District 1 AAA Championships 05/17-05/18 – Coatesville Area High School The Patriots finished a grueling two-day meet at Coatesville Area High School against some of the toughest competition in the state with two medals and a state-qualifying 4x800-meter relay.
It took two lineups and a dramatic day two finish, but the 4x800-meter team will be headed to Shippensburg next weekend. In day one, the combined efforts of senior Ryan Testa, senior Matt Miller, senior Sean Lahetta, and sophomore Holden Emery were enough to secure the last qualifying spot for the finals. On day two, Lahetta got the chance to lead off and, after surging to the lead in the first two hundred meters, Lahetta kept the team in the mix with a 2:00.81. Testa got the chance to run second and he made sure to keep contact with the top four runners by the end of his leg by clocking a 1:59.80. Miller, who was battling a cold, still managed a personal best of 2:00.79. Emery was left with the task of taking on a loaded field of experienced anchors and did not blink. Knowing the team needed to finish eighth or better, Emery used every meter of the home stretch and passed one final competitor at the line while running a personal best of 1:57.42 to send the team to states. The team best of 7:58.82 was not only over three seconds faster than the state-qualifying mark, but enough to earn a district medal.
Individually, junior Nolan Case secured a seventh-place medal by clearing 13’0” in the pole vault. Junior teammate Alex Da Cruz also cleared 13’0” and finished 9th overall. The very competitive pole vault field included a district champion that cleared 16’0” and the Patriot duo are looking forward to next season.
The promise for the future only grew with several other underclassmen-driven performances. Sophomore Marcos Lopez ran a personal best of 50.17 in the 400 less than an hour after he led off the 4x100-meter relay team that ran a season-best time of 43.97 (while rocking the retro uniforms). While the team will miss senior Ben Power, who earned his way on to the relay after a great performance at Kiwanis early in the season, it will return Lopez, junior Nick Correra, and sophomore Luke Blackwell. Blackwell also made it to the finals in the triple jump and finished ninth overall with a leap of 43’8.5”. Junior Ethan Korb, who will finish the season as the team’s leading point scorer with over 200 points, qualified in three events: the high jump, the 110-meter hurdles, and the long jump. After a setback in the high jump, Korb qualified for the semifinals in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.79 and then bettered his performance with a 15.60 in his final race.
The Patriots were certainly well-represented with athletes in the sprinting events, distance events, and the field. And with no teacher like experience, several underclassmen took major strides towards their future success while the 4x800-meter relay earned one more chance to compete next weekend.
Rising Stars Meet 05/15 – Council Rock North High School The young Patriots got their chance to shine at the third annual Rising Stars Meet and shine they did; finishing second overall in the team standings while capturing 13 medals and 11 personal bests.
On the track, the team collected four silver medals. Freshman Nik Ventura got things rolling early with a silver-medal performance in the 300 hurdles and a time of 47.57. Freshman Andrew Chimizie picked up his medal in the 200 with a personal record of 25.23, freshman Jack Steitz used a 2:11.98 to earn his medal in the 800, and sophomore Daniel Lane poured his guts out in his first every 3200 to earn silver.
The team added four bronze-medal performances. The first of the three came in the 4x800-meter relay, which was highlighted by a monster personal record by sophomore Jaazil Shamsi, who took 18 seconds off his previous best with a 2:15.24. Sophomore Connor Brodish added a personal best of 2:21.1 as the anchor, sophomore Ethan Evans ran a near-PR of 2:11.9 and freshman Cole Kochan ran a 2:36.9. The all-freshman 4x100-meter relay of Chimizie, Armaan Ahmed, Ben Wilson, and Joey Mignon executed their hand offs and flew around the track in 48.34. Sophomore David Oluwabusi finished third in the 400 with a 56.83 and sophomore Austin Hicks finished third in his 3200 debut.
Off the track, the field athletes earned five medals. Ventura picked up his second silver of the day with a personal best of 37’5” in the triple jump. Sophomore Gideon Weber earned a bronze with a personal best of 16’3” in the long jump. The Patriots picked up two medals in the high jump as Evans and sophomore Andrew Shea, who had only a couple days’ worth of practice, finished second and third respectively with jumps of 5’4” and 4’10”. Freshman Carlos Adame also cleared 4’10” in the event. And Sophomore Xavier Bardwell cleared 9’6” in the pole vault to pick up a bronze medal.
In addition to the medals, multiple athletes added personal bests or surprised themselves in new events. For example, Mignon cranked out a 54.4 in his first ever 400 as a member of the 4x400-meter relay, sophomore Mike Mollichella set a personal best in the shot put with a toss of 30’3”, and freshman Ryan Lenahan broke the 5:30 mark in the 1600 with a personal best of 5:27.88. As one of only two teams to break the century mark in team scoring, the rising stars proved once again the future is bright at East.
League Championships 05/10-05/11 – CB West High School and CB South High School The Patriots battled their way to a third-place finish in the Suburban One League Continental Championships; scoring 155.5 points to hold off a North Penn team that had been surging in the second half of the season. Along the way, the team collected eight medals, which equates to eight all-league selections and 26 top ten finishes. Additionally, junior Ethan Korb qualified for districts in the 110-meter hurdles while sophomores Holden Emery (800m) and Marcos Lopez (400m) improved their seeding.
The team’s best event was off the track where four jumpers finished in the top eight in the pole vault; heeding the advice of Hall Famer Coach Stemp every step of the way. Junior Nolan Case was the top finisher with a bronze medal-winning and third-team all-conference vault of 13’6”. Junior Alex Da Cruz finished just behind him to gain honorable mention with a vault of 13’0”. Sophomore Kyle Dunigan finished sixth (11’0”) and junior Max Da Cruz rounded out the scoring in seventh (10’6”). It is important to note that the tone was set by junior Jack Pierce when he set a personal best of 9’6” to start the day.
The team had three point scorers in the high jump. Korb and Case led the way with a second and third place finish respectively, earning them second and third-team all-league honors in the process. Senior Ethan Duncan tied his personal best at 5’10” to finish fourth and tacked on four additional personal bests over the weekend (16.52 & 16.48 in the 110-meter hurdles, 19’8” in the long jump, and 38’7.5” in the triple jump). Sophomore Luke Blackwell was the team’s highest finisher at fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 41’8.75”. Korb secured second in the long and bettered his mark in districts with a jump of 21’7.5” while freshman Evan Clark also earned a personal best of 18’10.75”.
Back on the track Lopez had himself a couple of days. In his qualifying trial for the 100, Lopez set a personal best of 11.57 and in the open 400, Lopez had a strong finish to secure third team all-league and run the fourth fastest FAT time in school history at 50.27. In the 800, it was senior Ryan Testa who rose to the occasion to finish sixth at 1:58.40 (0.04 away from his personal best). Meanwhile, Emery finished just behind him to score in seventh with a personal best of 1:58.72 and senior Matt Miller tied his personal record at 2:00.96. In the 1600, junior Jack McManus used a late kick to beat out his opponent from Souderton and earn second-team all-league honors with a silver-medal-winning time of 4:31.33. Junior Gavin Pettigrew also secured a point in eight with a solid time of 4:42.39. And in the 3200, it was senior Cade Sands who scored with a fifth-place finish and time of 10:01.72.
Seniors Jac Mapily and Jon Walter capped off outstanding careers as well. Mapily set another personal best in the 300-meter hurdles (41.74) with a fourth-place finish that earns him all-league honorable mention. Mapily then led off the team’s fastest 4x400-meter relay of the year (3:28.88) with a 52.3 while Walter contributed a 52.6 as the third leg. Emery, who ran a personal best of 51.9, and Lopez, who ran a 52.0 in his fourth race of the weekend, would contribute the other two legs.
As was the case all season, the team relied on balance from the track and the field as well as a balance of veteran leadership and youthful firepower.
Neshaminy Invitational 05/04 – Neshaminy High School The Patriots took their annual trip to Neshaminy High School to sneak in a few more races just before the League Championship and it was the half-milers who took full advantage of their final regular season opportunities.
Senior Ryan Testa was the third-fastest 800-runner on the day with a new personal record of 1:58.36 to capture the bronze in the open event. Sophomore Holden Emery finished closely behind Testa with a new personal best of 1:59.19, which was good enough to qualify the second-year runner for districts and take home a fourth-place medal. In the heat just before them, senior Matt Miller had a bounce back race in a big way with a new personal best of his own at 2:00.96. Additionally, sophomore Ethan Evans (2:10.2), junior Sam Herbst (2:15.9), and sophomore Brendan Bergmann (2:26.4) all set a personal best as part of the 4x800-meter relay with freshman Patrick Kleemeier battling a season-long knee injury to go sub-2:30 at 2:29.8.
Junior Ethan Korb continued his stellar season with two medals in the field. After a trial run of 15.73 in the 110-meter high hurdles, Korb used a 15.90 in the finals to take home the gold. And in the triple jump, Korb secured a silver medal with a leap of 41’9.25”. Fellow senior jumper Ethan Duncan also took home a medal when he finished fourth in the high jump and equaled his best of 5’10”.
The 300-hurdlers had a strong day as senior Jac Mapily broke the 42-second barrier with a personal best of 41.99 and earned a bronze medal. Freshman Jack Steitz returned to the event after a few weeks off and set a personal best of 51.66. The 4x400-meter relay of Mapily (53.5), Testa (55.6), freshman Evan Clark (55.1), and senior Jon Walter (52.4) earned a fifth-place medal and the 4x100-meter relay of Clark, junior Nick Correra, sophomore Klay Slifer, and senior Ben Power earned fifth as well.
In his debut in the 3200, sophomore Danny Spillane earned a fourth-place medal with a time of 10:45.44. In the open 400, sophomore Symir Roberts continued to improve with a new best of 56.48. Freshman Noah Wilson had a big day as well as he set a personal best in two events when he threw the discus 79’3” and when he threw the shotput 30’9.75”. And in the novice 1600, sophomore Connor Brodish set a personal best of 5:11.10 while teammate Andrew Shea set a best of 5:37.32.
Helman Invitational 05/02 – Pennridge High School The Patriots left the annual Helman Memorial Invitational with ten medals and two new district-qualifying marks.
Sophomore Marcos Lopez captured a third-place medal in the open 400 while running a personal record of 50.88 and qualified for districts in the process. Senior Ryan Testa also secured a place in districts in the open 800 with a personal best of 1:59.30.
Junior Ethan Korb had quite a day as he secured a gold, silver, and bronze medal in his three events. In the high jump, Korb won gold with a leap of 6’0”. In the triple jump, Korb earned a silver medal with a jump of 41’0.75”. And in the 110-meter hurdles, Korb earned a bronze with a time of 16.02.
