Megan Kirschling, Samantha Budd Shine at Haddonfield Invitational

Megan Kirschling brought home four first-place finishes and the Most Outstanding Performer award, and Samantha Budd blistered the field in her specialty as lit up the Haddonfield Invitational Thursday evening.

Kirschling thoroughly dominated her disciplines—she won the high jump, tying her meet record at 5-6, leaped 34-11 in the triple jump, went under 15 seconds in the 100 hurdles and helped the 4x400 relay team to a win to finish out the night.

Her hurdle win was perhaps the most impressive—Kirschling got out ahead early and never looked back.

“She won it by a full hurdle length,” head coach Mark Drummond said.

Budd, meanwhile, bounced back from , clocking a 2:16.3 in the 800 in another event with little competition.

“There was nobody even close to her in that race,” Drummond said.

While the two seniors were dominant, the rest of the girls’ team turned in solid efforts up and down the line.

Freshman Nicole Pinto was second in the 100 and 200, two events she’s excelled in this season, and was part of the winning 4x400 team, and Claudia Theriault tied a school record in the pole vault, leaping 10 feet to claim third.

Another impressive performance came from freshman Liz Douglas, who jumped 8-6 in the pole vault to set a new personal record, finishing fourth overall.

Her performance is especially notable, Drummond said, given she’s had, at most, three total weeks of practice in the event. And with pole vault coach Mark Dixon recovering from cancer, Douglas hasn’t had as much time with the experts, either.

“I am definitely not a pole vault coach,” Drummond joked.

The Eagles also got a win from Karen Knoblock, who took first in the freshman 1600 race.

“Overall, it was a pretty good day,” Drummond said.

West Deptford will get another tune-up before sectionals, which are next Friday and Saturday at Buena, at the Willingboro Relays Monday. While it’ll be a more limited squad—Drummond said they’re looking at competing in the high jump, pole vault, the 4x200, the sprint medley and the three throwing events—it could be a good barometer of things to come at Buena.

“They’ve had some good luck (at Willingboro),” Drummond said.