Dan Ernst led the charge mid-way through the meet finishing 2nd place in the 200 meter dash with a school record and US#27 time of 22.22. Ernst then came back to lead off the 4x200 meter relay. Ernst blew away the field in the opening leg, running a blazing 21.7 split handing off the baton to Ben Smith. Smith matched every move from all other contending teams to maintain the lead with a 24.0 split and handed off the baton to Greg Branch. Branch had a big PR performance running 22.9, keeping the lead and handing off to Rashaad Williams. Despite being in the emergancy room with a dislocated sholder just 2 hours prior, Williams ran a lifetime best split of 21.8 to win the heat for West. Their overall time of 1:30.97 was good for a 4th place state medal and shattered the school record by three seconds.
The Central Bucks West boys 4x800 meter relay headed into the State Championship ranked second by 16 seconds to an impressive Abington relay that broke the Pennsylvania state record in the 4x800 with a time of 7:45.9 this season. Despite being a 16 second underdog, the relay team of Mike May, Matt McGarvey, Matt Bee, and Connor Manley had their eyes set on a State Championship.
Mike May led off for West and took the lead with just under 150 meters to go in the first leg. May handed off the baton in first with a split of 1:56.7. Matt McGarvey maintained the lead splitting 1:57.1 and held back the favorite Abington relay. Matt Bee got the baton and gapped the rest of the field, extending the lead, running a 1:56.3 split. Connor Manley ran an impressive 1:54.7 split, holding off the US #2 runner in the 800 meters from Abington to take the state title. Manley crossed the finish line in first place by three full seconds and the clock showed 7:45.06. Not only was the winning time a state championship meet record, it is also the Pennsylvania All-Time record. The time of 7:45.06 is also the fastest time ran in the United States this year as well as the 7th fastest American high school team all-time in the history of the sport.
The same four athletes (May, McGarvey, Bee, and Manley) came back in the 4x400 meter relay - about one hour after their record breaking performance. The relay took 4th place in the event running 3:21.87, and shattering the previous school record by 6 full seconds. Their fourth place finish moved Central Bucks West into third place in the team overall standings. The third place trophy winning performance is the best in Central Bucks West history, topping last year's 12th place performance.