Multiple other individuals had a standout meet against some elite competitors. Junior Jack McManus earned the gold in the 1600 with a new personal best of 4:29.21; less than a second from the district-qualifying mark. Sophomore Luke Blackwell once again took gold in the triple jump with a leap of 41’8.75”. And junior Nolan Case earned the gold in the pole vault with a new personal best of 13’6”. What made the feet even more enjoyable was the fact that a large crowd of athletes had gathered to watch Case compete and he rose to the occasion. Junior Alex Da Cruz finished third in the event with an impressive vault of 12’6” himself. Senior Cade Sands took third in the 3200 with a time of 10:07.71.
The highest placing relay on the day turned out to be the 4x100-meter relay. With a slightly different lineup, freshman Evan Clark did just enough to help Blackwell, junior Nick Correra, and senior Ben Power bring home the bronze medal.
Pennridge 94 CB East 56 - 04/30 Despite a tough loss to the league’s defending champion, the Patriots managed 58 personal records and junior Ethan Korb secured his place in districts in both the high jump and the long jump.
Korb won the long jump with a leap of 21’2” and the high jump with a leap of 6’2”; making it the second time he hit the district mark in each event during a dual meet and, thus, securing his place in districts. Fellow jumper Luke Blackwell had a personal record of over 11 inches to win the triple jump with a leap of 43’10” and finished third in the long jump with another personal record, this time 19’11”. In the end, the Patriots took first in all four jumps and they also swept the pole vault with junior Alex Da Cruz clearing 12’6”, junior Nolan case clearing 12’6”, and sophomore Kyle Dunigan setting a personal record of 11’6”.
On the track, the Patriots found success in the mile as junior Jack McManus secured second place with a 4:31 and senior Cole Sands set a personal best of 4:34 to take third. Eleven other Patriots (Pettigrew, Spillane, Curry, Pello, Shamsi, C. Brodish, Roumy, Carter, Hicks, Shea, and Richter) set a personal best in the race as well. In the 800, senior Sean Lahetta took third with a 2:02.0 while freshmen Jack Steitz, Luke Gormley, Reign Wurst, Aaron Gan and Pranav Kuppaswamy set personal bests alongside seniors George Barlow, Freddie, Qiu, and Alex Anjarry, junior Chris Madera, and sophomore Austin Hicks. In the 100, ten Patriots set personal bests (Oluwabusi, Granitski, Chimezie, Mignon, B. Wilson, Lee, Fleurant, Kalavadiya, Adame, and Zakhari). And in the 200, freshman Ryan Lee, Ben Wilson, and Carlos Adame had their second personal bests of the day while junior Correra took second with a personal best of 22.9.
The team will face the Rams once again the League Championships on May 10th and 11th. Penn Relays 04/26-04/27 Franklin Field The 4x100-meter relay team of sophomore Luke Blackwell, junior Nick Correra, senior Ben Power, and sophomore Marcos Lopez finished 153rd out of 531 high school teams who competed at the Penn Relays; running their fastest FAT time of the season at 44.34. Lopez also anchored the 4x400-meter relay team, alongside senior Sean Lahetta, sophomore Holden Emery, and senior Jon Walter, that finished 124th out of 523 high school teams with a time of 3:30.32.
CB East 101 Quakertown 49 - 04/23 For the second time this season, the Patriots were able to crack the century mark in a dual meet; this time defeating Quakertown 101-49. The victory was fueled by a balanced attack highlighted by a district-qualifying 4x100-meter relay performance and three event sweeps.
The hurdlers set the tone with a one-two finish in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles. Senior Jac Mapily took first with a 43.2 and junior Jared Farrior took second with a 44.3. The 4x800-meter relay kept its dual meet undefeated streak alive, but with a different lineup as junior Eduardo Martinez ran his fastest 800 of the spring season with a 2:05.6; senior Matt Miller, sophomore Holden Emery, and senior Sean Lahetta took care of the rest.
The Patriots found their first of three sweeps on the day in the 1600. Senior Cade Sands crossed the line alongside his brother Cole Sands in 4:43 and junior Gavin Pettigrew had a personal best of 19 seconds to take third in 4:44. The 4x100-meter relay of sophomore Luke Blackwell, junior Nick Correra, senior Ben Power, and sophomore Marcos Lopez executed their second hand time of 43.9 to take first and qualify for districts in the process. In the 110-meter hurdles, senior Ethan Korb took first with a personal record of 15.5, junior Jared Farrior took second with a 16.5, and sophomore William Ott clocked a personal best of 18.3. Junior Carter Moore had a breakout race in the 800; charging to the lead and never looking back to clock a personal best of 2:10.0 while taking first place. Before helping to secure the victory in the 4x400, Lopez set a personal best of 22.9 to take first in the 200 and Lahetta set a personal best of 52.0 to take second in the 400.
The second and third sweeps came in the pole vault and the high jump respectively. Not one, but two pole vaulters cleared the district-qualifying mark of 13’0” once again this season when junior Nolan Case took first, and junior Alex Da Cruz took second. Sophomore Kyle Dunigan completed the sweep with a personal record of 11’0”. In the high jump, Korb secured first with a clearance of 5’8” and Case snagged second with a leap of 5’6”. Dunigan once again completed the sweep, volunteering to participate in the event just before the meet started and clearing 5’2” before preparing for pole vault. And in the triple jump, Blackwell took first once again with a leap of 40’6.5”.
The throwers had a challenge going against one of the best throwing teams in the league, but senior David Moyer rose to the occasion to take first in the javelin with a personal best of 156’0”. Power secured third with a throw of 121’0”. In the shot put, Moyer set a personal record of 42’0.75” to take third and junior teammate Carl Visscher also had a personal best of 36’6.75”. And in the discus, senior Ben Zech took third with a throw of 107’10”.
CB West Relays 04/20 Central Bucks West High School This year, the athletes at the CB West Relays were not only battling each other, but the weather; particularly early in the day as heavy winds sent tents flying across the infield. As the day went on, the weather would improve and the Patriots were the ones flying across the infield, around the track, and into the jumping pits; earning nine team medals along the way.
The Patriots had a field day off the track, capturing three first place medals and a medal in five of seven events. Unlike most meets where medals go to the top individuals, medals at the CB West Relays are awarded to teams based on the combined totals of two athletes in each event. Sophomore Luke Blackwell and junior Ethan Korb were the dominant team in the horizontal jumps as together they earned gold in both the long jump and the triple jump. Korb led the way in the long jump with a leap of 20’3.5” with Blackwell jumping 19’8.5”. In the triple jump, Blackwell not only led his teammate, but had the top jump of any athlete on the day with a leap of 41’1” and Korb contributed a strong jump of 39’0.25”.
The Patriots were the favorite in the pole vault with two district-qualifying athletes, juniors Nolan Case and Alex Da Cruz, on the entry list. And they didn’t disappoint. The team earned gold with a vault of 11’6” by Case and a vault of 13’0” by Da Cruz. Case also teamed up with Korb in the high jump to earn a silver medal; Case cleared 5’10” and Korb cleared 5’8”. Meanwhile, under less than favorable weather conditions for the discus, junior Connor Hansberry continued to build on his improvements from the week with a throw of 90’8” and senior Ben Zech was rock solid with a throw of 103’4” that earned the team a bronze medal.
There was plenty of excitement on the track as well as the team earned four medals against top competition. The Shuttle Hurdle Relay team of Korb, senior Jac Mapily, junior Jared Farrior, and freshman Nik Ventura earned a silver medal; making it the second year the CB East team finished second in the event. The 4x1600-meter relay team fought it out with the historically successful LaSalle College High School and earned a silver medal; finishing just a second behind La Salle. Senior Sean Lahetta was the best lead off leg on the track with a personal best of 4:34.21. In only their second-ever miles, sophomore Holden Emery and senior Ryan Testa gutted out a 4:41.79 and 4:39.84 respectively. And junior Jack McManus closed the gap on the leader to battle down the homestretch and run the best time on the team of 4:33.17; making CB East one of two teams to go sub-19 in the event.
The Sprint Medley Relay (run 200-200-400-800) earned a fifth-place medal. Senior sprinters Eric Granitski and Jon Walter showed off their speed and experience with a pair of 200s to get the relay going. Then, freshman Evan Clark ran a near-personal best of 55.0 in the 400 to hand off to senior Matt Miller who battled with Quakertown down the stretch and clocked a 2:04.3 in the 800 to bring the relay total to 3:48.06.
The Distance Medley Relay team decided it would not be outdone and hung on for a fifth-place medal as well. Senior Cole Sands put the team in medal position with a 3:26.96 in the 1200. Freshman Jack Steitz kept contact with the first group when he clocked a 57.99 in the 400. Testa, who was coming back for his second distance race of the day, ran a 2:08.23 to give junior Andrew Conte the chance to bring home the medal with a 4:57.14 in the 1600.
CBE 83 CBW 67 CBE 108 SOUDERTON 42 - 04/16 The Patriots left War Memorial Stadium with two league victories to improve to 4-0 on the season after defeating Central Bucks West 83-67 and Souderton 108-42.
The tone was set early when the 4x800-meter relay ran its fastest time of the year and edged out the defending state champions in the event. Senior Ryan Testa ran an aggressive first leg to clock a 2:03.2, senior Matt Miller used a strong second leg to clock a personal best of 2:01.5, and sophomore Holden Emery ran a 2:03.5 to set up an exciting finish. Senior Sean Lahetta showed no fear as he took the baton and charged ahead of his opponent to control the race. Lahetta then out kicked CB West down the homestretch and ran a personal best of 1:57.2 to earn the win for his team. Later in the day, Lahetta would hold off the pack to win the 800 in a 2:00.14. The Patriots (sophomore Luke Blackwell, junior Nick Correra, senior Ben Power, and sophomore Marco Lopez) also earned a victory in the 4x100-meter relay with a strong time (44.60) and better execution of the hand-offs than their opponents; furthering the early lead for the team.
