The all-senior 4x400 meter relay of Greg Branch (53.3), Shawn Young (53.3), Ethan Long (54.6), and Austin Kline (51.99) scared the state-qualifying standard of 3:33.23 with their 3:33.81, earning them 6th place out of 34 schools. What made the performance special was the context: each athlete had already completed two other events. Kline and Young had each ran an 800 and a 200 already, while Branch had already run a pair of 200s and Long had already ran a pair of 400s! Their time places them among the top ten teams in Pennsylvania so far this season.
The 4x200 meter relay of Greg Branch (23.4), Josh Bazzano (23.6), Shawn Young (24.5), and Austin Kline (23.7) also showed tremendous gains on Friday, surpassing their season best of 1:39.36 by over three full seconds with a 1:36.18. Their time placed them 11th out of 37 schools. The CB West 4x2 relay is now just one second away from the state-qualifying standard of 1:35.17 with seven weeks left to qualify.
Other good things that happened included: a nice double by freshman Rock Fortna to leadoff the 6th place DMR with a 3:26 1200 leg and coming back to leadoff the 4x800 in 2:13, a PR by sophomore Adam Anastasiadis in the shotput of 39' 0.75", a 7th place finish out of 39 competitors in the 800 by Austin Kline, a 24.8 second 200 meter season debut by sophomore Andrew Baker, a Meet of Champions qualifying performance of 53.96 by Ethan Long in the 400 meter dash, and a 10th place finish out of 42 competitors by AJ Morgan in the mile run.
The Bucks return to action on Thursday, January 3rd at the Glen Mills Relays.