by Brett Hoover — posted on 12/29/2013

Colgate Games Results

For 40 years the Colgate Games has been fertile ground for producing female track stars of the future. Gabrielle Wilkinson of Friends Central School in suburban Philadelphia has the potential to join those ranks.

On Saturday, she breezed to an easy victory in the Middle School 800-meter run at The Armory to sweep the season title. Her time of 2:13.85 marked her third sub-2:14 during the Colgate Games' season and was significantly faster than the winning teams of both the high schoolers and collegians on Saturday.

Her victory wasn't much of a surprise as she'd set an American age-group indoor record at the USATF Youth Indoor Championships last year. She was also not a newcomer to Colgate Games success, having brokenClaudia Francis' elementary school meet record in 2011. Both her mother, Lola, and sister, Elyse, have run for Cornell University. Elyse is currently a junior for the Big Red and Lola continues to serve the sport as a Penn Relays official.

The four trophy winners at the Colgate Games this year were:

• Youngster Avery Lewis, also of the Friends Central School in Wynnewood, Pa., who claimed the Bill Cosby Trophy as the outstanding competitor in the preliminaries and semifinals. Lewis won the Elementary 'A' 200-meter dash in 29.1, beating Adaria Reeves, who'd beaten everyone in her age group — boys & girls — at the Armory Holiday Youth Classic recently.

• Maya Whitcomb of the Southfield School in Boston, Mass., who earned the Donna De Verona Trophy as the Games' most promising newcomer. She won the season points total in the Elementary 'B' high jump, but was second to Yonkers' Deja Mitchell — who cleared 4-6 — in a hotly-contested final.

• Kyra Carroll of the Middle Years Alternative School in Philadelphia was named the recipient of the Fred Thompson Award as the meet's most improved competitor. Carroll won the 1,500-meter run in 4:51.1.

• Tia Livingston of Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, N.J., was selected as the winner of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Trophy as the outstanding performer at Saturday's finals. She held off Cardozo High's Sandreka Bancroft to win the 55-meter high hurdles in 8.2. Bancroft had beaten Livingston in both preliminary meets, but roared back in the semis and finals to take the season title.

At the high school level, Hatboro-Horsham's Taylor Williams won the 55-meter dash title. She was a semifinalist at the New Balance Nationals at the Armory last March. Taft High's Ariel Strunkey won the 200-meter final on Saturday, but the season crown went to her sister Arianne, who'd amassed more points in the lead up.

Zola Golden of Arlington High won the 400-meter dash crown in 56.9, just ahead of Robeson High's Amanda Crawford. And Medgar Evers' Shayla Broughton cleared 5-6 in the high jump to win again.