Girls 4×800 Breaks County Record and makes Penn Final

PHILADELPHIA – The Union Catholic girls stormed its way into the 4×800 Championship of America race in record breaking fashion at Thursday’s 124th Penn Relays at historic Franklin Field.

The Vikings foursome of Jerika Lufrano, Leena Morant, Zamira Ysaac, Morgan Jackson not only took down the school record, but its time of 9:10.04 also shattered the Union County record as UC placed second in its qualifying heat with the fourth fastest time among the 12 qualifiers for Friday’s final at 1:05 p.m.

UC’s 9:10.04, No. 5 in the nation this season, broke the Union County record of 9:12.9 that was set by Summit in 1981. The former UC school record of 9:13.42 was set during the 2015 indoor season.

This marks the third straight year that a UC girls team has advanced to a Championship of America race and the first time the girls 4×800 team has advanced here. The UC girls 4×400 team, led by Olympian Sydney McLaughlin, placed third the past two years in the C of A. It’s also the fifth time in the past five years that UC will have a team in a C of A race. In 2014, the UC boys ran in both the 4×400 and 4×800 C of A, a remarkable feat.

So how did the UC girls all underclassmen 4×800 relay team make the prestigious C of A?

Running in the first qualifying heat of the day, Lufrano, a junior, led off with a 2:20.38 split. Morant, a sophomore, then cranked out a personal best 2:11.55, the second fastest split of the day, to move the team into second place. Sophomore Ysaac followed with a personal best 2:17.33 to put UC in front. Jackson, a sophomore, closed it out for UC with a PR of 2:20.80 as she came across the line a half step behind Dasia Wilson of Neumann Goretti High School of Philadelphia, which ran 9:09.54.

The only other teams among the 64 that competed in the 4×800 that ran faster than UC were defending champion Holmwood Tech of Jamaica (9:08.49) and Padua Academy (9:08.72).

“Our goal was all four of us to put it together and make the final,” said Morant. “We feel like if we all ran collectively strong we could go under 9:20, so to go 9:10 is a big deal for us. I am very proud of how all of us ran and we will be striving to run faster tomorrow and she what we can do.”

Morant said she and her teammates were out to prove that UC isn’t just a sprint school.

“We always been known as a sprint team, so to come out here and make it to the finals in a different race and be the first girls team from Union Catholic to make it to the final in a 4×800 makes this even more special,” said Morant.