Girls Indoor Track: Upper Darby’s Andre soars again

HAVERFORD — The coaches don’t pick an Athlete of the Meet or the Most Outstanding Performer at the Delaware County Indoor Track & Field Championships.

That’s too bad. The choice was an easy one.

On a night a great performances, Upper Darby’s Claudine Andre stood out above the rest.

The All-Delco athlete set the meet record in the high jump for the second straight year, repeated as the champ in the 55-meter hurdles and won the long jump.

Andre wasn’t the only shining star for Upper Darby. Teammate Ashli Cook won the 400 and ran the leadoff leg on the Royals winning 4 x 200-meter relay.

Strath Haven’s Allie Wilson ended Amy Kelly’s two-year reign in the mile and helped the Panthers set the meet record in the 4 x 400-meter relay. Teammate Kristen Miller captured the 800 and was part of that record-setting 4 x 400 relay. Natalie Cheung won the triple jump and Strath Haven also won the 4 x 800.

“I am so happy,’ Andre said after setting the meet record in the high jump.

Andre set the meet record of 5-4 a year ago and blew past that height on her final jump of the day. She was just shy of the overall county mark of 5-8, which is held by Penncrest grad Caitlyn Redding.

“My goal coming into the season was to get the county record,’ Andre said. “I just didn’t think I would get this close this soon. That jump was so perfect. I could have easily cleared 5-9.’

Wilson needed the best time in the state (5:13.27) to end Kelly’s two-year reign in the mile. It was a duel from start to finish.

“I knew it was going to be tough,’ said Wilson, who is headed to Monmouth to run track. “Amy’s tough. Last year at (outdoor) Delco’s she took it out. This time, I wanted to be the one to go out fast and push the pace.’

Kelly passed Wilson for a few brief seconds midway through the race before Wilson fought back to win by more than three seconds in only her second indoor mile. Kelly’s time (5:16.60) was the third best in the state this season.

Upper Darby’s Andre said she knows where she’s going to school, but the All-Delco jumper wasn’t saying where.

“Somewhere in America,’ Andre said.

Andre won the 55 hurdles for the second year in a row, but repeating wasn’t the best part.

“I got to run with my girl Jo Jo Mason,’ said Andre, referring to teammate Joanne Mason, who was second. “She’s grown tremendously.’

The Brennan twins from Ridley, Liz and Sam, were busy early. Liz, the older of the siblings by 13 minutes, ran leadoff to pace the Green Raiders to a fifth-place finish in the distance medley relay. Sam followed a few events later with a fourth-place finish in the mile run that featured two of the top three times in the state.

Running leadoff is the toughest leg of the DMR because there is no 1,200-meter event so it takes a runner with the right mindset to run that in-between distance. Liz Brennan has a pretty good strategy.

“I run the 800 so what I do is remember how to run the 800 and add a couple of laps and another minute,’ Liz Brennan said,’ Liz said. “It’s pretty easy.’

Sam Brennan kept pace with Wilson, Kelly and Galligan for a good portion of the mile. She finished in 5:29.21.

“That’s one of my best times ever,’ Sam said. “I was happy to stay with them for as long as I did. They’re awesome runners.’

The duo teamed up later to help the Green Raiders finish fourth in the 4 x 800.

Alicia Collier of Penncrest had a good night. She was first in the 200-meter dash, second in the 55 and helped the Lions to a fifth-place finish in the 4 x 200. … Springfield’s Kaitlyn Baumann won the shot put with a heave of 32 feet, 9 inches. … Haverford, behind, Mary Kate Linder, Laura Slavich, Marissa Donohue and Courtney Naser, won the distance medley relay in 13:11.86.