Stephenson wins 100-meters after fending off hip injury
Megan Stephenson was able to put injuries — and the competition — in the rearview mirror.
The first three years of the Slippery Rock sprinter’s varsity track career were filled with promise, but a nagging hip flexor injury kept her from realizing her full potential.
At Saturday’s District 10 Class AAA Girls Championship Meet, Stephenson had no ailments and she responded by winning the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.28 seconds at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
“We knew the speed was there, but could we get her through the season healthy,” said Rockets’ coach Tom Meling. “This year, we worked on her start and acceleration. We focused on pure speed, but we ran a lot of meets this year in bad weather where the conditions were not conducive to a fast time.”
Stephenson placed first in the preliminaries with a time of 12.71.
“I wanted to make sure I got a good seed time for the finals,” said Stephenson. “I knew the girl from East (Jaiah Williams) would be there. We entered the meet with the same time of 12.24.”
In the championship heat, Stephenson finished ahead of Williams by .13 seconds.
“The final was close for the first 50 meters,” said Meling. “That’s when Megan just pulled away. You could see it coming a few weeks ago. She ran a 12.24 in a dual meet against Sharon at Slippery Rock University and that was against a light wind. That’s when I knew she was ready.”
Stephenson placed third in the district in the 100 the last two years when the Rockets competed in Class AA. She did qualify for the state meet as a sophomore and will now return as a district champion.
The PIAA meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.
“I missed going to states last year and I wanted to get back,” she said. “That was my goal.”
Slippery Rock will also run the 4x100 relay at PIAAs. Brady Dalton, Molly Joyce and Hannah Roth teamed with Stephenson to win a district title with a time of 51.12.
Joyce placed second in the 100 hurdles (15.53), but moves on after meeting the state-qualifying standard of 15.65.
