Penncrest soph teams with Lauren Troy for Lions' pole vault win

NEWTOWN SQUARE – Kamryn Ohm's day didn't start out so well Saturday. The Penncrest sophomore broke her strongest pole warming up for the pole vault event in the Delco Relays at Marple Newtown High School. It threw her off.

"It hurt my hand kind of bad," Ohm said. "It took me a couple of warmup jumps to get back into it."

As the old saying goes, though, it's not how you start, but how you finish.

Ohm recovered from that mishap to equal her personal best with a vault of 10 feet, 6 inches. Teammate Lauren Troy also recorded a PR of 10-6 to shatter the meet record by 2½ feet with a combined vault of 21 feet for the Lions.

"I don't think I could have jumped any better," Ohm said.

Ohm equaled her career best, which she set in Wednesday's Central League dual meet at Penncrest, on her second attempt at 10-6. Troy, a junior, needed three attempts to clear 10-6. That combined vault easily topped the meet record of 18-6 set by Upper Darby's Brooke McDonald and Amy Marinelli in 2008.

"We were really excited today," Troy said. "We knew we had a good run at it. Even after Kamryn broke her pole she had impressive jumps. It was insane."

Both vaults rank second in the county this season and among the top 25 in the state, according to pa.milesplit.com. It also equals the second-best performance by Penncrest pole vaulters in the last 18 years.

The pair has developed a bond. They push each other, offer pieces of advice and have become each other's biggest rooting section.

"At practice, we’re on the same page," Ohm said.

"I don't think I would be vaulting as well if Kamryn wasn't here," Troy added. "Just to have someone there in between your jumps and watch your form is really helpful. And it's nice to have someone cheer for you when the whole team is off doing something else."

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Springfield's Emily Barlam was a busy young lady. She won the long jump and teamed with sophomore Cenine Elkhaddam to take the combined title in the event. Barlam also was on Springfield's winning 4 x 100 relay squad and took first in the triple jump.

Mother Nature prevented her from competing in four events. She was scheduled to take part in the 4 x 200, but that event as well as the distance medley relay and the 4 x 400 were not run because the meet was stopped by lightning.

Barlam won the long jump with a personal best leap of 16-10½ and teamed with Elkhaddam for first with a combined jump of 31-1½. Barlam also led off the relay team of Kallin Alie, Mia Reiter and Beth Shearar, which won the 4 x 100 in 50.97 seconds. And she went 31-5 in the triple jump.

"I’m really glad that I got into jumping," Barlam said. "It's the best field event because it uses my feet a lot so I’m glad that I get to apply my skills to other areas of track like that."

Christa Murphy (4-8) and Layal Duggan (4-6) combined to win the high jump relay for the Cougars with a combined leap of 9-2. Mia Ridpath, Sarah Emch, Evelyn Duggan and Mia Hurley also won the 4 x 800 (10:28.09) for Springfield.

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NOTES >> Strath Haven's Alexa Brown won two individual events and a pair of relay titles. She won the shot put (40-11) and teamed with Lauren Goldberg to take first with a combined throw of 72-4. Brown also won the discus (105-4) and combined with Natalie Donofrio for the team title with a combined toss of 181-9. Audrey Steven, Chloe Browne, Sophia Jackson and Hannah Prokup also won the 4 x 1,600 (22:20.84) for the Panthers. … Freshman Janaye Kaye and sophomore Kylah Ward of Upper Darby won the triple jump (67-8). … Ridley had a pair of gold medals. Jaclyn Borcky and Julianna Orr in the javelin (184-5) and Umma Saccoh, Airon Chamberlain, Ja’Rae Fontaine and Joy Onyewuchi in the southern sprint medley relay (1:49.99). … Garnet Valley's Maria Kondo, Anna Saboja, Victoria Li and Hayden Monroe were first in the shuttle hurdles relay 1:08.58. … Notre Dame's Sophie Hall. Carolyn Cullen, Therese Trainer and Maura Brady won the sprint medley relay in 4:18.97.

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