May 8, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Springsider sets records, but PC wins meet
by TOM UTESCHER

Springside freshman Taylor Ellis-Watson set three new school records as she won the 100, 200 and 400 meter races. For more photos, visit www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

Springside freshman Taylor Ellis Watson broke her own school records in three events, but the visiting Penn Charter Quakers displayed their depth across the full spectrum of events to win last Friday’s dual meet, 87-40.

Charter improved to 3-1 in Girls Inter-Ac League dual meets, having lost to Germantown Academy by just two points when the teams met in the mid-April. The small Springside squad, which consists of less than two-dozen athletes, came away with a 1-3 mark in the league. The Lions’ victory came over Agnes Irwin early last month.

Agnes Irwin ran in last Friday’s meet in Chestnut Hill as well, but the Owls were officially competing against Penn Charter and not Springside, and the contest was scored as two separate dual meets instead of as a tri-meet. Head-to-head, Charter overwhelmed Irwin, 112-13.

Springside and Penn Charter each won one of the relays, while in the individual running events, including the hurdles, the Quakers outscored their hosts, 41-31. The gap was much greater in the field events, where one-two-three sweeps in the shot put and pole vault helped Charter outpoint the Lions, 41-4.

Springside did not enter the 100 meter hurdles, and that resulted in another 9-0 sweep for the visitors. The Lions’ Ellis-Watson dominated the sprints, opening up big leads right away and setting new school standards by winning the 100 meters in 12.3 seconds, the 200 in 24.8, and the 400 in 57.3.

Two Springside freshmen scored well in the distance events, with Natalie Bates leading a Lions sweep in the 3200 (13:16.7) and coming in second in the 800, while Gabi Novo was second in the 3200 and third in the 1600. All of Springside’s points in the field events were furnished by eighth-grader Victoria Walls, who was runner-up in the triple jump and third in the long jump.

Not to be outdone, PC ninth-grader Elyse Wilkinson finished first in both the 800 and the 1600. Over the winter, the Quakers freshman had placed second in the state at the Pennsylvania indoor championships. Freshman hurdler Amma Ntoso won both the 100 (17.0) and 300 (51.9) for Charter, while junior Kirby Dixon leapt to victory in the long jump (16’2”) and triple jump (32’0”) and came in third in the high jump.

Another PC 11th grader, Khaaleedah Smith, proved a productive scorer in the sprints, placing second in the 100, 200, and 400. Freshmen Aleesha Powell and Colleen Fehm each high jumped 4’10”, with Powell taking first place by needing fewer attempts to reach that height. Clearing the bar at eight feet even in the pole vault, senior Steph Yuhasz won that contest for the Quakers, and fellow upperclassman Stormie Romero fired the cannonball 30’4.5” to win the shot put.

Included in PC’s ten first-place performances was a win in the 4 x 100 meter relay, where Smith, junior Marquessa Gray, Dixon, and sophomore Saudiah Lawrence clocked in at 50.7 seconds to top the Springside foursome of Walls, eighth-grader Kelsey Chapman, freshman Asha Deane, and senior Kelsey Mullin.

The meet concluded with the 4 x 400 relay, where the line-ups in the top two teams were Ellis-Watson, Chapman, junior Tori Baggio, and Bates for Springside, and junior Linda Lipski, senior Katherine Damm, Ntoso, and Wilksinson for the Quakers.