Four girls place first at section track meet

By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer

courtesy of Steve Kane Four girls from Blach Intermediate School placed first at the Silicon Valley Championships. Winners, from left, included Brielle Rowe, Morgan Healy, Allison Sturges and Christina Nilles.

For Blach Intermediate School, the sectional track and field meet was all about girl power.

The girls provided all six of the Falcons’ first-place finishes at the Silicon Valley Championships, held May 23 at St. Francis High.

Led by event-winners Morgan Healy, Brielle Rowe and Allison Sturges, Blach’s seventh-grade girls placed second among the 21 schools participating. Eighth-grader Christina Nilles won three events, helping her squad finish third.

“This was the strongest team we’ve had in awhile,” said coach Pat Koren, who had 60 girls come out for track this year. “The team was very balanced.”

Nilles is used to being balanced - she’s also a standout gymnast. Koren said Nilles’ gymnastics background contributed to her success on the track, “especially in the efficiency of her jumps.”

Nilles won the long jump, triple jump and hurdles at the sectional and a week earlier at the league meet.

Her best marks came during the Valley Junior High School Athletic League Championships at Graham Middle School. That’s where Nilles went 15 feet, 10 inches in the long jump and 33-4.5 in the triple jump, plus ran the 65-meter hurdles in 10.16 seconds.

“A fast and efficient runner,” according to Koren, Nilles also ran the relay for Blach. She didn’t place lower than second in any individual event this season.

“She was very impressive,” the coach said.

And so was Sturges, the league and sectional champ in the 1,600 run. She didn’t lose a race all season, making her Blach’s first seventh-grade girl to go undefeated in the event since Tori Tyler in 2000. Sturges saved her best for last, setting a personal record at the section meet with a 5:28.

“She was in the lead the whole way and extended it as the race went on,” Koren said.

Sturges, who also ran on both of Blach’s relay teams, plays soccer as well. She is blessed with “endurance and speed,” Koren said, assets in both sports.

Teammate Healy won the 800 run for the Falcons. The seventh-grader finished in 2:31 at the sectional, matching her effort at the league meet - a personal best. Koren said Healy has a history of finishing strong, exemplified by her sectional performance.

“She wasn’t in first until the start of the second lap and then she pulled away,” said Koren, who just finished her 14th year as a physical education teacher at Blach. “She won by 20 to 30 feet.”

Healy is a four-sport athlete who also participates in soccer, basketball and cross country.

Fellow soccer player Rowe won the discus at the Silicon Valley Championships with a throw of 73-4.5. This, after placing second at the league meet. Rowe also excels in the shot put, finishing third in league.

Koren said Rowe’s success in both events is tied to “her height and strength. She’s taller than the average seventh-grader and stronger.”