Rock Fortna anchored with a gem at the PTFCA Indoor Track and Field State Championships on Saturday, cracking two minutes for the first time (1:59.3). Also competing were Matt Bowen (2:05), Ben Aunins (2:07), and Joe Brill (2:09). The Bucks finished 21st in Pennsylvania in the event.
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The men of West are quite literally dashing through the snow. Seemingly uninhibited by the difficult training conditions, West athletes are one of a handful of teams in the Philly metro area that have qualified all four relays to the Meet of Champions. The last piece of the puzzle was the distance medley relay, which was slam dunked on Saturday by a beautiful piece of running by junior 1200 meter man Matt Bowen. His mighty 3:15.9 PR placed the Bucks among the "haves" in the hot heat. From there, juniors Joe Brill (54) and Andrew Baker (2:07) passed the stick to super sophomore Rock Fortna who ran a 4:35 1600 meter PR of his own and passed competitors to put West in 6th place. Their 10:54.26 puts them 14th in the state and was just five seconds shy of the automatic qualifying standard of 10:49.23. In the beginning, there was the freshmen-sophomore 4x4, and it was good. Freshmen Mark McClenahan (65) and Lance Hofer (61, PR) teamed up with Logan Mazullo (63) and Drew Schoen (62) to post a 4:13.44. Senior Big Dan Nowakowski then continued his medal-streak in the 60 hurdles, earning 4th in a near PR of 9.04 seconds. Junior Jacob Cawley had an outstanding race in the open 200 meters, running a personal best of 26.28 seconds, FAT (the good kind... fully automatically timed!). Sophomore Ryan Walsh also posted an indoor PR of 55.88 in the 400 meter dash. Classmate and BFF Ryan McIlhinney then threw down a 2:09.65 800 meter PR that was good enough to finish in the top half of the varsity field and to throw his hat into the 4x8 contender ring. Junior Ian Davies placed 5th in a field of 29 milers to grab a medal for himself and earn his varsity letter for the season. His 4:47.92 was an all-time personal best. Sophomore distance standout Brian Iatarola is arriving at good form, evidenced by his 8th place and PR of 9:33.54 in the 3000 meter run. The 4x800 meter relay followed with some gutsy performances of their own. Senior Ben Aunins led from the front by putting his stamp on the race with a breakout three second personal best in his 2:07 leadoff. Like Bowen's bravery, Aunin's aspiration set the tone for their teammates. Junior Beckett Wilson paced a solid 2:11, followed by big PRs from sophomores Declan McDonald (2:08.1) and Carter Zerweck (2:08.8). The Bucks took home bronze medals to show for their efforts and met the Meet of Champions qualifying standard with their amazing 8:36.24. The 4x200 meter relay also ran inspired, with juniors Gillis Wang, Ryan Devlin, and Evan Henrick, joining with freshman John Smith, and combining for a 13th place 1:40.74, less than a second away from the Bucks' season-best. Wang posted the fastest split with a 25.0 leadoff, followed by inseparable 25.1 and 25.2 PRs by all. Junior Josh Bazzano is still looking for his game-ball after ANOTHER outstanding season debut. This week, Bazzano took to the friendly skies on a pole for the first time in eight months and cleared an indoor PR of 11-6, earning a silver medal and a spot in the event at the Meet of Champions. Bazzano even put a good look at 12 feet before paraphrasing from Allen Iverson's unforgettable "...we talkin' 'bout practice!?!". The competition ended on a high note with freshman Teagan Fortna posting a sweet PR of 57.4 in the 4x400 meter relay. The Bucks return to action against the best in the eastern half of Pennsylvania at the PTFCA Carnival at 9:00 on Saturday at Lehigh. Check out accepted entries (alpha order) and order of events. Always ready for a dogfight, Air Force bound senior Big Dan Nowakoswki flew past his competitors in the 60m high hurdles at 7:00 am to earn a silver medal at Glen Mills. Fittingly a little bit shadier and considering a career in classified missions, junior Josh Bazzano unveiled his track skills in a dynamic 2014 season debut after returning from an "old football injury". Bazzano