was fifth in 10:15.50. Corey Abernathy was eighth in the boys shot put championship with a throw of 55-feet-9¼. The Knight boys were 13th in their 4×400. They were fifth in their 4×100.
Lemley took the baton for the Pirates mile relay in third place, but within 100 meters moved into first place, and with another 100 meters opened a 2-second gap. Ashleigh Delemos widened the gap and Emily Mauro poured it on for a 4:02.25 finish, more than four-and-a-half seconds ahead of runner-up Meade, Md.
”I’m really happy,” Lemley said. “I’m almost surprised. It’s crazy for us to hit these times at this point in the season. It makes us wonder what we can hit at the end of the season.”
Lemley is the lone newcomer to the Pirates’ 4×400 relay that won the Mercer County Championship last year and approached the 4-minute milestone. She replaces anchor Gabi Hunter, who graduated. Last year, the Pirates won their Penn Relays heat in 4:04, so they are ahead of schedule in tackling their dreams.
”That’s one of the goals the girls set at the beginning of the year — to break 4 and make it to the Meet of Champions,” said Pirates head coach Todd Smith. “This year, unlike last year, I think we have four very consistent girls. Last year, it was get it to Gabi and see what she can do and she could pretty easily break 60. We have four girls this year that hopefully by the end of the season should be able to break 60.”
The Pirates 4×400 relay finished fifth at the Group III state meet to advance to the Meet of Champions in the indoor season this year. Lemley is off to a blazing start in pursuit of her spring goals. She ran just over 61 seconds for her split Thursday.
”I’m pretty happy with it,” she said. “Last year, I had a rough year hitting times. This year, it’s my senior year and I’m ready to get it going and finish up the year strong and be good for my relay team. It means good things for the end of the year because I’m hitting times I had trouble hitting last year.
”This year, I want to be good for my relay team. I’m really motivated by the rest of my teammates. Our whole team is really excited for the next races. This is good to hit this time at this point of the season. We can definitely run faster with more competition.”
WW-P South might have had tougher competition Thursday if Lemley hadn’t opened such a huge gap on the field. She was just doing her job.
”We knew we had a shot at winning,” Lemley said. “We took that shot at winning and said, let’s get this. Katie, the first leg, she did great. She took us out in the first, second and third mix. By the time I got the baton, I could compete for first and then Ashleigh and Emily could run under 60 times and blow everyone away. Katie got us out well. It’s hard to get out in those California starts, but she did well with that.”
Two days later, the Franklin Field crowd was electric for Bolt’s appearance, but even Thursday there was a buzz about the biggest crowd the Pirates will compete in front of this season.
”It was so great,” said Lemley, who also competed at the Penn Relays as a sophomore. “Just going to Penn Relays and seeing all the teams from all over, it’s so exciting. Once the gun goes off, it’s an amazing opportunity to run there. The whole team is so motivated. We were all excited to be there.
”I definitely used the excitement and adrenaline of being there. My coach was saying the times we had to hit. We had other teammates there to support us. It definitely helped my run.”
The Pirates missed the chance to see Bolt anchor for Jamaica as they had practice Saturday, but they enjoyed another trip to Philadelphia for the Penn Relays this year.
”It’s a fun meet for the kids,” Smith said. “They get to experience a lot of good things. There are competitors from high school, college and professionals. They get to enjoy the atmosphere. And at the same time, this is two or three years where we’ve put in teams that had to qualify so that’s pretty good. The DMR and Caroline got to go this year.”
It was a good starting point for the Pirates 4×400 as it tries to live up to big expectations. Next on their big list is the chance to repeat as county champions May 8.
”It’s a big goal for us,” Lemley said. “We’re looking forward to that. We want to do well there and go to sectionals and groups and continue to improve. We’re all motivated. We can definitely take seconds off our time with more workouts, and once we have more competition to push us into those times.”
The Pirates will take their team to compete in the inaugural Robbinsville twilight meet on Saturday. It’s another chance to compete, though maybe not in front of as large a crowd.
”You’d like to see the kids run against other kids from the state a little more,” Smith said, “but this should give them a good gauge of what they have to do the next week at the Mercer County meet to make an impact in that meet.”
For the WW-P South girls 4×400, the Penn Relays was the perfect starting point to produce a season best to earn a repeat win.
”We wanted to get it again,” Lemley said. “We wanted to be consistent and win our heat so we’re known as a good competitive team every year.”
With her best Usain Bolt impersonation, Sara Lemley left no doubts.