The hurdlers contributed multiple points in multiple events. In the 300 hurdles, senior Jac Mapily ran a 42.70 (first against Souderton and second against West) and junior Jared Farrior ran a personal best of 43.54 (second against Souderton and third against West). Freshman Nik Ventura and sophomore Will Ott set a personal best of 47.36 and 48.26 respectively. In the 110 hurdles, junior Ethan Korb took second overall and first against West with a 15.94 and Farrior took second against West and third against Souderton with a personal best of 16.35. Ventura and Ott set personal bests as well with a 20.70 and 18.59 respectively. Off the track, the field athletes knew they would need to carry their weight and they did. Blackwell and Korb led the way in the horizontal jumps. In the long jump, Korb was first (20’3”) and Blackwell was second (19’3”) and in the triple jump, Blackwell (40’11”) was first and Korb (40’2”) was second. Freshman Evan Clark completed the sweep against West in the long jump with a leap of 18’7.25”. At the other end of the stadium, Korb set a personal best of 6’2” in the high jump while junior Nolan Case set a personal best of 6’0” to take second and third against West and first and second against Souderton. And the points continued to pile up for the pole vaulters this season as Case (12-6), junior Alex Da Cruz (12-6), and junior Max Da Cruz (11-0) swept their event.
Multiple throwers rose to the occasion as well. Senior Ben Zech (120’11”), junior Connor Hansberry (personal best of 105’0”), and Ventura (personal best of 86’10”) swept the discus against Souderton while securing two of three spots against West. In the shot put, sophomore Klay Slifer secured a second place finish with a major personal best of 39’0.5” while senior David Moyer finished third with a throw of 39’0.5” and earned a first place finish against West in the javelin by one inch with a toss of 131’1”.
Back on the track, the team continued to show balance by securing points in both distance and sprint events. Junior Jack McManus continued his standout season with a victory in the 1600 and a time of 4:31.84. Senior Cole Sands (4:44.13) and sophomore Elijah Carpenter (4:56.80) scored points in the event as well. Senior Jon Walter set a personal best of 53.43 in the 400; scoring against both West and Souderton.
The Patriots finished the day with two victories and 47 personal bests because of a full team effort and kept their undefeated season alive.
Vikings Invitational 04/13/2019 Perkiomen Valley High School The Patriots took a rare trip to Perkiomen Valley High School to partake in the 12th Annual Viking Invitational over the weekend and returned with one new district qualifier and three medals.
Junior Alex Da Cruz, who had been stuck at 12’-6” for a while, showed that persistence pays off when he glided over the bar set thirteen feet above the ground and earned a fourth-place medal as well as a district qualifying mark. Da Cruz is now tied with teammate Nolan Case with the seventh-best mark in CB East history. Da Cruz joined Korb and Blackwell as athletes that added their name to the all-time list in the past few weeks (see more here). Blackwell snagged an individual medal himself with a silver in the triple jump with a leap of 40’11”; making it his third straight invitational with a medal in the event.
On the track, the Distance Medley Relay earned its second gold medal in three weeks and it was with an untraditional lineup as seniors Matt Miller and Ryan Testa made their outdoor debut in the 1200 and 1600 respectively. After a fast first lap, Miller settled in and then closed strong to run a 3:26 and give the Patriots the lead. Junior Gavin Pettigrew used a strong first half of his leg to secure a 54.5 in the 400 and junior Eduardo Zarate-Martinez ran a smooth 2:10 to keep the team in second. Senior Ryan Testa kept the leader in his sights for three laps and then surged past him to bring home the gold with a 4:35.3.
Despite not medaling, many Patriots had impressive outings, and several found their way into the top ten in their event. Junior Ethan Korb made his 300-hurdle debut with a seventh-place finish (43.02) and senior Jac Mapily finished one place behind him with a 43.83. Korb also finished sixth in the 110m-high hurdles with a time of 16.15 in the finals (16.12 in the trials). Sophomore Holden Emery ran his first 1600 this season and set a new personal best of 4:39.69 to finish eighth; a personal best that was over ten seconds faster than his previous 1600.
The monster personal bests kept coming too. Junior Connor Hansberry added over four feet to his previous best in the discus with a throw of 96’9”. Freshman Evan Clark ran a personal best of 55.09 in the 400. Sophomore Elijah Carpenter ran a personal best by over five seconds in the 800 with a time of 2:13.12; made even more impressive by the fact that he slipped at the start. The Patriots will look to continue to add personal bests when they take on CB West and Souderton on Tuesday.
CB EAST 79 NORTH PENN 71 - 04/09 The Patriots used a full team effort to defeat the Knights from North Penn on Tuesday. Powered by a sweep of all three relays and a first-place finish in all three distance events, the Patriots improved to 2-0 on the season. The victory (79-71) was secured in the final event of the day with a first-place personal record of 145’7” by senior David Moyer in the javelin along with a third-place throw of 123’7” by sophomore Klay Slifer.
On the track, it was the relays that sealed the deal. The 4x800-meter relay of senior Ryan Testa, senior Matt Miller, sophomore Holden Emery, and senior Sean Lahetta set the tone. Then, the 4x100-meter relay, with senior Ben Power as a new addition, scored a surprise victory to set up the exciting finish. To conclude the track events, the team would need a victory in the 4x400 and each individual stepped up to the plate. Being told just minutes before the race he was needed to lead off, senior Jac Mapily didn’t blink, and came flying out of the blocks to clock a personal best of 52.3. Sophomore Holden Emery, in his third race of the day, then clocked a 52.5. Senior Jon Walter, who wanted to rebound from his open 400, also rose to the occasion to run a 53.5 to keep the team in the lead. Sophomore Marcos Lopez added the exclamation point with a run-away anchor leg of 51.0.
Individually, the distance runners made their mark while the sprinters contributed points at key moments and continued to show improvements. In the 1600, junior Jack McManus ran alongside North Penn’s best miler until the final stretch where McManus outkicked him to secure a first-place finish in a personal best of 4:30.3. Junior Andrew Conte secured third with a 4:48. In the 800, Lahetta earned a first-place finish with a personal record of 2:00.0 while Testa took home third with a 2:04.8. And in the 3200, it was the Sands twins who did damage with Cade scoring a monster personal best of 9:51.5 for the win and Cole securing third with a 10:04.6. In the 100, 11 athletes set a new personal best with Lopez snagging a point with an 11.4 (junior Nick Correra also had an 11.4 personal best). In the 200, sophomore Luke Blackwell earned a second-place finish with a personal best of 22.8 while 11 more sprinters earned a new best as well. Junior Ethan Korb finished second in the 110-hurdles with a personal best of 15.7 and Emery earned a crucial first-place finish in the 400.
The final key to victory came in the field, particularly the jumps. Korb earned a first-place finish in the long jump with a personal best of 21’2.5” (that meets the district-qualifying standard but will need to be replicated in another dual meet) to be followed by Blackwell with a second-place jump of 19’6”. Korb took second in the triple jump with a leap of 41’7” and, in the high jump, Korb finished first at 5’10” with junior Nolan case finishing second at 5’8”. Additionally, juniors Alex Da Cruz and Nolan Case both cleared 12’6” to finish second and third in the pole vault.
The victory took every run, jump, and throw and highlighted the team’s continued improvement with an outstanding 74 personal records.
Kiwanis Invitational 04/06/2019 Council Rock North High School Another weekend, another top three finish for the Patriots. This time, it was at the Kiwanis Invitational at Council Rock North. Competing against 20 teams from the area, the Patriots captured 15 medals and a dozen personal records as well as a new district-qualifying mark.
Even though it is only the second week of the season, the Patriots now have two individual athletes and one relay headed to the District One meet in May. Sophomore Luke Blackwell became the second individual to qualify with a personal best of 42’11” in the triple jump. The mark earned him a silver medal, which is the second week in a row in which he has earned a medal in the event. Junior Ethan Korb finished close behind with a leap of 40’11” and captured a fourth-place medal of his own. Blackwell and Korb teamed up on the track to snag a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter relay and Korb collected a third medal with a silver in the long jump (20’0.75”).
Four other Patriots had a multi-medal-winning day. Senior David Moyer left the meet with a gold medal in the javelin (137’5”) and a sixth-place medal in the shot put (37’6.5”). Senior Jac Mapily earned a bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles (61.94) and a sixth-place medal in the 400 (personal record of 53.06). Junior Nolan Case, who had to keep going from the pole vault pit to the high jump pit, won a bronze medal in the pole vault (12’6”) and a fourth-place medal in the high jump (personal record of 5’10”). And junior Nick Correra contributed to two-medal winning relays; the 4x100-meter relay and the Sprint Medley Relay.
The most exciting finish of the day came in the rare 1500-meter race. Sophomore Holden Emery went stride for stride with his opponent from Harrington to cross the finish line almost simultaneously. And despite just missing the gold by four one-hundredths of a second, Emery had a major personal record of 4:14.85 (breaking his record from Kiwanis just one year ago).
The best relay of the day was the Distance Medley Relay. Senior Ryan Testa made his debut in the 1200 and ran a team-best of 3:17.89. Senior Matt Miller ran a personal record of 53.62 in the 400-leg (Miller would also clock a strong 54.14 in his second 400 later in the day). Junior Andrew Conte ran a 2:10.13 in the 800 and senior Sean Lahetta anchored with a 4:35.97 in the 1600 to bring home the silver.
Other notable performances came from junior Connor Hansberry and senior David Zapata who both set a personal record in the discus with throws of 92’9” and 87’2” respectively. Freshman Noah Wilson set a personal best in the freshmen shot put with a toss of 29’1” and sophomore Ben Cobin set a personal record of 36’10.5” in the shot put himself. Senior Ethan Duncan also set a personal record of 17.82 in the 110m high hurdles and broke that record in the finals with a time of 17.62 to take home a medal.
CB EAST 92 CB SOUTH 58 - 04/02 The Patriots earned their first dual meet victory against their sister school, CB South, on a chilly Tuesday afternoon at Titan Stadium to start the season 1-0. The victory was fueled by a sweep of the 800 and 3200, two relay victories in the 4x800 and 4x400, and four first place finishes by junior Ethan Korb.
Senior Jac Mapily set the tone in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles by fighting his way past his opponent in the final 20 meters of the race; taking first with a 42.4. Junior Jared Farrior took third with a 44.2 while sophomore Will Ott (49.9), freshman Nik Ventura (48.9), and freshman Jack Steitz (52.2) made their debuts in the event. The 4x800-meter relay of senior Ryan Testa, sophomore Holden Emery, senior Matt Miller, and senior Sean Lahetta followed with a decisive victory and the team was off to a great start.
Going against a tough group of sprinters, sophomore Marcos Lopez (11.82) and junior Nick Correra (personal best of 11.88) earned second and third in 100 respectively. As the track events continued, it was junior Jack McManus who made a statement in the 1600. Trailing by at least 50 meters in the final lap, McManus took off like a bat out of hell and surpassed the Titan leader in the final stretch to smash his old personal record with a new best of 4:32.5 to win the heat. Meanwhile, senior Cade Sands edged out his brother Cole to take third with a time of 4:37 (Cole had a 4:38). Six other Patriots, including juniors Kevin Fay (5:15) and Andrew Van Siclen (5:25) set a personal best in the event.
