CB West outraces Souderton Area
FRANCONIA >> The Bucks’ impressive day on the track was almost complete, with Rock Fortna leading an entire herd in the 3,200 meters.
“It was windy on the back stretch so we wanted to work together, share the load,” the senior said of Central Bucks West’s outstanding distance pack, “and I think we did a nice job of that.”
Fortna led the way to a sweep in the two mile, bookending the Bucks’ sweep of the 100 dash, as West earned a 105-45 over a talented Souderton Area squad in a Suburban One League Continental Conference meet at Souderton.
“We’re looking pretty good,” Fortna said. “There’s always room to improve but a lot of good things are happening. I like where we’re going.”
The Bucks improved to 3-1 on the season, their only loss coming to unbeaten Pennridge. Souderton is now 1-2 in the Continental and 3-2 overall.
“It was a great day on the track,” Bucks coach Greg Wetzel said. “A lot of kids stepped up, particularly in the sprints. It was a good team win.”
West went 1-2-3 in the 400 and took the top two spots in the 200. Something got into Christian Bobowicz, whose time of 22.2 in the 200 broke a five-year-old stadium record. Teammate Joe Manetta was also locked in, going 22.6.
“Those guys ran lights out,” Wetzel said.
Manetta came back from a fall in the 300 hurdles to take second in both the 200 and the 100. And the Bucks scored all of the points in both the shot put and discus, led by Jacob Schiela and Corey Cepeda.
The Bucks needed their determination and overall balance to overcome some record setters by Souderton, who had Connor McMenamin blazing to a 4:21.1 in the mile, a stadium record, and Shamar Jenkins setting two records in the jumps.
His leap of 22 feet, 4.5 inches broke his own stadium record in the long jump. And at the end of the day, everyone had gathered around the pit to see Jenkins break a 42-year-old school record in the triple with a mark of 46-10.
Teammate Colin Harker again put on a show in the hurdles. Already owning the best time in the state so far this spring (14.16), Harker went 14.8 to take the 110’s.
“We certainly have to get better to be able to compete with the teams in our conference but a lot of people have been stepping up,” coach John Donahue said. “And some rookies have stepped in for some people that we lost from last year so we’re excited about that.”
Both teams are in action against Saturday — West is at the Jim Kelly Invitational at Hatboro-Horsham and Big Red travels to the Perk Valley Invite.
