Indoor Track: Thompson leaping for second straight long jump title

It’s already been a banner indoor season for Springfield’s Phillip Thompson. The senior sprinter/jumper has set personal bests in the 200-meter dash (22.95 seconds) and the long jump (21 feet, 10 inches). Thursday afternoon, Thompson will try to become a back-to-back county champion when he attempts to defend his long jump title at the Delaware County Boys Indoor Track & Field Championship at Glen Mills Schools.

The county championship starts at 3:45 with the distance medley relay and concludes with the 4 x 400-meter relay. The top five athletes in each event receive medals.

Thompson is one of just two returning individual champions from last year. The other is Garnet Valley senior Jake Irving, who won the 200 last year. Thompson was fourth in that race. However, they aren’t the only athletes who have won gold at the county championship.

Cardinal O’Hara’s Lamont Veal won the 55-meter dash two years ago and was second to Wellington Zaza last year. Haverford senior David Fowler won the 1,600-meter title as a sophomore in 2012. Bonner-Prendergast senior Joe Sullivan and Cardinal O’Hara junior Kevin James were second and third in that race, respectively.

Thompson, Sullivan and James are among a number of county athletes who are ranked in the top 10 in the state according to pa.milesplit.com.

Thompson is ranked seventh in the long jump. Sullivan is ninth in the 800. James, the 2013 Daily Times boys runner of the year in cross country, is seventh in the 3,000. Cardinal O’Hara teammate Jim Belfatto is fifth in the 1,600.

Cecil Simpson of Upper Darby ranks first in the triple jump (46-3), while teammate Mason Weh is seventh in the 55-meter hurdles. Jeff Lord of Springfield is 10th in the 200, while Chester’s Jalil Clayton holds the same ranking in the high jump. In the throws, Tyshawn Anderson of Glen Mills is 10th in the shot put, followed closely by Eric Von Hertsenberg of Radnor.

The 4 x 800-meter relay features three of the top 10 teams in the state. Cardinal O’Hara is second, Penncrest third and Strath Haven ninth. Penncrest and Upper Darby are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 4 x 400, while Radnor holds the No. 2 spot in the DMR.