Entering the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PAISAA) Track and Field Championship on Saturday, May 18, The Hill boys’ team had the chance to do something not done by a Hill track team since 1998: finish the season with a perfect record. In Hill’s way stood a formidable Haverford School that had won the Inter-Ac league title by 23 points the previous weekend and featured a talented group of sprinters, hurdlers, and middle-distance runners.
The question was not whether Hill’s athletes would perform well; after winning the league meet, there was a clear focus and determination at practice throughout the week leading up to the PAISAA championship that suggested Hill’s performers were up to the task. Rather, in such a large, competitive meet in which there are innumerable unpredictable variables that can impact the meet’s outcome, the question was if the necessary breaks would fall Hill’s way.
They did.
As the final event, the 4x400-meter relay, concluded, the updated results board showed Hill atop the standings with 96 points, followed by Haverford with 86 points and Germantown Academy with 81 points. It is the second PAISAA victory for The Hill boys’ team in the past four seasons, as Hill also won the 2016 meet.
* Note: Prior to 2010, the meet was known as the Pennsylvania Independent School Invitational, a meet Hill won seven times between 2000 and 2009.
Moreover, the win concluded Hill’s first perfect season in 21 years. Admittedly, it is an accomplishment few anticipated prior to the season.
“You don’t really go into a season thinking about the possibility of not losing, and we surely did not think that way in March,” said head coach Bill Yinger ‘95. “We knew that we had a good core nucleus and we knew that in most meets we would have the ability to score in most events. By the end of the season, we were expecting to score in most events if not counting on it, as the boys continued to surpass our highest expectations. After the league meet, we thought there was an outside shot that we could win PAISAA, but so much would have to go right. In the end, sometimes the dice roll in your favor.”
In the PAISAA meet, the top-seven finishers in each event score points. In a meet in which the importance of every point is amplified, accumulating sixth and seventh place finishes is just as crucial as placing highly in an event. In all, Hill totaled nine sixth and seventh place finishes, securing 13 crucial points toward the final team score.
As important as depth points are, it goes without saying that medalist performances are necessary to win the meet. Hill won three events and placed in the top-three in seven; Hill’s depth also contributed greatly to the team victory, as multiple Hill competitors placed in four events, including two events – the javelin and the long jump – in which all three Hill participants placed in the top-seven.
Exceeding seed times in both the 4x800 and 4x100-meter relays also was important to Hill’s overall success. Making tactical adjustments to both relays, Hill’s 4x8 team crossed the finish line in 8:23, a 30-second improvement from the MAPL Championship that was good for a second-place finish, and the 4x1 relay ran its most flawless race of the season to win the event in 43.50 seconds.
In all, Hill scored points in 17 of 18 total events. Bennett Booth-Genthe ’19 and Derek Schmaeling ’21 were individual event winners, as Booth-Genthe won the 800-meter run for the second consecutive season and Schmaeling won the javelin. Collectively, 18 team members contributed points to Hill’s overall total, nine of whom scored in multiple events.
“While we always had a core of individuals that were good for points, I honestly did not see that many individuals contributing in so many ways to the winning effort,” Yinger said. “We made tough decisions on both relays teams and individual events to try to create an advantage by running, throwing, or jumping fresh. In the end, the decisions paid off, giving us what can only be described as a team victory. Winning the Prep States put the final punctation on a season that exceeded our wildest dreams.”
Such a season is not possible without dedicated training and marked improvement. Comparing performances from early April and, in the case of returning athletes, from last season, an undefeated season is a deserved reward for the group’s collective efforts. It is a season that will not be soon forgotten.
Hill Girls’ Place Fourth
The Hill girls’ team finished in fourth place in the PAISAA meet with 73.5 points. Germantown Academy ran away with the girls’ competition, finishing 40-points ahead of runner-up Friends Central.
Individually, Sadie McCaleb ’19 concluded an undefeated season in the javelin, winning the event with a throw of 128’2” that bettered the second-place distance by 28 feet. McCaleb also placed fourth in the 400-meter dash and anchored Hill’s 4x400-meter relay.
While McCaleb was Hill’s only event winner, the team had five additional medalist place-winners, led by a second-place finish from the 4x800-meter relay team of Chevelle Obuobi-Donkor ’20, Bella Basile ’21, Lauren Yingling ’21, and Olivia Tullman ’20. The 4x100-meter relay of Kiki Lange ’21, Susanna Soderman ’21, Sasjha Mayfield ’21, and Sydney Floyd ’21 finished third in a school-record time of 50.82 seconds. In the field, Alexis Haas ’19 placed third in the javelin and seventh in the discus, Jane McCarter ’20 placed third in the discus and fifth in the shot put, and Lauryn Fudala ’21 placed third in the high jump and fifth in the pole vault. Soderman and Qiana Vigo ’19 also placed in multiple events, with Soderman taking fourth in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump, and Vigo finishing fourth in the high jump and seventh in the shot-put. Lange finished fourth in the pole vault, clearing a personal-best height of 9’0”, and Adele Harris ’22 concluded her breakout debut season as a distance hurdler with a fourth-place finish in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.