Schuylkill Valley’s Annie Gao makes a big splash in the spring, too
By Julie Pelchar Cohen — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
Annie Gao peered down the runway with a look of panic.
The tape that marked where she needed to start her sprint was gone. The Schuylkill Valley junior couldn’t say if a gust of wind or a careless step left her looking.
The reason didn’t matter.
A long jumper is lost without her mark.
“It was nowhere to be found,” she said.
“That doesn’t happen often,” said Panthers coach Todd Reinert. “I’ve seen it before, but only on rainy days.”
Gao shrugged off the misfortune and went on to win a long jump gold medal at the John H. Shaner Invitational Saturday afternoon at Wyomissing’s Flannery Field.
Gao soared to a 17-6½ to edge Conrad Weiser’s Lindsey Preston and win her first invitational title.
Kutztown’s Lauren Akers was a star in the field. She set a meet record in the javelin with a toss of 139-7, breaking the record of 134-1 set by Daniel Boone’s Hannah Cassner two years ago.
Boyertown’s Harper Glennon was Saturday’s only double winner for the girls. She won the 100 and 200. Wyomissing’s Addie Cohen won the 3200 Friday and took the 1600 Saturday.
When Gao couldn’t find the mark for her last jump in the preliminary round, Reinert counted rudimentary paces from the pit down the runway to give Gao an approximate starting point. They got out the measuring tape to gain the exact measurement needed for the final.
The initial guesstimate worked just fine.
Gao’s plan was to jump conservatively during prelims anyway. She unleashed her winning jump after Preston opened the finals with a 17-4¼.
“I just wanted to get into finals and then build upon that,” Gao said.
A conservative progression has been the tale of Gao’s season. Because she’s a late addition to the track team each spring – Gao swims for the Panthers and also for a club team in March – Reinert eases her into jumping.
Gao didn’t start track training until early April – a month after the season started.
“Mentally, I’m always ready to start track,” Gao said. “I love the sport. But physically with all the impact that I’m not used to it does hurt.”
Gao recently took 10 days off to nurse an injured quadriceps.
The rest reaped a reward. Gao returned to smash a personal best with an 18-1 in a dual meet at Berks Catholic last week.
“We attacked it on Monday at that nice pit,” Reinert said. “She hit it perfectly and achieved that goal already. But we all know you don’t get medals at dual meets and the focus will be on the next three weeks.”
That large leap propelled her within an inch of the school record set by Madison Ziska, one of the best athletes in Panthers history.
Gao has a special distinction of her own. She’s the only Schuylkill Valley athlete with state team titles in two sports.
She helped the Panthers win their first girls state track title in 2021. She was a member of the school’s swim team that won the 2022 PIAA swim title.
“She’s an answer to a cool trivia question in Schuylkill Valley history,” Reinert said.
The Panthers face a tougher road this year. A perennial contender for District 3 Class 2A team and individual titles, Schuylkill Valley bumps up to 3A this year. The move has motivated Gao.
“It’s clearly competitive,” Gao said of the 2A competition. “But moving up to 3A where the cuts are a lot harder it definitely did motivate me to give it a bigger push this year. I want to hit another 18 clearly and get that school record.”
