Coatesville holds off D-West to win 14th straight Ches-Mont title

COATESVILLE >> Despite some early mishaps, the Coatesville boys grabbed the program’s 14th consecutive team title at the Ches-Mont Track and Field Championship on Wednesday. But unlike many of the other years in the streak, it was not a run away.
The host Red Raiders held off a late charge by Downingtown West and edged the Whippets by two points for the crown, 117-115. The last time Coatesville did not reign over Ches-Monts was back in 2002, when Downingtown prevailed before splitting into East and West.
“When I first took the job seven years ago, (former coaching legend Harry) Lewis explained about what our track program means to our community, so I knew my number one job was to continue to keep everything going,” said Raiders’ head coach Damien Henry.
Coatesville earned three individual firsts, including two in the field events, which is a strength. Dondre Pittman won the high jump and Garrett Sincavage grabbed a first in the javelin. And in the 110 hurdles, the Raiders’ Jared Elters and Will Barsee went 1-2.
“Coatesville is powerhouse year after year,” said Bishop Shanahan coach Pete Ulman. “They medal three, four, five athletes in each of the field events and that’s difficult to overcome.”
That’s not to suggest it was all clear sailing for Coatesville. The favored 4×100 relay team had the lead but botched a handoff late in the race. And the favorite in the 100-meter, Terrance Laird, was DQed due to a false start in the preliminaries.
“I was worried before the meet started,” Henry acknowledged. “We have a very young team, but once I saw some things fall into place to make up for the false start and the dropped baton, I felt more confident.
“Freshman Eric Kirk — who was involved in the dropped baton — came back and got his PR by a foot in the long jump and qualified for districts. We just learned not to worry about what happened in the past and just move forward.”
Individually, Unionville’s Kent Hall dominated the distance events, winning the 1,600 and the 3,200. The only other two-time winner was Downingtown West’s Darian Alston, who took firsts in the triple jump and long jump.
Downingtown West added wins in the 200 (Nate Alleyne), the 300 hurdles (Josh McLemore), the 800 (Chase Semanyk), and took advantage of the baton incident to win the 4×100, but was still unable to overtake Coatesville. Whippets coach James Smith admitted that he did not load up for each event, and wound up surprised his team came so close to winning it all.

“We just want to keep everybody healthy and we don’t want to take undue risk right now,” he explained.
“District 1 is so competitive, we want to make sure we are healthy heading into districts. We want to give everybody the best shot as possible to advance to the state championships.”
McLemore’s win in the hurdles wasn’t a surprise, but he got in late Monday evening after taking a recruiting visit to the University of Iowa due to a flight delay.
“I was a little bit stiff, but I was able to clear every hurdle with the same leg, and that helped,” said McLemore, who fell in his previous action at the Penn Relays.
Shanahan prevailed in the 4×800 relay and the Eagles’ Keegan Hughes took first place in the 400. The rest of the winners included Kennett’s Alec Sheenan and Xavier Feliciano in the discus and pole vault, respectively, West Chester Rustin’s Connor Cummings in the shot put, and West Chester Henderson’s 4×400 relay.

Ches-Mont Track and Field Championship
Boys Team Scores
1. Coatesville 117; 2. Downingtown West 115; 3. West Chester Rustin 91.5; 4. Bishop Shanahan 66; 5. Downingtown East 53; 6. Unionville 48; 6. West Chester East 48; 8. Kennett 45; 9. West Chester Henderson 37; 10. Oxford 34.5; 11. Great Valley 19; 12. Avon Grove 11; 13. Octorara 8; 13. Sun Valley 8.  
Individual Results
110 hurdles — 1. Elters (C) 16.18; Javelin – 1. Sincavage (C) 156-10; 100 – 1. Jennings (DE) 10.91; 4×800 – 1. Bishop Shanahan (Breslin, Fromhartz, Cunninngham, Ingraham) 8:03.54; Triple jump – 1. Alston (DW) 46-111/2; 1,600 – 1. Hall (U) 4:23.9; Pole vault – 1. Feliciano (K) 14-0; Shot put – 1. Cummings (WCR) 50-4; 4×100 – 1. Downingtown West (I. Alleyne, Bills, N. Alleyne, Holt) 42.78; 400 – 1. Hughes (BS) 48.92; 300 hurdles – 1. McLemore (DW) 38.85; High jump – 1. Pittman (C) 6-2; Long jump – 1. Alston (DW) 21-91/4; 800 – 1. Semanky (DW) 1:58.39; 200 – 1. N. Alleyne (DW) 21.8; 3,200 – 1. Hall (U) 9:42.21; Discus – 1. Sheehan (K) 155-6; 4×400 – W.C. Henderson (Cover, Cooper, Scholl, Jones) 3:22.36.