He is Chris Berry. The CB West senior hung tough in his season debut and matched North Penn senior Jack MaCauley. MaCauley placed 6th individually at the PIAA Cross-Country State Championships this fall. Berry matched MaCauley's blazing 4:44 opening mile and hung on for the duration to earn a very nice early season time of 9:00.74 in the 3000 meter run. Berry's time easily eclipsed the Meet of Champions qualifying standard of 9:20.24 and scared the State Championship qualifying standard of 9:00.23. MaCauley (9:00.14) and Berry's times likely lead the state so far.
The 3000 meter run program record of 8:47.84 was run in January of 2010 by Nick Scarpello, one of the finest athletes CB West has ever produced.
Four fellow CB West seniors on a mission debuted well within their wheelhouse as well. Shawn Young, Jimmie Kilgannon, Ethan Long, and Austin Kline qualified for the Meet of Champions in their 4x400 meter relay debut, placing 3rd out of 25 squads with a time of 3:38.55, easily surpassing the Meet of Champions qualifying standard of 3:39.94.
The young Bucks also flexed their muscles on Saturday in the 4x200 meter relay. Sophomores Josh Bazzanno, DhungJoo Kim, and Josh Haschets teamed up with senior sprinting standout Greg Branch to earn their first varsity track and field medals for CB West. Finishing in 1:40.69, the Bucks placed 5th overall out of 28 teams.
West returns to action on Saturday at 12:30 pm at Lehigh, where they aim to qualify more athletes to the Meet of Champions.