It was a photo finish in the 110-hurdles that went the way of the Patriots as junior Ethan Korb (16.56) and junior Jared Farrior (personal best of 16.61) edged out former East runner Matt Pacholarz to finish first and second. Then, Lahetta (2:02), Miller (2:07), and sophomore Eduardo Martinez (2:09), swept the 800 and senior Alex Bardwell (10:34.92), junior Andrew Conte (10:35.02), and junior Will Marston (10:58.03) swept the 3200; picking up 18 points for the boys from East. An exciting finish in the 4x400 can be attributed to the mental toughness of Lahetta and McManus, who earned personal bests of 53.5 and 53.9, as well as the speed of Emery and Lopez, who clocked a 53.3 and 51.5 to ensure the Patriots had the lead once the track events had concluded.
Off the track, Korb led the way with a first-place finish in the long jump (persona best of 20’7”), the triple jump (40’7.5”), and the high jump (5’8”). Sophomore Luke Blackwell contributed points with a second-place finish in the long jump (19’8”) and a third-place finish in the triple jump (39’5.25”). Senior Ethan Duncan scored in the high jump (5’6”) as well. The young guns stepped up and earned eight personal bests in the shot put while senior David Moyer earned a third-place finish with a throw of 39’7”. In the discus, senior Ben Zech led the way with a first-place throw of 107’11” while junior Connor Hansberry (79’7”) and freshmen Noah Wilson (69’6”) and Jameson Molloy (64’9”) earned new bests. In the javelin, Moyer captured a second-place finish with a launch of 133’ and senior Ben Power made his debut with a second-place finish of 126’8”. Junior Michael Forcina and sophomore Ben Cobin set personal bests of 116’ and 75’8” as well. And in the pole vault, junior Alex Da Cruz elected to enter a “jump-off” to break the tie and secure first place by clearing 12’3” while junior Nolan Case captured third by clearing 11’6”.
Jim Kelly Invitational 03/30/2019 Hatboro Horsham High School The Patriots kicked off the 2019 spring season with an outstanding showing at the Jim Kelly Invitational at Hatboro Horsham on Saturday; finishing third overall while collecting a dozen medals along the way. The performances were even more impressive given the circumstances of the week. Wearing “DE” on their arms to honor senior teammate David Endres, who is on the road to recovery in the hospital, the young men who competed on Saturday showcased their resiliency and ability to unite as one team.
The distance runners got the ball rolling with a gold-medal performance in the Distance Medley Relay. Senior Cole Sands led off the relay with a personal record of 3:18.8 in the 1200; surging past the rest of the pack during his final lap. Junior Gavin Pettigrew maintained the lead with a personal best of 54.9 in the 400. Senior Matt Miller used a personal best of 2:03.4 in the 800 to make sure he handed off the baton in first. Then, despite having to run alone for the whole race, senior Cade Sands maintained a steady pace and set a personal best in the 1600 with a 4:37.8 to protect the first-place finish.
Later in the day, the 4x800-meter relay captured a gold medal of their own. Unphased by the challenge of replacing their anchor runner, each athlete rose to the occasion and earned a district-qualifying mark of 8:06.57. Senior Ryan Testa ran a personal best of 2:01.78 in his first ever outdoor 800. Sophomore Holden Emery and junior Jack McManus kept the team at the front of the pack with personal bests of 2:03.0 and 2:01.20 respectively. Senior captain Sean Lahetta, who has been a particularly note-worthy leader off the track this season, finished the job with a personal best of 2:00.58. The mark meets the Penn Relays recommendation of 8:08, so the relay hopes to head to Franklin Field in a few weeks.
The relay wasn’t the only district-qualifying mark on the day as junior Nolan Case cleared 13’0” in the pole vault and finished with a silver medal. Teammate Alex Da Cruz finished one place behind Case; securing a bronze with a clearance of 12’6”.
On the sprinting side, the 4x100-meter relay of sophomore Luke Blackwell, junior Nick Correra, freshman Evan Clark, and sophomore Marcos Lopez was outstanding; earning a fourth-place medal with a 44.41 finish. Meanwhile, the 4x400-meter relay found some surprising results from a new look-lineup. After senior Sean Lahetta led-off with a 54.0, sophomore Marcos Lopez smashed his old personal record by over two seconds with a 51.2 (and Lopez had already run three 100s on the day with the 4x100 relay and a run to the finals in the individual 100). Sophomore Holden Emery showed off some speed in his second race of the day with a personal best of 52.70 as the third leg. And senior Jon Walter, who had set a personal best of 53.81 in the open 400, anchored the relay with another personal best of 53.53 to earn a fifth-place medal along with his teammates.
Individually, junior captain Ethan Korb had an outstanding day; earning a medal in three of the four events he competed in. Korb earned a third-place medal in the triple jump (40’5”), a fourth-place medal in the high jump (6’0”), and a fifth-place medal in the long jump (19’7”). Sophomore Luke Blackwell was the epitome of resiliency himself. After fouling out of the long jump, Blackwell refocused and popped a personal best of 41’2” to bring home the gold in the triple jump. Senior captain Alex Bardwell and senior Jac Mapily had strong personal performances themselves. In the 3000, Bardwell showed off his endurance in the final laps with a kick that earned him a silver medal (9:37.87) and Mapily recovered from a bump in the 400-hurdles to earn a personal best of 61.40.
2018 Results
State AAA Championships 05/25-05/26/2018 Shippensburg University The Patriots brought eight representatives to the State Championships at Shippensburg University over Memorial Day weekend to compete against the best the Keystone state had to offer. After two days of competition in the hot spring weather, it would take two different relay combinations, but the 4x800-meter relay would come home with an eighth-place medal.
On Friday, senior Marc Motter, junior David Endres, senior Richie Jethon, and junior Alex Bardwell made sure the team advanced to the finals with a dramatic third-place finish in the second heat of the day. Bardwell was running comfortably alongside rival CB West when a few teams made a late surge down the home stretch, but each CB team had a strong enough kick to advance to the next day. Unfortunately, a foot injury from the race would force Bardwell to sit out the finals the next day. As a result, junior Sean Lahetta was asked to rise to the occasion and the team shuffled the order slightly to give Jethon the chance to anchor. In the finals, Motter got the team off to a solid start with a 2:00.8, keeping the team within striking distance. Endres then took the baton and began picking teams off, passing at least three on the first lap and couple more on the second lap to put the team in the middle of the pack. Endres had the team’s fastest spilt with an outstanding 1:54.8. With about an hour’s worth of notice, Lahetta found a way to gut out a 2:03.2, which approached his personal best of 2:02. Then, Jethon ran like a bat out of hell, clocking a dazzling 54-second first lap. He used every ounce of energy to hold on to 8th place in the second lap as he clocked a personal best of 1:58.5 to secure the team a spot on the podium with a time of 7:57.52.
Senior Marshall Duncan also completed an unbelievable season by competing in three events over the weekend. Duncan finished 14th in the triple jump with a leap of 44’3.75”, 13th in the long jump with a leap of 21’8”, and 18th in the high jump with a jump of 6’2”. Meanwhile, senior Evan Clark found more consistency in a couple of throws over 160’ in the javelin and a best of 166’6” that placed him 17th.
So seniors Duncan and Clark capped off outstanding careers by proudly representing their school at the state meet. Not to mention the fact that Duncan leaves as the team leader in points along with a school record and Clark leaves as the first javelin thrower to reach states in nearly a decade. Meanwhile, the Patriots learned a valuable lesson about depth once again when they turned to an alternate on the track to secure a medal.
District 1 AAA Championships 05/18-05/19/2018 Coatesville Area High School After two days of intense competition between the best athletes in District One, the Patriots left the Coatesville Area High School with five state qualifications. The 4x800-meter relay of senior Marc Motter, junior David Endres, senior Richie Jethon, and junior Alex Bardwell will be joined by senior Evan Clark and senior Marshall Duncan at Shippensburg next weekend to compete in the AAA State Championship.
As the team’s top point scorer, it was only fitting that Duncan qualify for states in not one, not two, but three events. The first qualification came after Duncan cleared 6’3” in the high jump on what was a cool, cloudy Friday morning; tying a personal best and earning a silver medal on the podium. Later in the day, when his status in the top eight was in question, Duncan launched a triple jump of 45’1” to jump ahead on the leader board to a third-place finish; qualifying for states in his second event. Then, on Saturday, Duncan found enough juice in his legs to snag fifth in the long jump with a leap of 21’10”; completing the individual trifecta.
After finishing in the top twelve in the trials on Friday, the 4x800 meter relay team of Motter, Endres, Jethon, and Bardwell had to battle the elements and the elite competition on Saturday morning to earn a chance to advance to Shippensburg. Once again, the team refused to let the weather damper their dreams. After dealing with a false start from the field and a crowded pack on the first lap, Motter came storming back with a 2:02.2 to bring the team within striking distance. Endres then flew past all his opponents to take the lead in the race after his first lap and never looked back as he split a 1:57.2. Jethon approached his personal best with a strong 2:01.4 to keep the Patriots in second as the anchor legs took the track. As usual, Bardwell relied on his strength on the second lap to hold off three opponents and bring home the bronze for the team with a 1:59.9 and securing a place in states.
In the javelin, senior Evan Clark had to overcome some adversity after his trial throw of 161’ gave him just enough to qualify for finals. Once in finals, Clark refocused and tossed a 166’ throw to take fifth to secure his own spot in states. The Patriots were well represented in the javelin as seniors Chad Guzzi and Matt Brown finished an outstanding senior season by representing their school at the district meet. Senior Jake Zosulis also capped off an incredible season (and career) with an 11.01 in the 100-meter dash that advanced him to the semi-finals. Senior Gavin Zander and sophomore Wyatt Knipe joined Zosulis and Duncan to finish 10th in the district in the 4x100-meter relay. And senior John Brophy, a reliable force in the 800 and 400 over the past two season, finished a tremendous career as the leadoff of the 4x400-meter relay that included Endres, Knipe, and Zosulis and placed 13th with a time of 3:25.95.
Rising Stars Meet 05/14/2018 Council Rock North High School The Patriots sent their best young and upcoming athletes to the Rising Stars Meet at Council Rock North on Monday and rise they did. Powered by 13 first place finishes, the young guns came home with the Rising Stars Championship!
