Leaving a legacy
Phillips follows in footsteps of WGH family
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CORTLAND -- Charles Penny wanted to emphasize his point.
Diamond Phillips was more than happy to oblige.
The Warren G. Harding freshman passed by Penny with 250 meters left in her one lap around the all-weather track Tuesday at Lakeview High School.
Phillips trailed. Not for long.
"See," Penny, the WGH track and field coach, said with a smile.
His freshman forced every bit of her petite 5-foot-4 frame, willing herself past another freshman to win her heat.
"Bloodlines," Penny added.
Fernando, her father, and Mike, her uncle, are familiar to the WGH fan base. Mike, a quarterback on the 2002 Raiders football state runner-up team and later a safety at Pitt, is an assistant coach for the current Raiders team.
In essence, that mean quitting isn't an option. It never is nor will be.
With her father and uncle helping her progress, one would expect nothing less.
"There was a lot of drive and passion in that one," Diamond said of her 400 run. "Had to do it for my team."
Diamond's drive pushed her to second, behind arguably the county's fastest sprinter, LaBrae's Destiny Ervin, heading into Thursday's final.
That was after running the 4×200 relay and the 100, along with three preliminary long jump attempts. She did three more jumps after the 400.
Her legs weren't. She jumped 16 feet, 8.5 inches, one of her best this season. She's hoping to surpass 17 before the season is over. That's for someone who stands 5-4 and soars when she vaults off the wooden jumping board.
"I feel like I'm flying," Phillips said. "It's a pretty good feeling."
One might think the element of surprise lurks in with Penny. Here's a tiny freshman girl popping off jumps reserved for some of the best in this area.
Penny laughs.
She is a Phillips. They're all staples of the Warren G. Harding athletic programs. Now transitioning from basketball to track and field. There's the shocker.
Penny knows how successful she can be, but he doesn't want push anything at this point and time.
"Any time you get freshmen, they're still 13-, 14-year-old people," he said. "You can't put a whole lot on them. When they do well, you praise them. When they do wrong, you discipline them. At the same time, you can't overload them because they are freshman."
Phillips is busy doing that, improving with everything she does -- including the long jump.
"I always try to perfect every jump I have," she said.