Council Rock Kiwanis Invitational - Meet Recap
A number of strong District 1 boys' squads took to the track at Council Rock North on Saturday, racing a few off-format races in what was an exciting, albeit windy day in Newtown.
The day started off with fireworks. Council Rock North's Ryan Campbell came into first event of the day, the 5000 meters, with one goal in mind: break his brother's meet record. In the rarely contested track 5K, Chris Campbell ran 15:22 back in 2011 to set the meet record. But the younger Campbell, despite some heavy winds, took the race out hard from the gun and won easily, running a time of 15:10 to shatter his older brother's record.
We spoke with Ryan Campbell after the race:
Council Rock South won the DMR in 11:09.90, while Pennridge won the 800 meter SMR in 1:34.83. Pennridge also looked impressive in the 4x400 meter relay to close out the meet, winning in 3:24.98.
Abington won the 4x800, an event they won last week as well. The Ghosts clocked a time of 8:07.90 for the win. In the 4x100 meter relay, Central Bucks West took the win in 43.41 over Downingtown West, which ran 43.73.
Pennridge's Alex Dimon blew away the field in the 110 meter hurdles, winning in a time of 14.77 to put him at PA#3. Hatboro-Horsham's Matthew Lenahan was victorious in the 400 meter hurdles, holding off a hard-charging Samuel Huslin of Holy Ghost. Lenahan's winning time was 57.08.
Harry S. Truman's Sayyid Saunders had a strong first season of track last year as a freshman. But on Saturday, he proved that his junior season will be even better. Saunders, first, won the long jump with a leap of 21-10, a PR. Then he won the 200 meters, blasting a very fast time of 21.82, making him the first and only under 22 seconds after two weeks of the outdoor season.
We spoke with Saunders afterwards:
In the sprints, Council Rock North's Michael Welde showed he's ready for a big outdoor season after a big indoor campaign. Welde won the 100 meters and then came back to win the 400 meters. In the 100, Welde ran 10.93 to beat out Downingtown East's Jeremy Jennings, who ran 10.95. In the 400 meters, Welde dominated the field to win in 49.80.
We talked with Welde after his big day:
Central Bucks West's Jake Claricurzio held off a strong 800 meter field that saw five guys dip under two minutes. Claricurzio's time was 1:57.62. CB East's Ata Shahideh was second in 1:57.93. Council Rock North's Sam Earley won the 3000 meters in 9:01.47.
Quakertown's Hudson Delisle picked up where he left off after a successful indoor season. Delisle, who took third in the 800 meters at indoor states, won the 1500 meters on Saturday in a strong time of 4:05.08. Delisle showed a strong kick that the rest of the strong field couldn't compete with.
Watch an interview with Delisle afterwards:
Pennridge's Matt Ludlow put down a big jump in the triple on Saturday. Ludlow jumped a PA#3 45-10.5 and a new PR to win the competition at North by over two and a half feet.
Hatboro-Horsham's Nick Marino, the indoor state champion, went big in his first meet of the outdoor season. In unideal conditions, Marino went 15-6 to win the pole vault on Saturday. Marino won the indoor state meet with a PR of 16 feet and he'll be chasing that and possibly a state record this spring.
Watch his interview after the meet below:
In the throws, Pennridge's Griffin McMann threw 50-4.5 to take the win, while Bensalem's Yobani Moreno won the discus with a best throw of 148 feet. Current PA#4 in the javelin, Hunter Barnett of Neshaminy won the event for a second straight week. Barnett threw 174-6, just off his PR from the week before.