Sophomore Jared Farrior, who has gained a great deal of racing experience this season, got the team going with a gold-medal winning performance of 47.88 in the 300 Intermediate Hurdles. Then, sophomore Gavin Pettigrew, sophomore Kevin Fay, freshman Elijah Carpenter, and sophomore Eduardo Martinez blew away the competition in the 4x800-meter relay and took home the gold; Carpenter had a personal best of 2:18.8 as the third leg. Freshmen Marcos Lopez and Luke Blackwell teamed up to go one-two in the 100-meter dash with times of 11.96 and 11.98 respectively. What may have been the most pleasantly surprising performance of the day was when Lopez tried his first ever 400 and captured the gold with a time of 53.03. Later in the day, it was sophomore Nick Correra who finished off a great season with a gold medal performance in the 200 after running a personal best of 24.52. Sophomore Michael Forcina, a multi-event competitor, snagged fourth with a 25.30. Sophomore Matt Pacholarz made his return to the 110 high hurdles and made sure he wasn't forgotten, taking first with a personal best of 17.60; Farrior finished close behind in second with a time of 17.90.
On the distance side, freshman Carson Wiley embraced the opportunity to run the 3200 and brought home the gold with a time of 11:14.67. Freshman Holden Emery out-kicked two rivals from CB West to win the 1600 with a personal best of 4:51.68. Freshman Jaazil Shamsi also hit a personal best with a 5:48.60. Sophomore Carter Moore showed off his stuff in the 800 with a gold-medal race and personal best of 2:11.73, edging out his opponent from CR South. Freshman Connor Brodish also set a personal best in the 800 with a time of 2:26.25. At the end of the meet, three of the runners from the 4x800 (Pettigrew, Carpenter, and Martinez) were joined by Moore and despite it being their second races of the day, the team captured a silver medal; Martinez ran the fastest split at 55.0! The Patriots continued their dominance in the field. Pacholarz took first in the long jump with a leap of 18'3.5" and Blackwell took first in the triple jump with a leap and bound of 38'10.5". Sophomore Nolan Case, who also finished second in the triple jump, made his return to the high jump and captured gold with a jump of 5'6" while freshman Kyle Dunigan took fourth. Dunigan took first in the pole vault after clearing 8'6" and sophomore Jack Pierce took third after clearing 7'6". Forcina, who also ran the 200, was second in the shot put with a throw of 31'9.5". And, as is the goal with all of our athletes, sophomores Connor Hansberry and Carl Visscher used the last meet of the season to set a new personal best as Hansberry improved by over five feet with a toss of 73' in the discus and Visscher set a personal best of 30'2" in the shot put.
For the Patriots, the stars are rising and some may have already risen. The young athletes took full advantage of their last opportunity of the year and capped off a tremendous season.
S.O.L. Continental League Championships 05/11/2018-05/12/2018 CB South High School The CB East Patriots battled with the best in the Continental Leage this past weekend and earned a second-place team finish; scoring a team total of 186 points.
The excitement started Friday when senior Marshall Duncan broke both the meet and the Central Bucks school record in the long jump by leaping an astounding 22’7.75” to earn second overall. Duncan would go on to earn second in both the high jump (6’2”) and the triple jump (44’4”); both marks met district qualifying standards. Meanwhile, sophomore Ethan Korb earned fourth overall after clearing 5’10” and sophomore Ethan Duncan tied for fifth with a jump of 5’6”. On the track, the 4x800-meter relay team of senior Marc Motter, junior David Endres, senior Richie Jethon, and junior Alex Bardwell set a new team best of 7:56.00 to capture the bronze.
On Saturday, the team got right to work when sophomore Jack McManus had the kick of his life in the 3200m to run a final lap of 65 seconds and set a new personal best of 9:52.43 to place third; junior Cole Sands took sixth with a time of 10:05.08 and freshman Will Marston set a personal best of 10:39.63. In the finals of the 100m dash, senior Jake Zosulis tied for second with a time of 11.37. Later in the team, Zosulis anchored the 4x100m relay team, which included senior Gavin Zander, Marshall Duncan, and sophomore Wyatt Knipe, on its way to second place with a time of 42.97.
Just before the 4x100m relay, junior Alex Bardwell stole the spotlight when he outkicked Pennridge’s Matt Eissler in the 1600m on his way to a personal best and district-qualifying time of 4:27.62; also, good enough for second place. Later in the day, Bardwell would run 2:00.33 in the open 800 by outkicking his competition once again. Junior teammate David Endres was the fastest Patriot in the event with a second-place finish and time of 1:56.43. The final event on the track was the 4x400m relay and the team of senior John Brophy (52.5), Endres (51.1), Knipe (50.6), and Zosulis (50.4) captured silver with a team time of 3:24.88; also, a district qualifying worthy time.
The javelin was overtaken by the Patriots as the senior-laden team took the top half of the scoring positions, going one, two, three, and four to collect an amazing 29 points in one event. Senior Evan Clark took first with a personal best mark of 171’07”, which earned him a place in districts. Although already qualified, senior Matt Brown still took the opportunity to improve his best with a personal best toss of 171’04” and senior Chad Guzzi earned third with a throw of 158’10”. Senior Alex Bassler finished off the impressive team feat with a throw of 156’11” that earned him fourth. In the pole vault, senior Andrew Cipriano, who has been instrumental in the guidance of a rising sophomore class, scored points alongside sophomore Alex Da Cruz by clearing 11’6”. Meanwhile, sophomore Nolan Case, who was battling a bad cold, set a personal best of 12’0” to finish 5th overall.
The team once again showed off its depth and balance by scoring across the board and securing second place in a very competitive Continental Conference.
CB East 94 North Penn 56 05/08/2018 North Penn High School The Patriots finished the regular season with a statement win over North Penn, 94-56.
After junior Jac Mapily (43.16) and senior Sam DiGiovanni (43.25) captured four points in the 300 hurdles and the 4x800-meter relay of senior Marc Motter, senior Declan Earles, senior Richie Jethon, and junior David Endres gave the Patriots the lead, senior Jake Zosulis sent a clear message to his opponents in the 100 that his team was ready to run. In a photo finish that required video replay from the electronic timing system, Zosulis edged out Kasseem Cartwright II by one one-hundredth of a second with a 11.23. Senior Gavin Zander once again came through with a point as well snagging third with an 11.61. The Patriots never looked back.
The team swept the 200 with sophomore Wyatt Knipe (23.11), Zander (23.63), and freshman Marcos Lopez (24.06) bringing home nine points. Later in the day, the team took the 400 after Jethon (53.23), senior John Brophy (53.49), and senior Calvin Shugars (54.43) took the top three spots. In the field, senior Marshall Duncan (6’0”), junior Ethan Duncan (5’10”), and sophomore Ethan Korb (5’10”) got a sweep of their own. In the pole vault, senior Andrew Cipriano set a personal best of 12’0” to take second. In the long jump, Marshall Duncan took first (21’3.25”) and senior Luke McDonnell took second (19’3.5”). Duncan also took first in the triple jump with a leap of 43’4.25”.
The Patriots finished a very difficult regular season schedule with a record of 5-0-1.
Neshaminy Invitational 05/05/2018 Neshaminy High School On Saturday, the Patriots made sure to take full advantage of the last invitational before the League Championship, collecting 14 medals, 11 personal records, and one new district qualifying mark.
As the day got started with the 100-meter dash, freshman Marcos Lopez led the way with an 11.76, followed closely by freshman Luke Blackwell with a personal best of 11.85, and sophomore Nick Correra with a personal best of 11.98. Those three joined senior sprinter Jay Mapily to capture a silver medal in the 4x100-meter relay later in the day with a time of 45.73; executing their hand-offs beautifully. Lopez added a personal best of 23.90 in the 200 too. On the distance side, freshman Carson Wiley broke the 5-minute barrier with a personal best of 4:56.77 that earned him a fifth-place medal in the novice 1600m.
The hurdle duo of sophomore Jared Farrior and junior Jac Mapily seem to thrive in the Saturday spotlight. Farrior earned a bronze medal with a 17.18 in the finals of the 100m high hurdles and Mapily powered his way down the stretch to earn a bronze of his own in the 300m intermediates with a 44.10. The senior sprinters joined the fun when senior Jake Zosulis ran a district-qualifying time of 22.79 and senior Gavin Zander ran a 23.04 in the 200 trials; the two later finished 4th and 5th in the finals. Senior Jacob Han set a personal best of 56.32 in the open 400. The senior-laden 4x400-meter relay of Zosulis (53.2), Zander (54.1), Jay Mapily (56.0), and John Brophy (52.2) picked up a bronze with a 3:35.81; marking the second medal-winning relay for Jay Mapily.
More young guys took advantage of their chance to compete in the 800 when sophomore Eduardo Martinez-Zarate smashed his previous best in the 800 with a 2:05.64 and freshman Holden Emery set a personal best of his own with a 2:07.17. Sophomores Andrew Conte and Dan Heinrichs were impressive in the 1600m; Conte captured a bronze medal with a 4:42.42 and Heinrichs crushed his best with a 4:54.68. Freshman Will Marston also showed great improvement with a personal best of 10:52.69 in the 3200m and junior Jack Brodish set a personal best of 2:18.5 running the third leg of the 4x800.
In the field, sophomore Ethan Korb continued to challenge the district mark of 6’2” in the high jump and finished with a bronze-medal jump of 6’0”. Senior Mitch Guarracino finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 108’4”. The javelin crew captured second and third with senior Chad Guzzi throwing a 159’1” and senior Evan Clark coming within two feet of districts for the second meet in a row with a personal best of 159’0”. In the pole vault, senior Andrew Cipriano took fifth and sophomore Alex Da Cruz took fourth clearing 11’6” and 11’0” respectively.
As has been the case all season, the Patriots delivered in all areas of track and field; capturing medals in the sprints, distance events, throws, and jumps. The boys will need to continue this trend against North Penn on Tuesday.
Wayne Helman Memorial Invitational 05/03/2018 Pennridge High School The Patriots were outstanding once again at the annual Helman Memorial Invitational at Pennridge High School, embracing the chance to run against some of the best competition in the state and, few at least a few athletes, the chance to run under the lights.
The most outstanding relay on the day was the 4x100-meter relay of senior Gavin Zander, senior Marshall Duncan, sophomore Wyatt Knipe, and senior Jake Zosulis that ran a team best of 42.94 to capture the silver medal; outrunning their CB sister schools in the process. Members of the relay also shined individually. Senior Jake Zosulis ran the fastest FAT-recorded 100-meter dash in CB East history with a time of 10.90. Senior Marshall Duncan was the best triple jumper of the entire meet with a leap of 45’5.5” in the finals and was the silver-medal winner in the long jump with a leap of 21’8.5”. On the track, sophomore Wyatt Knipe just edged out senior Gavin Zander in the 200 with a district-qualifying mark of 23.54 that earned him a bronze medal; Zander ran a personal best of 23.40 to finish fourth.
