Twin Valley’s Matthew Crow hurdles past disappointment at Firing Meet

Track & Field coverage presented by ATT Sports, Inc.

By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

Matthew Crow pointed toward the spot where he came to grips with his disappointment last year. It was about 15 yards from the finish line. The line he was supposed to cross first.

Crow entered with the best qualifying time. Twin Valley’s senior expected to prevail. Then, when the 15-second blur was over, he didn’t.

“I sat right there,” Crow said, gesturing at the vacant space of turf in the end zone of Gov. Mifflin’s football stadium. “It sucked. It really did.”

There was no sitting in silence this time. No need to reflect on the things that went wrong. There was only triumph.

Crow swept the 110 and 300 hurdles at the William H. Firing Meet at Shillington Saturday.  His performance helped Twin Valley secure the boys team track and field championship.

“He’s a menace,” said teammate Gavin Springer, who won the 100 and 200. “He’s absolutely ridiculous. That man, seven days a week he’s out on the track doing his hurdle drills. He’s micromanaging every move he makes.”

There were reasons why it didn’t work out for Crow 12 months ago. One was an injury. Another was his outlook.

Crow dealt with a pulled hip flexor that cost him precious tenths of a second. The pain was aggravated by three days of hurdling and jumping. He tried not to use that as an excuse.

“I wish I’d won last year but I lost fair and square,” Crow said. “It was an emotional weekend.”

Another part of the problem was his mindset. 

“I wasn’t cocky in front of people,” Crow said. “I was cocky to myself. Then I lost. I had the fastest time going in but I lost.”

Circumstances this time were the same in some ways. Crow was again the favorite in the 110 hurdles based on the entries. No one else was particularly close.

“This was my meet,” Crow told himself. And he was right. He didn’t clip a single hurdle and hit the line in 15 seconds flat. Wyomissing’s Amory Thompson was next at 15.41.

Crow, who finished second in the long jump Thursday, is the only Berks hurdler to eclipse 15 seconds this season. His PR of 14.71 ranked fourth in District 3 Class 3A and eighth in the state entering the weekend.

The senior had an even bigger breakthrough in the 300 hurdles. He finished in 39.53 to smash a school record that stood for 49 years. Gov. Mifflin’s Brandon VanSchaick was second at 40.54.

Crow first tried the hurdles in seventh grade. He split time between track and baseball as an eighth grader before turning all of his attention to track in high school. He realized he was better at jumping over obstacles than he was at hitting fastballs and playing center field.

“I wouldn’t be able to survive nowadays in baseball,” he said. “They’re throwing way too fast.”

The hurdles became Crow’s niche. On the biggest stage in the county, he ran them better than everyone else.

“He has absolutely earned everything he’s won,” Springer said. “All those first places are his to claim.”

All-around best

Amory Thompson didn’t know there was an award for the athlete who earns the most individual points until the Jack Hemmig plaque was resting in his hands.

Thompson earned that recognition with a remarkable display of versatility. Wyomissing’s senior won the triple jump and finished second in the 100, 200 and 110 hurdles during the two-day Firing Meet.

“It feels like all the hard work and all the grinding paid off,” Thompson said. “Everybody on the team, every single day we’re pushing each other at practice. This is not just an individual award. This one is for the team.”

Thompson finished second to Twin Valley’s Gavin Springer in photo finishes in both sprints. His times have steadily dropped as the season progressed.

The senior said he’ll put his track medals alongside the district golds he won with Wyomissing’s football team. The plaque was an unexpected bonus.

“A couple of people told me I was the highest scorer,” Thompson said. “But I didn’t think I was going to get an award for it. It feels good to actually have a piece of hardware.”

Distance duels

Luke Seymour swept the 800 and 1600 for the second consecutive year. Schuylkill Valley’s senior held off Twin Valley junior Anthony Engle in both races. 

Seymour set a PR at 4:16.95 in the 1600 and hit the line at 1:54.86 in the 800. Both of those times make him the clear frontrunner in District 3 Class 2A.

Engle and Seymour also tested each other in the 3200 Thursday. Engle won that race by less than two seconds.

Champion Raiders

Twin Valley held off Wyomissing for the team championship by 1.5 points. The Raiders, boosted by a deep reservoir of runners and hurdlers, collected 117 points. Their second-place finish in the final event, the 1600 relay, put them over the top.

Firing Meet boys team standings

1	Twin Valley	117.50
2	Wyomissing	116
3	Wilson	73
4	Exeter	66.5
5	Berks Catholic	55.5
6	Gov. Mifflin	52
7	Muhlenberg	50
8	Schuylkill Valley	31
9	Conrad Weiser	22.5
10	Tulpehocken	21
11	Reading High	20
12	Hamburg	17
13	Oley Valley	16
14	Kutztown	15
15	Daniel Boone	13
16	Fleetwood	13