CB West boys and girls race past North Penn, Hatboro-Horsham

DOYLESTOWN >> For Rock Fortna and the rest of the Bucks, this was the first and only meet of the season on their home course.
They weren’t about to take it out lightly.
“It’s my last dual meet, last home race of my high school career, so it was really nice to go out and blast one,” Fortna said.
The senior cranked out a winning time of 15 minutes, 48.33 seconds to lead Central Bucks West to a pair of dual meet wins over rivals North Penn and Hatboro-Horsham Wednesday afternoon — 15-50 over the Knights and 17-44 over the Hatters. And then Maddie Villalba came within two seconds of her fastest time at Peace Valley Park, crossing in 18:15.73 to lead the Bucks past the Maidens, 27-30, and the Hatters, 18-45.
There was a tight pack of Bucks racing around Lake Galena, with the West boys taking the top four spots en route to completing a 7-0 regular-season romp through the tough Suburban One League Continental Conference.
“It’s been a lot of fun, and there’s definitely been some pressure too,” Fortna said of the season. “But I think that that pressure adds to our aggression and competitiveness. Because we really want to perform to the level we think we can.”
The Bucks’ pack was fortified by the efforts of Brian Iatarola, Ben Smullen, Declan McDonald and Brian Mass, who collectively took five of the top seven spots.

Hatboro-Horsham, paced by Jared Bixler, kept things pretty tight from runners one to five, earning a 20-39 victory over North Penn.
“We’re doing well. We had a lot of guys P.R. and we’re still moving in the right direction,” Hatters coach Mike Mahoney said. “The pack’s looking good. Basically we had two guys together then a break, two guys together and then three together, so they’re running together, running well, and the times are coming down each week.”
Villalba, nearing peak form, attacked her race later in the afternoon.
“I took it out real fast, because I was trying to hit (sub 18),” she said. “That’s okay — just two seconds off my P.R. so I’m getting there.
“The first couple weeks of the season were rough for me, not being where I wanted to be time-wise, and mentally, in my races, I was not in it. But then at the Paul Short Run, I hit a pretty good time (18:23) and place (seventh) for me, so that kind of helped my season a little bit and gave me a little bit of confidence.”
Phoebe Clowser, finishing second, led the Maidens to an 18-42 win over Hatboro.
North Penn’s front runners had a solid day on the course, but balance and depth did it for the Bucks.
“This has got to be the best team we’ve had in a couple of years,” Villalba said of the 7-0 Bucks. “We’re just trying to pull things together and sharpen things up for these last couple of races. And hopefully qualify for states.”
The West boys would like to be battling the likes of Hempfield, North Allegheny, West Chester Henderson and Downingtown West at season’s end, and Wednesday provided both Bucks squads one last run on the home course before the postseason push begins.
“It was a nice day to run and they took advantage of it,” West boys coach Greg Wetzel said. “They’ve been working very hard, so it was good to see them be able to have a nice time to show for their consistent, good efforts.”
West and Hatboro head to the William Tennent Invite Saturday while North Penn will be at the Thompson Park Invite in Jamesburg, N.J.