Equally impressive, the Bucks dropped 17 seconds in the 4x800 to set a new season best of 8:06.9. Seniors Chris Berry, AJ Morgan, and Austin Kline teamed up with freshman Rock Fortna to deliver the upset. Fortna dropped a three second PR in the monstrous effort and of the seniors all set season bests.
Senior Greg Branch placed 2nd in the 400 and 200 meter dashes, while Ethan Long earned third in the 400 and ran a leg of the winning 4x400 meter relay along with super sophomore Joe Brill, Young, and Kline.
The toughest performance of the day came from senior Chris Berry, who returned from the 4x800 to win the 1600 and the 3200 and earn 15 points on the day. AJ Morgan also returned from the 4x800 to place third in the open 800 meter run.
Junior Jamie Valdez came up big for the Bucks to nearly steal the long jump with his 19-4.5 leap, good enough for second. Jason Douple and Riley Owens also had clutch performances in the pole vault, both clearing 12 feet to pick up second and third.
It was the dominant 26-1 performance of the throwers who kept the Bucks in contention, performing clean sweeps of the shotput (Radkins-Fortna-Anastasiadis) and discus (Williams-Fortna-Greenberg) while yeilding just one point in the javelin. Seniors Jackson Butkus and Will Fernandez took gold and silver in the last throw of the day, sealing the win. With his 143-foot discus launch, John Williams is now being heavily recruited as the future of the NASA space program.
The Bucks return to action on Friday for the Greater Philadelphia Area Freshman 4x100 Final and the varsity 4x100 competition. On Saturday, the Bucks hope to earn a spot in the Philadelphia Area Final in the 4x400 relay. Follow live results at www.ThePennRelays.com .