also answered the bell well, earning a 5th place medal in the 55m dash. Also earning their first medals of the season were the all-sophomore distance medley relay of Declan McDonald (3:37 1200m), Mitchell Smith (59.2 400m), Carter Zerweck (2:15.1 800m), and Brian Iatarola (4:54.4 1600m, PR). Iatarola took the squad from 8th to 5th in a heroic effort to clinch the last medals awarded for his classmates. Barely on the outside looking in of the medal-chase were the 4x800 and 4x200 meter relays. In the 4x800, junior Joe Brill debuted with a strong 2:11.9 leadoff in his first 800m of the season. Brill passed the stick to classmate Beckett Wilson (2:13.1), then onto senior Ben Aunins (2:12.8). Junior Matt Bowen (2:10.4) anchored the squad to a 6th place performance. The 4x200m relay passed the baton from young bucks to old bucks this week. Fast-reacting freshman Christian Bobowicz led off the 4x200 relay (at 7:40 am at Glen Mills!) in a dazzling 24.1 seconds. Sophomore Ryan Walsh ran solidly on the second leg, passing to junior Gillis Wang in 24.8 seconds. Wang managed also impressive 24.9 second effort, passing the stick to senior Jamie Valdez (25.7) who also ran well in just the second race of his season so far. Freshman Teagan Fortna (59.1), sophomore Brody Johnson (59.9), junior Ryan Devlin (57.6), and sophomore Ryan McIlhinney (56.7) held their own as well on the mile relay, placing 13th in 3:54.46. West returns to action (now spiked and psyched all remaining meets in the season!) at Lehigh University at 12:30 pm on Saturday. West competed at Lawrenceville Prep's prestigious Poreda Invitational on Wednesday with many fine performances. By the numbers:
9th - 11:02.21 - the DMR of juniors Matt Bowen (3:22.0), Joe Brill (54.4), Andrew Baker (2:05.4), and sophomore Rock Fortna (4:39.6). 11th - junior shotputter Adam Anastasiadis with his 42-3.75 heave 11th - 3:53.34 - the SMR of freshman Christian Bobowicz (24.3), sophomore Ryan Walsh (24.1), Baker (53.6), and senior Ben Aunins (2:10.9). Other PRs: sophomore Mitchell Smith 24.7 200m junior Gillis Wang 24.5 200m sophomore Brody Johnson 25.6 200m freshman Drew Schoen 26.6 200m Brill 24.5 200m junior Beckett Wilson 2:10.1 800m freshman Ben Smullen 2:20 800m freshman Brian Mass 2:17 800m sophomore Brian Iatarola 2:15 800m sophomore Declan McDonald 2:12.3 800m junior Ian Davies 2:17 800m sophomore Carter Zerweck (indoor best) 2:12.8 800m Freshman Christian Bobowicz, juniors Andrew Baker and Joe Brill, and sophomore Rock Fortna put an exclamation point on a banner day for CB West track and field on Saturday as they paced to a season best mile relay performance of 3:41.11 on the tight turns of Glen Mills. By winning the event, the foursome claimed the third relay berth so far for West at the prestigious Meet of Champions in February. Junior Adam Anastasiadis also impressed, nearing his indoor best of 43-11 with a 42-2.5 effort that was good enough for a third place medal - his first of the 2014 season. Sophomore distance counterpart Brian Iatarola also earned his first individual medal in the 3000 meter run. Iatarola placed 5th in a PR of 9:49.16. Near-medaling performances were turned in by the 4x200 meter relay of senior Jamie Valdez, freshman John Smith, and juniors Gillis Wang and Evan Henrich. The sprinter-squad ran 1:45.14 en route to a 6th place finish. Placing 7th and 8th overall in their respective events (at 7 AM!) were seniors Big Dan Nowakowski (25.01 in his 200m season debut, noteworthy for a big man on a small track) and Ben Aunins (2:11.85 800m in an aggressive effort to earn a PR). The Bucks return to action on Wednesday night at Lawrenceville Prep for a night of NASCAR without cars. Central Bucks West had several modest and not-so modest (see right!) breakout performances at the Track and Field Coaches Association of Greater Philadelphia Meet #5, held at Haverford College on Saturday. Freshman newbie Jacob Scupp got things kickstarted for West with a 35-1 heave in the shotput. His effort placed him 13th and surpassed over half of the field. On the track, Big Dan followed suit with not one, but two outstanding performances in the 60m high hurdles. His 8.99 trial