On the distance side, junior Alex Bardwell outkicked Council Rock North’s Ryan Campbell to capture the gold in the 1600m with a personal best of 4:30.26. Seniors Marc Motter and Richie Jethon entered the top ten of a very competitive 800 when Motter ran a 1:59.98 to finish eighth and Jethon ran a personal best of 2:00.29 to finish 10th. Sophomore Andrew Conte ran a personal best in the 4x800-meter relay with a split of 2:09.8 and the collective effort of Conte, sophomore Gavin Pettigrew, junior Matt Miller, and junior Cade Sands was good enough to earn a silver medal. With the lights on, sophomore Jack McManus earned a bronze medal in the 3200 after running a 10:09.92.
The Patriots continued to earn medals in the field events as sophomore Ethan Korb captured a bronze medal in the high jump with a jump of 5’10”; junior Ethan Duncan finished tied for fourth with a jump of 5’8”. Senior Evan Clark continued to inch closer to districts with a silver-medal winning throw of 158’5” and senior Matt Brown took home a bronze medal with a throw of 156’5”. As you look further down the results page, you will find more impressive performances from the Patriots and signs of great improvement. Junior Jon Walter ran a personal best of 54.34 and senior John Brophy ran a 52.96 to finish sixth overall in the 400-meter dash. Junior David Moyer had a personal best throw of 41’11” in the shotput and senior teammate Andrew Lynch set a personal best by over three feet with a toss of 33’2.5”. And the Patriots ended the night with a bang as Guzzi, Brown, Clark, and Bassler won the thrower’s 4x100-meter relay. CB East Throwers Invitational 04/28/2018 CB East High School The CB East throwers got their chance to shine when Coach Stemp and the Patriots hosted the annual CB East Throwers Invitational at Patriot Stadium on Saturday; showcasing two medalists in the discus, three medalists in the javelin, and a gold-medal winning 4x100-meter relay.
Leading the way in the javelin was senior Chad Guzzi who launched a personal best and district-qualifying mark of 163’7" to capture a silver medal and move up to 4th on the all-time list for modern javelin throwers. Returning from injury, senior Matt Brown threw an impressive 158’10" to take the bronze. Senior Evan Clark earned a fourth-place medal with a throw of 148’3". In the discus, senior Mitch Guaraccino earned a silver medal with a throw of 121’1" and junior Ben Zech finished fifth with a throw of 117’5". Then, the fans were blessed with the 4x100-meter “tanker relay” and the Patriot team of Evan Clark, Ben Zech, Matt Brown, and junior David Moyer brought home the gold in 48.0 seconds!
Penn Relays 04/27-04/28/2018 Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania Three relay teams from the CB East Boys track team joined the best runners in the world at the 124th Penn Relays this past weekend and, as usual, made their school proud.
On a cool, rainy Friday morning, the 4x800-meter relay team found a way to run their best time of the year. Senior Marc Motter, who was determined to run this year after an injury sidelined him last year, used his experience to battle his way to the front pack with a split of 2:01.03. Junior Alex Bardwell continued his impressive junior year, setting another personal best with a 1:58.72 as the second leg. Senior Richie Jethon, who represented the team in the relays last year, ran a 2:01.82; over four seconds faster than last year. Junior David Endres, also a second-year representative, ran the fastest split on the team in 1:57.75; which was over two seconds faster than last year. The team broke the 8-minute mark with a 7:59.30.
Later in the day, the rain had subsided, but the clouds remained, and the 4x100-meter relay team took their turn. Senior Gavin Zander had an excellent start before handing off to senior Marshall Duncan who sped along the first stretch. Sophomore Wyatt Knipe then made up ground on the third leg and senior Jack Zosulis pulled away from the competition to win the heat in 44.15. The 4x100 was 22nd out of 126 high school teams.
On Saturday, the 4x400-meter relay team got to enjoy the beautiful weather as well as the always-fun U.S. versus the World events. Senior Jake Zosulis led off the relay with a strong 51.4 that involved navigating a crowded field on the inner track. Senior Richie Jethon tied his outdoor personal best with a second-leg split of 51.9. Junior David Endres set a new personal best of 50.2 while passing a few teams on the third leg. Sophomore Wyatt Knipe then passed a couple more and anchored the team with a 50.9. The team ran its best mark of the year with a 3:24.59; bettering their position in districts. As the team hustled back to the bus on Saturday, they could boast big smiles for another great showing at the greatest show in the track world.
CB East 119 William Tennent 26 04/24/2018 William Tennent High School The Patriots continued their impressive season with a 119-26 victory over William Tennent yesterday.
Building off their strong performances at the West Relays, the hurdlers swept all nine points in the 300-meter Intermediates as senior Sam DiGiovanni (42.6), junior Jac Mapily (43.0), and sophomore Jared Farrior (44.1) finished one, two, three to set the tone. DiGiovanni would lead the way once again in the 110-meter high hurdles with a 16.2 and Farrior would finish second with a personal best of 16.5. Going against some of the best sprinters in the league, senior Jake Zosulis edged out the competition for the victory in the 100-meter dash with a personal best of 10.8. Later in the day, Zosulis would be first in the 200 with a 22.6. Steady senior Gavin Zander would follow Zosulis in the 200 with a 22.7 and managed to earn second in the 400 with a 53.6. Junior David Endres (51.7) and junior Jon Walter (55.1) would finish first and third in the 400 to complete the sweep of the event.
On the distance side, sophomore Jack McManus decided he would set the pace in the mile and powered his way to first with a personal record of 4:38.2; adding to an already deep mile lineup for the Patriots. Not too far behind was senior Owen Zila (4:44) and senior Marc Motter (4:47.3) who completed the sweep. In the 3200, junior Cole Sands ran a strong 10:00.2 to capture second and sophomore Andrew Conte made his season debut in the event with a 10:27.4; good enough to earn third. Senior Richie Jethon won the 800 with a comfortable 2:05.4.
In the field, senior Marshall Duncan continued to lead the way by winning the high jump (6’0”), the long jump (21’7”), and the triple jump (42’4”). The Patriots swept the high jump with sophomore Ethan Korb also clearing 6’0” and sophomore Ethan Duncan clearing 5’6” and the triple jump with freshman Luke Blackwell setting a new personal record of 41’1” to steal second while Korb hit 39’5” to get third. The throwers executed well, sweeping the javelin and the discuss while also taking first in the shot put. The still undefeated javelin throwers were highlighted by senior Chad Guzzi’s 149’7”, senior Evan Clark’s 141’2”, and junior David Moyer’s 122’3”. Guzzi also finished second in the discuss with a personal best of 123’0” and Moyer took the gold in the shot put with a throw of 39’2.5”. Leading the way in the discuss was junior Ben Zech who set a personal best of 123’4”. Senior Mitch Guarracino completed the sweep with a toss of 122’4”. Sophomore Nolan Case (11’6”) and senior Andrew Cipriano (11’0”) finished second and third in the pole vault to add to the team total.
The Patriots did not lose a relay on the day with the 4x800-meter relay team of senior Declan Earles, junior Matt Miller, junior Cade Sands, and junior Sean Lahetta earning five points and the 4x400-meter relay team of Endres, Bardwell, Jethon, and Brophy closing the track events with a victory. As a result of the focused effort, the team heads into Penn Relays and their bye week with a 4-1 record.
Central Bucks West Relays 04/21/2018 CB West High School The annual CB West Relays did not disappoint once again this year. As former CB East Hall of Fame Coach Paul Wilson announced the race results and tried to convince the crowd to buy everything from dollar dogs to t-shirts, the Patriots continued to collect their hardware.
The Patriots saved their best performance for last when they sent their top 4x400m squad to the track. Senior Richie Jethon (52.6), junior David Endres (51.2), sophomore Wyatt Knipe (50.5), and senior Jake Zosulis (50.9) earned the gold medal and ran a district-qualifying time of 3:25.25 in a heat that featured three other teams running under 3:20. Another gold-medal-worthy performance came from Coach Boucher’s favorite race, the 4x1600, which featured all juniors this time around. Alex Bardwell led off with a personal best of 4:33.4, David Endres ran the second leg in 4:38.2, Cole Sands approached his season best with a 4:41.4, and Sean Lahetta held off a charging La Salle runner with a personal best of 4:34.9 to anchor the victory.
For the first time, the CB West Relays featured a boys 4x110m-hurdle relay, which gave the Patriots a chance to show off their depth in the hurdles. As a group, sophomore Jared Farrior, senior Jordan Gellar, junior Jac Mapily, and senior Sam DiGiovanni earned a silver medal with a time of 1:09.27. Later in the day, DiGiovanni and Mapily teamed up for the 300-meter hurdle relay in which each team could enter two athletes and the best combined times would medal. The boys took home a fifth-place medal with Mapily running a 44.36, just a tad bit faster than DiGiovanni’s 44.39.
While the runners circled the track, two field athletes from each team competed to earn the best combined marks. Senior Marshall Duncan and sophomore Ethan Korb both cleared 6’0” to earn a silver place medal in the high jump relays. Duncan also leaped 21’6.75” in the long jump and freshman Luke Blackwell shook off three fouls to launch a 19’8.25”-jump in his final attempt that secured silver medal for the Patriots. Seniors Chad Guzzi and Alex Bassler finished fourth and fifth respectively with throws of 149’5” and 141’10” to earn a third-place medal in the javelin. Guzzi also threw a personal best of 120’7” in the discus, which was accompanied by a personal best of 118’8” for junior Ben Zech and the relay team earned a bronze medal as a result. Finally, Duncan and Korb used leaps of 42’1” and 39’8” to snag a fifth-place medal in the triple jump.
The team’s success continued on the track with the JV events as well. Freshman Kyle Dunigan, sophomore Nick Correra, freshman Luke Blackwell, and freshman Marcos Lopez won the JV event with a time of 46.17. The JV 4x800-meter relay of freshman Carson Wiley (2:17.8), sophomore Sam Herbst (2:22.5), sophomore Carter Moore (2:21.0), and sophomore Gavin Pettigrew (2:11.8) grabbed a fifth-place finish. With such a deep team, the Patriots got to roll out a more experienced JV 4x400 and they did not disappoint as seniors Jay Mapily and Calvin Shugars led sophomore Seth Wilson and freshman Holden Emery to a fourth-place finish.
