Girls 4×800 Places 5th in COA at Penn Relays
UC earns final medal with dramatic 5th place finish in 4×800 C of A race at Penn Relays
4/27/2018 3:48:00 PM
The Vikings edged Ridge to win the battle for N.J. supremacy
Jim Lambert
PHILADELPHIA – Union Catholic’s Zamira Ysaac was a step behind Kaitlyn Van Baalen of Ridge with 75 meters left in Friday’s 4×800 Championship of America race at the 124th Penn Relays at Franklin Field.
But she didn’t stay there for very long.
Ysaac, fueled by UC’s loss to Ridge at last month’s New Balance Indoor Nationals, dug down deep and made a huge push to pull even and eventually pass Van Baalen to bring the Vikings across fifth in 9:10.40. Ridge, which won the New Balance Indoor National title in 9:08.07 with UC second in 9:13.90, placed sixth in 9:10.65. Holmwood Tech of Jamaica won its second straight title and meet record 11th title by almost nine seconds in 8:48.33.
Not only did UC avenge its loss to Ridge in the battle for New Jersey supremacy, but by placing fifth, UC nabbed the final medal that was awarded in the 12-team 4×800.
“They (Ridge) beat us indoors, so we really wanted to finish ahead of them this time and be the top New Jersey team, so I just pushed as hard as I could to get ahead of her,” said Ysaac, a sophomore who split 2:18.79.
This was the first time ever that UC ran in the girls 4×800 C of A, which it qualified for by running a Union County record 9:10.04 in Thursday’s qualifying heats, and the third straight year that a UC girls team ran in a C of A race. UC placed third in the 4xx40 C of A in 2016 and last year.
With five underclassmen in its lineup over the past two days, the Vikings left Franklin Field feeling very proud of what they did and confident that it has the potential to contend for its first C of A title in school history over the next couple years.
“We are all young and this was a great experience for us to build off of,” said sophomore Leena Morant, who ran a 2:13.16 second leg. “We have a lot of girls with lots of talent, and we all know if that we all keep working hard we can be right back here next year battling with the top teams.”
UC’s first leg was sophomore Ashleigh Patterson, who split 2:20.21, and junior Jerika Lufrano ran a a personal best 2:18.26 third leg. Sophomore Morgan Jackson anchored on Thursday with a 2:20.8 carry.
“I’m really proud of how we all ran,” said Patterson. “We gave it all we had, and to finish fifth against all these great teams and get a medal is a great accomplishment.”