surpassed the Meet of Champions qualifying standard and earned him a spot in the final, where he claimed 7th overall with a 9.11. Both times are lifetime bests for the senior captain. Next, the freshman-sophomore DMR of Joey Recupero, Big Joe Altadonna, Mark McClenahan, and Logan Mazullo placed 8th overall. A little later in the action, freshman Teagan Fortna looked like an old pro during his solo win in his heat of the 800m run in a remarkable debut of 2:13.21. Teammates took note of Teagan's mastery of relaxed-sprinting that is essential to high-end middle-distance performance. Like Teagan, sophomores Brian Iatarola and Declan McDonald also placed in the top half of their respective distance events. Iatarola cracked 5 minutes in the full mile with a 4:59.75 while McDonald ran a personal best of 9:52.88 in the 3000m run. McDonald placed 8th out of 25 competitors. Next, West earned their first relay win of the season in the 4x800m run. Juniors Andrew Baker (2:05.3, PR), Matt Bowen (2:04.4, PR), Beckett Wilson (2:11.3), teamed up with sophomore Rock Fortna (2:00.9, PR) to pull over 20 seconds ahead of the field along with rival Abington, who finished just 3.4 seconds behind the Bucks. Their performance clinched another spot in the Meet of Champions for the Bucks and was just 0.7 seconds shy of the state championship standard of 8:22.06. Sophomores Ian Davies (1200), Ryan McIlhinney (400), Carter Zerweck (800), and Ben Aunins (4:52 1600) also placed in the top half of their field with a 9th place performance of 11:44.22. The 4x200m relay had personal bests all-around from sophomore Brody Johnson (26.3), freshman Joe Manetta (26.6), junior Evan Henrich (25.3), and freshman Drew Schoen (27.3). The 4x400 capped off the day finishing 12th out of 28 schools with a 3:51.34 turned in by freshmen Christian Bobowicz (56) and John Smith (60), junior Ryan Devlin (57), and sophomore Ryan Walsh (57). West returns to action early on Saturday at Glen Mills. 2011 Central Bucks West graduates Matt Bee, Matt McGarvey, Connor Manley, and Mike May ran the fastest high school 4x800 in the United States in 2011 during their senior year. In the process they also ran a state record time en route to their state championship performance in the event, helping their team to a third place finish at states that year. The same foursome are the current school record holders in t he sprint medley relay (200, 200, 400, 800). The fabled foursome were put on notice Saturday when freshman Christian Bobowicz (23.8), sophomore Ryan Walsh (24.4), junior Andrew Baker (53.3), and sophomore Rock Fortna (2:02) posted a 3:43.72, just half a second shy of the record. The effort placed the Bucks 2nd earning them silver medals among a field of 35 teams from across the tri-state area. As Central Bucks West competed across state lines at both Lehigh University and Lawrenceville Prep, many solid performances were posted. At Lawrenceville, the distance medley relay (Aunins 3:32, Brill 54.0, Bowen 2:06.0, and Davies 4:53) posted another season best time of 11:28.06. The 4x400 meter relay team had indoor personal bests from sophomore Ryan McIlhinney (56) on the anchor leg and junior Jacob Cawley (58) on the second leg. Classmate Gillis Wang put up a solid 4x200 leadoff while freshman John Smith ran a best of 25.0. They teamed with Cawley and freshman Joe Manetta to clock a solid 1:43.59. Junior Beckett Wilson and sophomore Declan McDonald also impressed on the 4x800 relay, splitting 2:10 and 2:16, respectively. Senior Big Dan Nowakowski also had a strong anchor on the 55 shuttle hurdle relay. At Lehigh, sophomore Brody Johnson showed off his distance skills in the 1200m DMR leadoff leg with a 3:57, followed by a PR of 56.6 400m from sophomore Mitchell Smith. Freshman Big Joe Altadonna pr'ed with a 2:28 800m, and sophomore Brian Iatarola rolled a 5:03 1600m to close it out. The Bucks return to action on Saturday at Haverford at noon. Sophomore Rock Fortna ran away from the field and stayed away to earn a his first individual win in an indoor track meet. His time of 4:42.55 is strong considering the proximity to the beginning of the season coupled with soloing the lion's