Big day for Pennridge and North Penn at CB West Relays

DOYLESTOWN >> Austin Howell, Matt Eissler and Jeff Espinal had Pennridge on the brink of something special, and Tucker Desko made sure they got there.

“For the last 200, I wanted to close it out, wrap it up a little bit,” the senior said. “I wanted to give it all I had. It was my only race of the day,” he said, “so I went for it.”
The Ram 4×800-meter relay foursome combined their efforts for a state-best time of 7 minutes, 50.82 seconds on Saturday, showcasing their abilities at the 26th Annual CB West Relays.
“We ran it last year at states and did pretty well,” Desko said of Ram 4×8, perennially one of the best around, “so it’s always nice to come back and put another good team together.”
Howell, Espinal and Desko return from last year’s foursome, which raced to a silver medal at states with a school-record time of 7:40.56.
Eissler has stepped in for Dan Williams, who graduated a year ago, and together the Rams surpassed the 7:57.09 by Germantown Friends earlier this year at the Colonial Relays, ranked as the state’s best going into this weekend.
Pennridge outraced a talented field that included Central Bucks West (8:06.88), Penncrest (8:07.62), Central Bucks East (8:08.49) and Council Rock South (8:09.46).
Pennridge’s elite 4×8 is part of the reason the Rams are a perfect 6-0 in the Suburban One League Continental Conference.
“In the dual meets, we’ve really come together as a team,” Desko said of the defending conference champs. “We have depth this year, a lot of good guys in a lot of different events. And that’s kind of what pulls us through.”
Pennridge also raced to an impressive 3:21.40 in the final event of the day on the track, taking first in the 4×400, and on the girls side, the Rams’ Jessica Milligan raced to the top spot in the 300 hurdles and Pennridge’s 48.26 was tops in the 4×1. Shannon Coache earned first in the jav for Pennridge, with a throw of 110-2.
La Salle enjoyed a pair of relay wins, placing first in both the 4×1,600 and 4×1, and out in the field, Noah Walker threw to a gold medal in the javelin with a mark of 173-8.
The North Penn girls had a pair of victories in the field, as Natalie Kwortnik took top honors in the long jump with a 16-0.75 and teammate Uche Nwogwugwu went 34-4 in the triple jump.
On the track, the Lady Knights’ 4×8 foursome raced to a victory, as a team of Ariana Gardizy, Phoebe Clowser, Jenna Webb and Mikaela Vlasic clocked a 9:32.17, pushing past Pennridge (9:39.72) for the top spot.
“It’s good (to get a win here) because all of these teams are obviously really good and these are the best teams in our league, district and state,” Vlasic said, “so it’s cool to be able to compete against them before the Penn Relays and the final stretch run.”