Jefferson's Glancy, Summerfield's Herrmann shine at 57th annual Mason Invite

ERIE – The names Marissa Jackson, Alicia Hoffman, Bekah Smeltzer and Katie McAbier have been on the wall in Jefferson's gym for 18 years.

The quartet owned the school record in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 4:16.7.

But with each race, this year's Jefferson's girls track and field team was inching closer and closer to that mark.

On Saturday, they flew past it.

Veronica Fitzgerald, Ellie Hintz, Alyssa Masserant and Alexa Glancy set a school record in the 1,600 relay with a time of 4:07.70 during the 57th annual Mason Invitational. That was nearly 10 seconds faster than the previous school record and an incredible :13.29 faster than that team's previous season-best time.

"We've been getting closer all season and we were really pumped and really excited," said Glancy, who ran the anchor leg on the relay. "We all had certain times we wanted to run and we really exceeded those times today. We blew out of the water what we thought we were going to do. It was really exciting."

It was the perfect exclamation mark on the day for Glancy, who was named the Girls Most Valuable Athlete after the meet.

Glancy was well deserving of the award after also taking first place in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes.

Summerfield's Nathan Herrmann was named the Boys Most Valuable Athlete with victories in the low hurdles and 800 relay along with runner-up finishes in the 200-meter dash and high hurdles.

The relay was the second record-setting performance of the day for Glancy.

She topped her own school record in the 400, winning in :59.78. The previous record was also set back in 2004 by McAbier, but Glancy bested that mark three weeks ago in a dual against New Boston Huron with time of 1:00.54. She ran the event under a minute Saturday for the first time in her career.

PHOTO GALLERY: Saturday's 57th annual Mason Invitational

"I had a little bit of competition and that definitely pushed me," Glancy said. "I really wanted to break a minute. That was my biggest goal today, so I was really excited to do that."

Glancy also won the 100 in :12.78 and was first in the 200 in :26.63.

"Alexa has really been a take-charge girl and she wanted that challenge this year to do the 100, 200 and 400 on top of doing the relay," Jefferson coach Phil Speare said. "That's quite a bit. ... Alexa wants to be that premier sprinter. It's not easy, but she works hard to do it."

Jefferson's Jenna Pilachowski was the Girls Track Athlete of the Meet. She won the 1,600 in a personal-best 5:24.43 and the 3,200 in 12:13.25. She also was second in the 800 and ran the anchor leg of the winning 3,200 relay.

Speare felt Fitzgerald also had a strong case for track MVP. She led a Jefferson sweep of the 800, finishing in first place in 2:23.79 ahead of Pilachowski in second and Madison Duvall in third. Fitzgerald also was part of three winning relays, including the record-breaking 1,600, the winning 3,200 with Pilachowski, Masserant and Kim Miller, and the 800 relay with Kirsten Vanisacker, Masserant and Hintz.

The Bears also had strong performances from Riley Peer (second in the 1,600 and 3,200), Madison McKinney (second shot-put, fourth discus), and the second-place 400 relay team of Katie Powell, Vanisacker, Lindsay Masserant and Sarah Anderson.

"I'm looking at our times to prep for Regionals, league meet and state," Speare said. "This is the last real hard push. All around we had girls get PRs today. It's what we needed."

Monroe's girls also had a strong meet.

Meredith Soule took first place in the high hurdles in :16.04 and won the lows in :47.11. She also gave Glancy tough competition in the 200 and 400, finishing just a few steps behind in both races.

Kamryn Bice was the Girls Field Athlete of the Meet, winning the shot-put with a throw of 34-10 and taking third in the discus. Matley Rose (third in the 100, 200 and 400), Isabella Seger-Wagasy (second long jump, third high jump), and Faith Butler (second high jump) also were strong for the Trojans, along with the 3,200 relay team of Viktoria Bloniarz, Ally Pitcher, Grace Finley and Morgan Kay that finished second.

St. Mary Catholic Central's Ashley Ruhlig was first in the long jump (15-01.5) and fourth in the 200, Lauren Conant won the high jump at a personal-best 5-0 and was fourth in the 800, and the Kestrels' 400 relay team of Madison Ruhlig, Amaya Leslie, MaryAlice Lynch and Ashley Ruhlig was first.

Other standouts for SMCC were Leslie (second 100, third long jump, fifth 200), Lynch (second 100 hurdles), and the runner-up 1,600 relay of Ashley Ruhlig, Conant, Macy Carlton and Lynch.

Mason's Bailey Meiring and Summerfield's Alyssa Conley tied for first in the pole vault at a height of 7-6, and Flat Rock's Alyssa Bonanno won the discus with a throw of 106-1.