share of the pacework. Junior Joe Brill was aggressive in the open 400 meter run and it paid off. His wire to wire time of 55.64 was an indoor PR and was just one place shy (7th) of a medal. Senior Ben Aunins had a PR in the 3200, taking it out in 5:15 and placing 8th overall in a time of 10:50. Junior Adam Anastasiadis debuted in the shotput and worked to overcome a bum ankle to place 7th in 41'4.5". In the freshman/sophomore 4x800 meter relay, sophomore Brody Johnson (2:27) teamed up with freshmen Alec Hofer (2:16.3), Ben Smullen (2:22), and Brian Mass 2:18 to place 3rd out of 19 teams and earn ribbons. Senior Big Dan Nowakowski placed 6th in the 60 hurdles, qualifying for the final and missing a medal by just .02 seconds with his season best of 9.46 seconds. In the 800 meter run, sophomore Rock Fortna dashed from behind down the home straightaway to steal 2nd place by a few hundredths of a second in the hot heat. His time of 2:02.62 is an open 800 PR and is just two seconds away from the state qualifying standard and qualifies him for the Meet of Champions in his second event. Fellow sophomore Declan McDonald placed 8th in the 3000 meter run with a PR of 9:59.28. Senior Ben Aunins got things going with a dynamite 3:32 1200m leadoff in the DMR. Sophomore Carter Zerweck (56.5 400m), and juniors Matt Bowen (2:08.0 800m) and Ian Davies (4:50 1600m) also posted quick carries of the baton to post a season best time of 11:38.20. The Bucks finished 6th in the event, just one spot shy of the medals. The pleasant surprise of the day came from junior Andrew Baker, freshmen Christian Bobowicz and John Smith, and sophomore Ryan Walsh who stepped up despite missing one of the original relay legs and qualified for the Meet of Champions by virtue of their 2nd place overall performance. The silver medalists posted splits of 24.3, 24.5, 25.5, and 24.4 - all personal bests - to achieve the mighty accomplishment. Over 50 schools from all across Pennsylvania assembled on Monday, December 30th for the Burdette Indoor Classic, formerly referred to as the Year End Special Meet. Several special performances from Central Bucks West youngsters showed it was still the season for believing. Sophomore Rock Fortna placed 8th in the full mile run (1609 meters) with an indoor PR of 4:40.03. Freshman high flyer Joe Altadonna soared over 5-2 in the high jump, placing 14th overall despite just spending a few practices learning the event between snowstorms and his typical distance training regimen. Fortna returned with freshman Christian Bobowicz, and juniors Andrew Baker and Joe Brill to take 18th in the 4x400 meter relay in a season best time of 3:43.48. Baker had put up a solid 24.92 in the open 200 meters, while Bobowicz teamed up earlier in the day with freshmen Ben Smullen, Teagan Fortna, and John Smith to place 30th amongst all varsity competition in the sprint medley relay. Junior Beckett Wilson also displayed his athleticism with a 35-11 triple jump to keep his skills fresh for spring. The Bucks also showed their stuff in the season opener on Saturday, December 21st at Lehigh University. The fearsome foursome of freshmen Teagan Fortna, John Smith, Christian Bobowicz, and Joe Manetta captured fourth place out of 34 teams at the meet in the freshmen-sophomore 4x200 meter run in a blazing 1:45.50 season opener. Junior Big Dan Nowakowski was just one place shy of advancing to the final in an outstanding debut in the 60 meter tall timbers. His time of 9.55 is a personal best by an astonishing half of a second and was good enough for 7th overall. The distance medley relay of sophomore Rock Fortna, juniors Joe Brill and Andrew Baker, and sophomore Brian Iatarola were also just narrowly on the outside looking in, 0.02 seconds out of the medals in 6th place with a solid 11:40.24 debut. The 4x400 meter relay of Ryan McIlhinney, Ryan Walsh, Carter Zerweck, and Joe Brill teamed up to place 9th in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:52.20. Sophomore Jacob Schiela had a nice outing in the shotput, heaving a 38 foot, 9.75 inch effort for an indoor PR that was good enough for 13th overall. |
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