Four Somerset standouts claim LHAC track and field gold

LORETTO — Sydney Rush didn’t run track until ninth grade, and then her freshman season was wiped out because of COVID-19.

“In junior high, I did volleyball. It was in the spring,” Rush said.

For the past three years, the Somerset Area High School senior has felt a sense of urgency to make her mark.

You might say, true to her name, she’s been in a rush.

“I just need to keep working and keep running and I’ll get faster,” Rush said.

Still just scratching the surface of her gifts, Rush’s pure talent was enough to spell another big day for her and the Somerset girls, as she helped the Golden Eagles smash their own four-by-100-meter relay record, won two individual gold medals and took a bronze in another at St. Francis University’s DeGol Field on Tuesday afternoon.

Division I-bound Somerset's Rush excited to compete at Saint Francis University

Rush wasn’t the only one having a meet to remember for Somerset. Abby Urban, one of Rush’s teammates along with Kamryn Ross and Josie Smith on the 400 relay, beat her seed to win the 200 meters, and Alyssa Richard prevailed in the discus.

On the boys’ side, Alex Carr garnered gold for Somerset by winning the long jump.

“I’m really proud of myself and I’m really proud of our four-by-100 for breaking the meet record,” Rush said.

This week's top performers Top Somerset County baseball, softball, tennis, track and field performers for May 8-12

Last year with Hailey Rios, the Golden Eagles set a new LHAC meet record by completing the circuit in 49.67 seconds. This year’s quartet — with three of the four members from last season — crushed that mark, Rush crossing the finish line with the anchor leg in 49.20.

“All of our girls got much faster from last year. We’ve all been working since last year,” Rush said. “We’ve been running together. We’ve all been running the hundred this year in the best heats. I think that helped us, because we’ve really been bonding.”

It’s a great time for a Class 3A team, but now the Golden Eagles are in 2A, and the potential for what they could achieve at states if they win at next week’s District 5 meet has to have them excited.

“The key thing is we’re a team and a lot closer,” Urban said. “We all know we’re great athletes, and that really pushes us.”

Rush — who will run collegiately on the same track after signing with St. Francis University — won the 100 meters in a time of 12.42 seconds. Urban and Ross took third and fourth, respectively, timing 13.03 and 13.09.

Rush’s second individual win came in the long jump, where she flew 17 feet, 9.5 inches to win by close to a foot. Her day ended with a third-place finish in the triple jump.

Urban was seeded high but not on top in the 200 meters, but she outdueld Bedford’s accomplished Grace Sarver down the stretch to win by two-hundredths of a second with a time of 27.02.

“I’ve been working really hard, and this year I’ve finally figured out that this is my race,” Urban said. “It’s such an accomplishment.”

Sporting her lucky pink cowboy hat, Richard fired the disc 106-3, 3 inches beyond the best throw of second-place Belle Bosch of Chestnut Ridge.

The gregarious Richard comes off as very “yee-haw” in talking, but she said the key for her is to keep cool in the pit.

“This was a little bit unexpected. I just come into every meet trying to find some calm, and then I just go and try to do the best I can,” said Richard, who also had a personal-record in finishing fourth in the shot. “I’m all about head space. I know I don’t seem like that. I’m really outgoing. But, when I’m here, I get in the zone. I’m really focused.”

The top eight places medaled, and the Golden Eagles got their share of hardware.

Ross ran 21.61 to take third in the 200 dash, where Smith finished sixth. Eve Housley took home bronze in the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.37, while Rihanna Hillegass took fifth.

In addition to Richard in the discus, Chanda McGee was fourth and Kiersten Allen fifth. Meanwhile, Carly Richard placed fifth in the javelin, as did Sarah Jacobs in the pole vault.

The Golden Eagles were fifth in the 3200 relay to start the meet and the 1600 relay ended it in eighth. Hope Miller also took eighth in the 400.

Carr’s gold came with a 20-5.5 leap in his final attempt, putting him over a very, very deep and competitive field of long jumpers — the next two both jumped 20-4.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my friends and coaches,” Carr said. “I just had to go out and do it because my PR was way more than what would have won it. I knew I had it in me.”

Quintin Robison was the Eagles’ only other performer to finish an event in the top three. He pole vaulted 12 feet for the bronze medal.

Also medaling for the Somerset boys were Logan Seslow (fourth, 100), Evan DiBuono (fifth, 300 hurdles), Elijah Walls (fifth, 100; seventh, long jump), the Eagle four-by-100 and four-by-400 relays (both sixth), Camden Lowery (seventh, 200) and Luke Housley (eighth, high jump).

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This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset quartet earn golds at LHAC track and field championships