The Northampton track and field team had a very strong showing at the East Penn Conference track and field meet last week, as they got set for the District 11 meet this week.

Alexis Barrall took first place in the girls pole vault to lead the way for the Kids. She cleared 10-0 to lead all other competitors, including Savanah Rivera of Whitehall who was second with a 9-0.

Barrall entered as the second seed, according to the Press’ most recent track and field top performance list with a 10-3, behind only Stroudsburg’s Alexandra Guardo who had a top seed height of 11-0.

The Kids Michayla Davidson tied for third clearing 9-0.

The Kids had a bunch of third place finishers in the meet and among them was Hannah Flaven who took third in the 400.

“I envisioned myself running the best possible race I could, putting mind over matter,” Flaven said. “I told myself that no matter how tired my body was going to be, my mind controls the body, so if I ran with my mind and not my body I could succeed.”

Lyndsey Gallagher continued her great season in a Kid uniform, taking third in the 1600 with a time of 5:11.86. For Gallagher, she knew she would have to be at her best going against Stroudsburg’s Amy Conboy, who took first in the 1600 and the 3200.

Allana Powlette took second for the Mounties in the 1600 while Michelle Joyce was second in the 3200 and is also from Stroudsburg.

“I wanted to win but I knew I had the Stroudsburg girls as competition,” Gallagher said. “I tried to stay with Amy [Conboy] the whole time. I ran the 4x8 [relay] yesterday so I was a little sore from that.”

Also taking third for the Kids was Zachary Liggitt in the discus with a throw of 134-1. Jeremy Sell was third in the shot put with a toss of 45-5.75. Aja Blount took third in the discus with a 106-7. Colin Schucker was fourth in the javelin throwing 158-5, Blount was forth in the shot put with a 32-8.75 and Tatiana Lopez was fourth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.20.

“I’m very grateful that I was able to grab a medal here,” said Lopez. “It wasn’t the fastest that I ran, but I’m going to train harder for districts. I’m very grateful for how I ran. I wanted to get first, but it’s an accomplishment to just have a medal.”

The Kids then turned their focus to districts, which began this week and falls after Press deadlines. At stake now is a trip to states and for a lot of the Kids, it’s time to take what they learned from the league meet and work hard to achieve their goals at districts.

“I think next week [at districts] I’ll be a little more confident. It’s just getting all my nerves out for the first week,” said Blount. “Next week I’m going to try to place first or second and hopefully qualify for states and place there too.”

“[Throwing coach John] Blick really helps me out and calms my nerves. My teammates are always there cheering me on so I just think I need to focus a lot and have a lot of confidence in myself. He’s always telling me to get my spin faster and use my hips a lot. I don’t use my hips a lot so he’s been trying to get me to use it more and my throws will go a lot further. I think once I get my hips down I’ll really start firing out there.”

For Gallagher, finally seeing the Stroudsburg girls now gives her a better idea about what to do at districts.

“It helps with the strategizing,” Gallagher said. “I haven’t raced Stroudsburg this year so I didn’t know how they were going to go out and race, so now it gives me an idea.”

For Flaven, she had some goals in mind as the district meet approached.

“My goal is to run a sub-60,” Flaven said. “I really want to break a minute and PR. I love running against these girls. You’re only as good as your competition and it’s always nice to have these people to push you along.”