Central Bucks South runner sets 800-meter mark

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An elite half-miler questioned for a subpar indoor-track performance ran his marquee event's fastest outdoor time in the nation Friday.

He's the same runner whose perceived invincibility took a huge hit after he finished fourth in the 800 meters at March's Pennsylvania Indoor Track and Field Championships. He's the same athlete who focused on running the 1,600 for the first month of the outdoor season.

Remember Central Bucks South senior Tom Mallon?

Mallon posted the nation's fastest time of 1 minute, 49.61 seconds to win the boys' 800 for the second consecutive season at the Henderson Invitational at West Chester Henderson.

The 1:50.16 that Sean Krinik of Valencia High (Calif.) ran on March 27 was the nation's previous fastest time.

Friday's time also enabled Mallon to shatter the meet record (1:52.02) he set last season.

"It's pretty hard to comprehend," he said of posting the fastest time in the country. "I can never really put it into words, because it's so weird to think that I'm the fastest of everyone in the country. Words don't really describe the feeling. But it's definitely awesome."

The Stanford signee had hoped to break the state record of 1:48.8 set by Archbishop Kennedy's Paul Vandergrift in 1987.

Running behind the event's rabbits, Henderson's Achraf Khattabi and Will Kellar, Mallon came through the 400 in 54.4 seconds. After Khattabi and Kellar dropped out of the race, he came through the 600 in 1:22.

"I just didn't finish the last 100 strong," Mallon said of falling short of Vandergrift's record.

Henderson's Luke Lefebure (1:52.60) finished second, and Abington's Charles Ross (1:53.36) was third.

"I really learned from" the subpar indoor season, said Mallon, the two-time defending Class AAA state outdoor champion in the 800. "I think winter was really like a season that helped me for my career. Not only now, but later down the road. I can just never settle."

Methacton's Carlton Lavong, Malvern Prep's Wallace Spencer, Villa Maria Academy's Emily Cable, and Kennett's Blake Davenport were among Friday's other standouts.

Lavong will savor his time competing in the boys' triple jump, and want to erase the memory of his long-jump performance.

The senior's leap of 51 feet in the triple is the nation's fourth-best best mark of the season. It also surpassed the meet record (45-71/2) set by Bayard Rustin's Ben Ashby in 2008.

Entering the meet with a state-best effort of 24-51/2, Lavong was also heavily favored in the long jump.

But the Michigan State signee fouled on all three of his attempts. As a result, Downingtown West's Louis Smith (22-1) was the winner.

For the most part, Spencer had a mistake-free performance, winning the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles and placing third in the 100 meters.

Spencer posted a meet-record time of 14.35 seconds in the boys' 110-hurdle preliminaries. He set the previous record time of 14.53 last season.

The junior followed Friday's prelim by going 14.68 in the final. Teammate Rich D'Ambrosio finished a distant second at 15.26.

He came back and won the 300 hurdles in 39.43, and ran an 11.09 in the 100 to finish behind Muhlenberg's Eric Thomas (11.07) and Conestoga's Curtis Baylis (11.09).

Cable won the girls' 400 in 56.46, breaking the mark of 56.89 set by Bayard Rustin's Nicole Powell in 2008.

Davenport swept gold in the boys' shot put (54-3) and discus (158-2).