Mason also had strong performances from Beth Sweeney (second low hurdles), Kaylie Bash (third high hurdles, fourth long jump), and the second-place 800 relay team of Abbigail England, Jenna Wright, Mikaela Graves and Sweeney.

Summerfield's Keslyn Cay was runner-up in the discus and Cameron Taylor was third in the low hurdles. Flat Rock's Megan Woelkers was third in both 1,600 and 3,200.

Summerfield's boys brought home the Boys Most Valuable Athlete award for the second year in a row.

Roman Iott earned the trophy last year but took a backseat this season to his teammate. Herrmann was first in the low hurdles in :41.32, was second in the highs and the 200, and ran the anchor leg of the winning 800 relay with Drew Dafoe, Iott and Brandon Thompson.

Herrmann's loss in the high hurdles was his first this season.

"I went over the first hurdle with the wrong foot and then I kept three-stepping and it was awkward. That killed my time," Herrmann said. "That really lit a fire under my butt to kick it in gear for my other races. I'm just competitive and I want to win. It's just in my blood."

Herrmann didn't miss in the low hurdles. He's ranked No. 1 in the state in Division 4 in the event and won with a nearly 3-second lead over Iott.

Herrmann is less than a second off the school record in the event.

"Nathan is having an exceptional year," Summerfield coach Jamie LaRocca said. "He's a very talented athlete. He didn't even like the hurdles until last year in a meet at Morenci whenI didn't have anybody to run them. He jumped in and he's been great ever since.

"I told him earlier this week that if he had a good day, he had a shot to win (Most Valuable Athlete)."

The honor was extra sweet for Herrmann after his sister, Ashley, won the same award in 2016.

"My coach told me I had a good shot of winning it and I wanted it," Herrmann said. "It feels pretty great. My sister won it a couple years ago, so it's nice to keep it in the family."

Summerfield also had wins from Thompson in the long jump (19-9) and Dafoe in the high jump (6-3). Other standouts were Thompson (second in the 400 and 800), Iott (second low hurdles and long jump, third high jump), Evan Suydam (third 3,200), and Teddy Gault (fourth high hurdles and high jump).

"We're peaking at the right time," LaRocca said. "This has been a meet over the years that really lets you know how you stack up against other teams in the county. If it had been scored, we probably would've won it or at least been right there. It's payoff time for the kids. They're seeing the fruits of their labor right now."

Mason's Jackson Ansel was named the Boys Track Athlete of the Meet. He was first in the 800 in 2:04.68 and won the 1,600 in a personal-best 4:32.26. Louden Murbach was first in the high hurdles in a personal-best :16.13 and finished third in the lows, Alex Langenderfer hit a personal-best 12-00 to win the pole vault, and the Eagles won the 400 relay with Aiden McMullen, Landen Nastale, Shane Pauwels and Cooper Kinsey.

Other strong Mason performances came from Nastale (third 100), Bryce Gardnier (third discus), Jacob Ansel (second pole vault), Austin Sulier (third pole vault), and the runner-up 800 relay team of Kinsey, Gavin Larrow, Chris Worden and Mark Sweeney.

Alex Mansfield of Jefferson was the Boys Field Athlete of the Meet after hitting a new personal best of 168-7 to win the discus and taking the shot-put with a throw of 56-10.

The Bears also were first in the 3,200 relay with Von Wiggins, Carter McCalister, Blake Schroeder and Isaac Merkel. McCalister also won the 3,200 in 10:13.67.

Jefferson's other standouts were McCalister (second 1,600), Garret Thomas (second high jump, fourth low hurdles), Ben Merkel (third long jump), Isaac Merkel (third 800), Caden Pridemore (third high hurdles), Ty Grube (fourth 3,200) and the second-place 1,600 relay team of Caleb Smiley, Isaac Merkel, Blake Schroeder and Wiggins.

Monroe won the 1,600 relay with Noah Stein, Karon Rollins, Alex Apetroaei and Andrew McCarthy. McCarthy also was first in the 400 in a personal-best :50.65, second in the 100, and third in the 200.

Other strong Trojan finishes were from Nick Parran (second 3,200, third 1,600), Brayden Richard (second discus, third shot-put), Jordan Bassler (second shot-put), Noah Stein (third 400, fourth 200), and the runner-up 3,200 relay of Apetroaei, Andrew Foshag, Kyle Hoffner and Parran.

SMCC's Cole Jondro was a double winner in the 100 in :11.28 and the 200 in :23.04. The Falcons also were second in the 400 relay with Jondro, Jack Lisker, Evan Marcon and Isak Desloover.

Kenny Carlman led Flat Rock, finishing fifth in the 800 and seventh in the 1,600.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Jefferson's Glancy, Summerfield's Herrmann shine at 57th annual Mason Invite