The Distance Medley Relay of senior Marc Motter (3:22.0), senior John Brophy )52.8), junior Cole Sands (2:09.0), and sophomore Jack McManus (4:41.7) ran well enough to earn a fourth-place medal. A few notable performances also came from senior Jacob Han who ran personal best of 56.4 in the SMR, sophomore Andrew Conte who ran a personal best of 2:10.4 in the 800 of the SMR, and senior Declan Earles who ran a 2:05.2 in the 4x800-meter relay.
CB East 80 CB West 70 04/17/2018 CB East High School The Patriots got revenge on their rival CB West for a loss last season, which was the result of tenths of a second in two relays, by putting together a complete team effort at War Memorial Field this past Tuesday. When the final field events concluded, the Patriots came out on top 80-70.
Top to bottom, the field athletes dominated their rivals. In the horizontal and vertical jumps, it was the combination of performances from senior Marshall Duncan and sophomore Ethan Korb that led the way as the two took first and second in three events: high jump (6’0”, 5’10”), long jump (19’7.5”, 18’6.5”), and triple jump (39’8”, 38’10.5”). For the second week in a row, the pole vault lineup swept all nine points and this time is was sophomore Nolan Case (11’0”), senior Andrew Cirpiano (11’0”), and sophomore Max Da Cruz (9’6”) who got the job done. And once again, the javelin throwers swept their event with junior David Moyer snagging second (140’0”) to join seniors Evan Clark (140’8”) and Alex Bassler (139’5”) in the top three. Meanwhile, the team took second and third in the discus (Guzzi – personal best of 122’5” and Zech – personal best of 116’6”). And the shot put throwers delivered with six new personal best: (Moyer – 40’9”, Bryan Kelly – 40’8.25”, Zech – 36’1”, Bershstein – 33’3”, Zapata – 30’8”, and Lynch – 30’7.25”.
On the track, it was the 4x100-meter relay team of senior Gavin Zander, senior Marshall Duncan, sophomore Wyatt Knipe, and senior Jake Zosulis that made the difference with a winning time of 43.4. The relay not only provided a morale boost in the middle of the meet, but turned out to be the point difference that prevented another possible tie. Immediately after the 4x100, seniors Richie Jethon and John Brophy took second and third in the 400 while senior Marc Motter and junior Alex Bardwell did the same in the 800. Senior Jake Zosulis had the fastest 200 on the day with a time of 23.2 while senior Gavin Zander earned the team another point with a time of 23.5.
The Patriots escaped the most grueling part of their dual meet schedule with a 1-1 record (and let’s not forget the loss came on a tie breaker) and showed true character by edging out the victory; setting themselves up for a shot at a league title down the stretch.
TFCAofGP Spring Invitational 04/14/2018 Coatesville Area High School As temperatures approached the 80s, it was almost as if we skipped spring and headed right to summer when the CB East boys track team arrived at Coatesville Area High School for the TFCAofGP Spring Invitational on Saturday, April 14th. The hot temperatures were accompanied with hot heats on the track; guiding the Patriots to 16 medals and three new district-qualifying marks.
The 4x100-meter relay of senior Gavin Zander, senior Marshall Duncan, sophomore Wyatt Knipe, and senior Jake Zosulis blew away the competition and took home a gold medal with a district qualifying time of 43.66. The team has its eyes set on last year’s record-breaking relay team that medaled at states. Individually, senior Marshall Duncan also qualified for districts in the high jump with a 6’2” leap that earned him a fifth-place medal and bettered his triple jump position in districts with a leap of 43’9.25” while earning a silver medal. Meanwhile, junior David Endres qualified for districts in the 800 with an aggressive race of 1:57.08 that earned him a bronze medal and moved him into the top ten in CB East history for the open 800. Senior Marc Motter, who sits alongside Endres on the all-time list, finished a couple places behind Endres; capturing a fifth-place medal and a season best of 2:00.44.
The 4x800-meter, which was led by junior Cade Sands, who ran a personal record 2:08.5, and followed by sophomore Jack McManus (2:14.3), junior Matt Miller (2:14.0), and junior Sean Lahetta (2:06.2), captured a fourth-place medal. Meanwhile, both the Distance Medley Relay and 4x400-meter relay gained sixth place medals. The highlights of the Distance Medley Relay included a 3:28.9 by sophomore Cole Burmaster in his 1200 debut, and a 54.9 in the 400 for senior Jay Mapily. And junior Jon Walter highlighted the 4x400 with a personal best of 54.3 in the lead-off-leg.
Leading the throwers were seniors Matt Brown and Evan Clark who finished 4th (148’08”) and 5th (148’04”) respectively. Sophomore Nolan Case found a 6th place medal in the pole vault by clearing 11’0” while junior Ben Zech finished in the top ten with a personal best of 35’11.5” in the shot put. Back on the track, seniors Gavin Zander and Sam DiGiovanni each earned a 7th medal in the 100 and 300 Hurdles respectively. Senior Richie Jethon finished 10th in the 400 with a time of 53.02. Freshman Kyle Dunigan set a personal best in the 200 of 25.33 and senior John Brophy won his heat with a time of 24.73. Senior Chad Guzzi finished 7th in the discus with a personal best of 119’08”.
The young guns got to show off as well. In the freshmen Sprint Medley Relay (200-200-400-800), Luke Blackwell and Marcos Lopez tackled the 200s and put the Patriots in first in their heat. Holden Emery then set a personal best of 55.0 in the 400 and Carson Wiley set a personal best of 2:17.1 in the 800 to anchor the team to a fourth-place finish overall. Individually, freshmen Will Marston pulled well away from the back in his heat to set a personal best of 5:02.59.
It is hard to say which was brighter on this day, the sunshine or the shine of the medals around the necks of so many Patriots getting aboard the bus home. Whichever it was, Coach Stemp and Coach Curtis certainly did mind that they needed to keep their shades on all the way back to East.
CB East 75 Pennridge 75 04/10/2018 CB East High School After a long, intense battle on the track and in the field, the Rams of Pennridge and the Patriots of CB East had proven why they were the top teams in the Suburban One Continental entering Tuesday by earning the exact same number of points, 75. Despite the tie in team points, the Patriots fell to the Rams, who held the tie breaker with four more first place finishes on the day.
The Patriots got off to a great start with senior Sam DiGiovanni (42.8) and sophomore Jared Farrior (44.7) taking second and third in the 300 intermediate hurdles while the team consisting of senior Marc Motter, junior Alex Bardwell, senior Richie Jethon, and junior David Endres won the 4x800-meter relay. Then, the teams went punch for punch in the next two races and were tied at 16 after four events; highlights included a second place finish for senior Jake Zosulis (11.2) in the 100 and a second and third place finish for juniors Sean Lahetta (4:40) and Cade Sands (4:42) in the mile.
The Rams displayed their strength in the sprints by winning the 4x100-meter relay and taking first place finishes in the 400 and 110 High Hurdles. All three 400 runners finished with sub 52 times and sophomore Wyatt Knipe, who is still working back from an injury, captured third with a very impressive 51.8. DiGiovanni also had a great time of 16.3 to capture second in the 110 hurdles with Farrior not too far behind at 17.3. The 800-meter race provided some extra flare as top dogs David Endres and Matt Eissler fought neck and neck until Endres pulled away in the final 100 meters with a personal best of 1:57.4 to win. The third place finish was even closer with Alex Bardwell diving for the line just ahead of Luke Eisler to capture a point for the Patriots. Sophomore Jack McManus amazed the fans with his kick in the final lap of the 3200, stealing first place from his opponents with a personal best of 9:59; senior Owen Zila left everything on the track in his final dual meet race at Patriot Stadium and took second with a 10:01. Then, the Patriots took their shot at the best 4x400-meter relay in the state. An outstanding effort by Knipe, Endres, Jethon, and Zosulis, who is also still working back from a six-week injury that ended his winter season, fell just short in the end and the Rams captured the relay.
As the track events concluded, the athletes turned to the field, which would now determine the outcome of the meet. From this point forward, MD will not only stand for Marshall Duncan, but it will also stand for monster day because that is what the senior had in the field. Duncan captured first in the high jump (6'3" - district qualifying mark), second in the triple jump (44'1.25"- district qualifying mark), and first in the long jump (21'7"); tallying 15 points for the team. Freshmen Luke Blackwell also posted a monster jump and personal best of over 40" in the triple jump. The mark would have been third had Pennridge's final jumper hadn't made a miraculous jump on his final attempt. The team swept the pole vault as well with sophomore Nolan Case clearing 11'6", senior Andrew Cipriano clearing 11'0", and sophomore Max Da Cruz clearing 10'0". The Patriots took second and third in the discuss with senior Chad Guzzi throwing a personal best of 115'2" and junior Ben Zech throwing 113'4" and second in the shot put with sophomore Bryan Kelly throwing 38'8". The senior javelin boys continued their streak of sweeps, refusing to concede a point as Alex Bassler threw 151'3", Evan Clark set a personal best of 151'0" (and reached the best of CB East Outdoor Field event list), and Chad Guzzi threw 148'2".
The Patriots spilled their guts, some of them literally, and went stride for stride with one of the best teams in the district. Furthermore, the team showed improvement with a new team high of 51 personal bests on the day. The Patriots will look to carry this momentum into the weekend and their next dual meet against West.
Council Rock Kiwanis Invitational Council Rock High School 04/07/2018 For the first time since 2004, the CB East Patriots are the Council Rock Kiwanis Invitational Champions. Taking the day one event at a time, each athlete remained focused on accomplishing their personal goals and, as a result, the points kept piling up. By the conclusion of the day, the team hoisted the trophy and had collected plenty of hardware to take home along the way.
The most notable relay performances came from seniors Marc Motter and Richie Jethon and juniors Alex Bardwell and David Endres who competed as a relay team for the 4x800 and 4x400; collecting 28 points for the team collectively. Knowing a chance to run at Franklin Field for the Penn Relays was on the line, the team clocked a season best 8:01.44 (nearly 7 seconds under the recommended Penn Relays standard) with Motter leading off by running a 2:01.9, Bardwell setting a personal best of 2:00.0, Jethon setting a personal best of 2:01.4, and Endres closing it with a 1:58.1 to take home the gold and qualify for districts in the process. At the end of the day, the team collected a bronze medal in the competitive 4x400-meter relay with a 3:33.77.
