Heard Around the Track



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OUTDOOR 2003

First college choice of class of 2004 - PA AAA 100m Outdoor and Indoor 60m State Champ Andrew Johnson (left @ WPIAL Champs in photo by Bill Rex) gives verbal nod to Pitt over Ohio State for football. The story in 7/23 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.


July 2003 - In the July Track & Field News, Nicole Leach, Angela Hoover and Thomas Jordan are tops in the US in their events. Leach with her 59.00 400H; Hoover with here 159-07 Javelin effort, and Jordan with his Jav throw of 224-02. The rest PA Prep list by Jack Shepard (men) an Mike Kennedy (women), includes: Cardinal O'Hara boys (2nd in 4x800 (obviously overjoyed with their AOC championship in this Dyestat photo.) in 7:41.89 and 5th in the DMR in 10:13.05); Cumberland Valley is 7 at 10:13.99; Andrew Rademacher 16-00.00 Pole Vault (he has since done .75 higher); Michael Whitehead, 49-08 Triple Jump; Justin Clickett, 64-05.75 Shot Put; Tyree Suber, 63-04.25 Shot Put; and Brad Zimmerman, 217-10 Javelin. For the girls, Juanita Broaddus is ranked in both the 100 (11.65) and the 200 (23.75). Krista Simkins made her way onto the 200 listing with a 23.71. Leach's teammate Latavia Thomas is 10th in the US with a 2:09.48 800 posting. Tiffany Abney is ranked 2nd behind Leach in the 400 Hurdles with her 59.18, and also on the top US list in the 300 Hurdles (42.64). In addition to Hoover, Ruby Radocaj is 7th in the Javelin with her 152-04 performance. And in the High Jump, the 5-11 effort by Erin Davis has her 5th. William Penn's 800 Sprint Medley was the 2nd best of the year at 1:40.95, while West Catholic sits in the second spot, also behind Poly, Long Beach, with a3:57.27 1600 Sprint Medley. Marks are those reported to Track & Field New by June 18th. Since then, Mark Korich's 1:50.83 800 should move him into the top group.

June 26 - Tiffany Abney, the Houston-bound sprinter who set a record with her 10 individual and three relay golds in four years of PIAA State Championship competition, was named the 2002-2003 Gatorade Pennsylvania High School Girls' Track & Field Athlete of the Year. The program honors top high school student athletes in 10 sports for achievement in the classroom, overall character, and athletic performance.

June 26 - Shaler's Sam Bair, a three-time WPIAL champion, two-time state champion, and the fastest 1,600-meter runner in PIAA history, will be going after his father's school records in college. The Story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

June 19 - Nicole Leach named to the US team for IAAF Junior World Championships in mid-July in Quebec. Story in the Philly Inquirer. Full team list at USATF site.

June 17 - Tiffany Abney (right), Merion Mercy, selects University of Houston, coached by Penn Wood grad,two-time Olympian and former 100m world record holder, Leroy Burrell.

May 31 - Right: Harrisburg grad Dominique Darden anchored the Miami 1,600m relay (3rd, 3:35.70) and ran the 3rd leg on the 400m relay (2nd, 44.06) as well at the NCAA East Regional Champs on Saturday 5/31 at George Mason Univesity. Darden qualified for the NCAA Championships in both events. Photo by Tim O'Dowd - irishrunner.com

April 13 - Shaler star 800 runner|miler Sam Bair, a senior, is out for the season with a stress fracture in his right foot. The story.

 

 

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April 11 - College Sightings: In addition to Sean Duffy and Mark Stallings (above left) racing the 5K at Bucknell 4/11, we caught a pix of Ryan Sheehan as the 'rabbit' in the 10K and Aaron Rich and Justin Gindlesperger of Shippensburg, also in the 10K.

Above: American University's Sean Duffy (O'Hara), pulled away from Millersville's Mark Stallings (Great Valley) to finiish 2nd behind his teammate in the 5K. Duffy went 14:20.52 while Stallings was 3rd in 14:28.52.

April 11 - Walt Murphy reports that Friends of Jack ("The Saint") St. Clair, the former coach at Cardinal Dougherty H.S. and Temple University in Philadelphia, are hosting a function ("The Gun Lap With the Saint") in his honor on May 2 at the Dougherty H.S. Cafeteria. (7-11pm) For reservations and further information, call Mike Prendergast at 215-548-4656

April 10 2003 - Senior Adam Breisch takes challenge of bigger school. Quakertown standout chooses La Salle. The story courtesy of Dom Cosentino, Staff Writer - for The Intelligencer of Doylestown (Pa.).

April 4, 2003 - A 22-year-old Marine, Joe Maglione 3rd of Lansdale, was killed Tuesday, April 1 in Kuwait. He was a former member of both the Council Rock and North Penn track teams, and had been studying engineering at Drexell when his Marine Corps Reserve unit was called up. The story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

March 31, 2003 - Two-time AA State XC Champ Andy Weilacher (Eisenhower) continued to pad his resume with a 45th place finish at the IAAF World XC Championships 3/29 in Switzerland. Weilacher is a freshman at Northern Arizona. His time of 25:49 on the diffficult 8k course scored for his US Junior Men team, which finished 8th out of 20 teams. The following quote is from the USATF report on the meet. Andy Weilacher (Flagstaff, Ariz., 45th) "It was a little rougher than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t run as good as I wanted to. The good teams always try to run together and that’s what we tried to do. Our group of three – Brett (Gotcher), Fleet (James Hower) and I – we weren’t up as far as we wanted to be, but we ran together and that’s what we wanted to do." The full news release at usatf.org. And Haverford grad Shayne (Wille) Culpepper did not compete to remain with her family in the US. The story from Ira Josephs in the Philadelphia Inquirer. And according to Flynn Sports, Amy Rudolph (Kane), had a minor hip injury that required a brief rest. She is healthy and training again, and will definitely race outdoors.
The three had qualified for Worlds at the USA Cross Country Championships February 14 and 15 in Houston, Texas. Culpepper won the Open Women's 4K in 15:10.00. In the same race, Rudolph was 4th in 15:23.00. The top six qualify for the Worlds team. Rudolph had finished 7th on Saturday in the Open Women's 8K in 31:02.00. And in the Juniors 8K, Weilacher (Eisenhower), was 3rd in 27:19.00 over the muddy course.

 

March 28 - Pix page of PA collegians competing Friday 3/28 @ the Raleigh Relays, including Kristin Price (NC State|Penn Trafford) (left) in the 10K | Sheila Klick, Josianne Lauber, Renee Gunning, Kara Price in 5K | Cedar Cliff assistant coach Matt Waggoner in 10K | Alan Webb |