GA,PC tracktops in Girls Inter-Ac

by TOM UTESCHER

Senior Elisse Douglass finished first in four events for Episcopal Academy, but the Churchwomen still fell short in their attempt to repeat as champion at the Girls Inter-Ac League Track and Field Championships on May 14.

Superior team depth allowed Germantown Academy to take the title with 95.5 points on the day, while event host Penn Charter was second, with 77, and Episcopal was third with 65.5. Springside School put up 41 points to claim fourth place, and the Academy of Notre Dame wound up fifth, with 34 points (the other three Girls Inter-Ac schools did not participate).

GA’s Patriots had a number of multi-event scorers, such as Caitlin DeFusco, who won the long jump (16’2”), and was second in the triple jump (32’10.25”) and in both the 100 meter high hurdles (16.81 sec.) and the 300 yard intermediate hurdles (48.69). Caroline Doty won the high jump (5’0”), was runner-up in the 400 (1:01.31), and placed third in the long jump (14’10”).

In the distance events, Germantown’s Jen Kopenitz repeated as the league’s 3200-meter winner in 13 minutes, one and fourth-tenths seconds, and finished second in the 1600 in 5:36.0. Coming in first and third in the 100 meters were Patriot sprinters Devon Blount (12.82) and Kris Guynn (13.01), and Blount was third in the intermediate hurdles (51.17). GA also finished first in the 4 x 100 relay (51.01) with Jess Golson, JLeah Ray, Blount and Guynn.

Meanwhile, sibling synergy produced points for Penn Charter. Senior LaTitia Moody was third in the high hurdles ((17.42) and her sophomore sister JaLia took second in the 100 meters (12.87) and third in the 200 (26.91).

Anna Marks and Julianne Skinner had the middle and long-distance footraces covered for the Quakers. Marks was runner-up in the 800 (2:30.7) and third in the 400 (1:02.5), and Skinner, a cross-country standout, took second in the 3200 (13:18.0) and third in the 1600 (5:49.0).

In the field events, the pole vault pit yielded second place for Stephanie Youhaz (7’9”, a new Penn Charter record), and third for Lisa Fugelo (7’3”), while Catherine Grigos garnered second place in the shot put with a 28-foot, six-and-a-half-inch heave. PC also won the 4 x 400 relay (4:19.9) with a quartet consisting of Maggie Lunn, Marks, Sierra Tishgart, and Jess Balderston.

Springside’s Kim Ashby placed in the top three in three different events for the Lions. She led the field in the 400 (59.16), finished second in the 200 (26.70), and was third in the high jump (4’6”). Teammate Nan Weisel needed fewer attempts to clear the high jump bar at 4’6” and thus finished second, and the Lions’ Kristy Caltabiano traveled 32’3.5” in the triple jump to land in third.

In the 4 x 100 relay, Springside’s Ashby, Caltabiano, Kelli Parks, and Paris Saunders teamed up to place second in 52.37 seconds.