The Distance Medley Relay captured a silver medal with a time of 11:22.08 and displayed a great deal of heart in the process. Junior Cole Sands got stronger with each lap in a 3:27.3 1200, senior Jay Mapily ran a personal record of 55.8 in the 400, junior Matt Miller ran a 2:14.0 in the 800, and sophomore Jack McManus outkicked his opponent in the mile with a 4:45.0. Meanwhile, in a very competitive Sprint Medley Relay, the team of senior Gavin Zander (100), freshman Marcos Lopez (100), senior Jake Zosulis (200), and senior John Brophy captured a fifth-place medal with a time of 1:40.89.
Senior captain Owen Zila led by example in the first race of the day, the 5000, by earning a bronze medal with a time of 16:49.42 (despite having his shoe come untied in the first two laps); sophomore Will Marston ran 17:44.59 in his debut in the event to finish 8th. Zosulis, a fellow captain, qualified for the finals with a time of 11.36 in the 100 and captured a fourth-place medal. In the 1500, juniors Sean Lahetta and Cade Sands used an outstanding kick to capture 3rd and 4th; Lahetta running a personal best of 4:19.86 and Sands running a 4:20.80. And in the 400-meter hurdles, seniors Sam DiGiovanni led the way for junior Jac Mapily as the each collected a 3rd and 4th place medal in back to back heats. Both senior John Brophy (6th with a 54.50) and sophomore Seth Wilson (personal record of 55.20) scored finished in the top ten in the 400.
The senior field event athletes delivered from the start as well. Senior Marshall Duncan qualified for districts in the triple jump while getting third with a jump of 42’08”; he also placed third in the long jump with a leap of 20’10.75”. Senior Chad Guzzi took first in the javelin with a throw of 147’9” and finished fourth in the discuss with a throw of 105’8”. Senior Alex Bassler captured a bronze medal with a toss of 141’6” in the javelin. Senior Mitch Guarracino snagged his own bronze medal with a throw of 106’3”.
Other notable performances came from freshman Holden Emery who captured third in the freshmen 1500 with a time of 4:36.51 and freshman Carson Wiley finished sixth with a time of 4:44.89. Sophomore Alex Da Cruz points with a fourth-place finish in the pole vault (11’6”) and senior Andrew Cipriano (11’0”) scored points with a fifth place finish.
The team showed its depth and an ability to overcome adversity by ignoring the weather on the way to their team title. The team will face the second-place finisher Pennridge on Tuesday in what should be an exciting meet.
CB East 130 Souderton 20 04/03/2018 Souderton Area High School The Patriots did not let the rain and cooler temperatures damper their spirits in a 130-20 win over Souderton on Tuesday, April 3rd to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The 300 hurdlers set the tone with a clean sweep as senior Sam DiGiovanni led the way with a 43.6, junior Jac Mapily took silver with a 45.1, and sophomore Jared Farrior overpowered his opponent in the last ten minutes to finish third with a 46.8. Next up, the 4x800-meter relay of senior Marc Motter, junior Sean Lahetta, sophomore Cole Burmaster, and senior Richie Jethon took first. Then, seniors Marshall Duncan (11.5) and Gavin Zander (11.8) led freshman Marcos Lopez (personal record of 11.9) in the 100-meter dash as the Patriots captured another sweep. By the time the 1600 and 400 was over, the team had captured 14 of the next 18 points. Junior David Endres (4:39.2) took first and junior Cole Sands (personal record of 4:40.0) took second in the 1600 while sophomore Wyatt Knipe (53.8) took first in his return to the 400 and Seth Wilson captured third (personal record of 55.3).
The Patriots fielded two teams in the 4x100-meter and went one-two. The veteran team of Zander, Marshall Duncan, and Zosulis added Jac Mapily to run 46.3 while freshmen Kyle Dunigan, Marcos Lopez, Symir Roberts, and Luke Blackwell ran their first 4x100-meter relay in a strong 48.8. As the day went on, the team found sweeps in the 800 (Motter – 2:03, Lahetta – 2:07, Burmaster – 2:11), the 200 (Zander – 23.6, Lopez – personal record of 24.0, sophomore Bryan Kelly – personal record of 24.3), and the 3200 (junior Alex Bardwell – personal record of 10:34, junior Cade Sands – 10:34, sophomore Jack McManus – 10:58).
The field athletes held up their end of the bargain as well. Building off their success from the weekend, sophomore Ethan Korb (5’10”) and junior Ethan Duncan (5’6”) took first and second while Dunigan (5’4”) took third to finish the sweep. The boys swept the horizontal jumps as well. In the long jump, it was Marshall Duncan (20’0.5”), Blackwell (19’01”), and sophomore Matt Pacholarz (19’0.5”). In the triple jump, it was Marshall Duncan (40’00”), Korb (39’09”), and Blackwell (37’11”). Senior Mitch Guarracino (111’04”) and junior Ben Zech (107’10”) went one-two in the discus and sophomore Nolan Case (11’00”) and sophomore Alex Da Cruz (11’00”) went one-two in the pole vault. The top senior javelin throwers finished the meet in the same fashion as week one; senior Alex Bassler (personal best of 154'3"), senior Chad Guzzi (136’08”), and senior Matt Brown (135’10”) took all nine points and kept the team undefeated.
Jim Kelly Invitational 03/31/2018 Hatboro Horsham High School The weather for Saturdays in March are a lot like a box of chocolates because you never know what you are going to get, but the Patriots got lucky this past Saturday, March 31st as they traveled to Hatboro Horsham High School to compete in the annual Jim Kelly Invitational. The boys took full advantage of the sunny day and left with some hardware, a few personal bests, and one district qualifying performance.
Even a last-minute change in the order of events, which brought the javelin competition to the morning time slot, could not stop the senior javelin throwers from building upon their success on Tuesday. Senior Matt Brown led the way with a personal best of 163’4”; launching his way into districts and snagging a bronze medal. Senior Chad Guzzi also set a personal best of 155’7” to capture a 5th place medal while senior Alex Bassler set a personal best of 151’3”. Before April had even begun, the Patriots could boast they have three throwers with the capability of launching the javelin over 150 feet.
On the track, it was the Distance Medley Relay that set the tone by earning a 4th place medal. Sophomore Jack McManus led off with a personal best of 3:24.1 in the 1200. Sophomore Cole Burmaster followed with a personal best of 56.5. Senior Richie Jethon ran a 2:04.5 in the 800 for the third leg. And freshman Holden Emery went flying out of the gates in the mile and held on with a split of 5:03.0 that secured the medal for his teammates. Additionally, a few more individuals had medal-worthy performances. Junior Jac Mapily earned a 4th place medal with a time of 61.86 in the grueling 400-meter Hurdles and returned with a personal best of 55.3 in the 4x400. Senior Andrew Cipriano snagged a 4th place medal with a vault of 10’6”. Senior Marshall Duncan captured a 4th place medal with a leap of 20’1” in the long jump. Sophomore Ethan Korb captured a 5th place medal by jumping 6’0” in the high jump. Just behind him was junior Ethan Duncan with a personal best of 5’10”.
A few individuals took major strides for themselves towards meeting their season goals as well. Sophomore Jared Farrior ran a 67.07 in his 400-meter Hurdle debut and won his heat of the 110-meter High Hurdles with a time of 17.46. Sophomore Matt Pacholarz also ran well in the 110s, winning his heat with a time of 17.60. Sophomore Gavin Pettigrew broke the 2:10-barrier in the 800 with a personal best of 2:09.8 to led off the 4x800. Senior Jay Mapily and sophomore Seth Wilson went 1-2 in their heat of the 200 with times of 25.24 and 25.56 respectively. Then, each returned in the 4x400 where Wilson split a personal best of 55.4 and Jay Mapily ran a 56.0. In the mile, sophomore Will Marston set a personal best of 5:04.43. Freshman Carson Wiley made his debut in the 3000 with a 10:23 and junior teammate Parker Madey clocked an 11:15 himself. Freshmen Luke Blackwell competed in three events and ran a 12.15 in the 100-meter dash while jumping 37’3.5” in the triple jump.
CB East 93 CB South 57 03/27/2018 Central Bucks East High School The Patriots kicked off the 2018 spring season with an impressive 93-57 win over sister school Central Bucks South at Patriot Stadium on Tuesday, March 27th.
The victory was led by juniors Alex Bardwell and Sean Lahetta as well as senior Richie Jethon. The trio were responsible for over 20 points in the meet. In the 4x800, Bardwell clocked a personal best of 2:03.7 as the second leg while senior Marc Motter (2:03.0), sophomore Cole Burmaster (2:08.6), and junior David Endres (2:10.9) ran well to complete the relay victory. A couple events later, Lahetta, who led the pack from the gun, ran a personal best of 4:37.0 in the mile with junior Cade Sands getting third with a personal record of 4:42.4. In the open 400, Jethon lead the way by setting a personal best of 51.9 to capture first wile senior John Brophy snagged third with a 52.9. Bardwell and Lahetta decided one personal best wasn’t enough as Bardwell won the 800 by breaking his PR from earlier in the day with a 2:01.0 and Lahetta captured third with a personal best of 2:02.0. Motter completed the team’s sweep of the event with a 2:01.0 for second place. At the end of the day, with the meet still in question, Jethon and Bardwell contributed to a ten-point swing in a competitive 4x400. After Brophy led off with a 54.6, Bardwell clocked his third personal best of the day with a 54.3. Then, junior breakout star Jon Walter captured a personal best of 54.9; running stride for stride with his competitor. Jethon pulled away on the anchor leg with a 52.2, sealing the victory for East.
While the track highlighted some impressive runners, the victory would not have been possible without the performances of those in the field. The Patriots swept the javelin, discus, and high jump. In the javelin, senior Alex Bassler took first with a personal best of 148’6”. Seniors Chad Guzzi and Matt Brown weren’t too far behind with throws of 146’9” and 146’0” respectively. In the discus, senior Mitch Guarracino took first with a personal best of 113’3” while Guzzi took second with a personal best of 111’3” and junior Ben Zech took third while breaking the century mark with a throw of 104’5”. In the high jump, sophomore Ethan Korb took first with a jump of 5’10”, senior Marshall Duncan took second with a jump of 5’8”, and sophomore Matt Pacholarz took third with a jump of 5’6”. By also taking first in the long jump (21’00”) and triple jump (40’11”), Marshall Duncan collected 13 points on the day.
Other notable performances include vaults of 11’6” and 11’0” by sophomores Nolan Case and Alex Da Cruz respectively and a sweep of the 3200 by junior Cole Sands (10:15), senior Declan Earles (10:27), and senior Owen Zila (10:30). The team collected 46 personal bests and showed improvements in all areas. The Patriots will face Souderton next Tuesday.