Pennridge hustles past North Penn in SOL Continental clash

EAST ROCKHILL >> With the wind at his back, Pennridge’s Diego Lera-Lozano came hustling down the final straightaway of the 3,200-meter run, leaving all the fatigue — and competition — behind.

“I really wanted it,” the sophomore said of the kick that allowed him to pull away from a tight pack.

Lera-Lozano’s victory was one of eight the Rams would have on the track, and they added five more in the field to earn a 105.5-35.5 victory over rival North Penn in their Suburban One League Continental Conference opener.

“We had good effort,” Pennridge coach Bob Hosier said of his four-time defending conference champs, “and we like that. We have a lot of kids this year.

“North Penn’s always tough and it’s always good to go against them.”

Lera-Lozano also added a third-place finish in the mile as the Rams piled up points in the distance events.

“I really like this team,” he said of the mindset coming into a new spring. “(Hosier) is fantastic and everyone really makes you feel at home.”

Andersen Dimon raced to victories in the 100, 200 and 400 for the Rams while Josiah Landis was busy throwing to first-place finishes in the shot put and discus. Luke Eissler was a winner in the 800 and Matt Eissler took care of the 16.

North Penn (1-2) began the afternoon by taking the 300 hurdles (Thomas Green) and soon raced to the top spot in the 4×1. John Steele (110 hurdles) and Starrett Vesper (pole vault) also got firsts for the Knights.

“We were a little shorthanded today but we had some guys do some good things,” said North Penn coach Jay Jones, whose team opened up the season Saturday with a win over Central Bucks South and a loss to CB West. “Pennridge is tough and we knew that coming in.

“We had a lot of young guys P.R. so we’re pretty pleased.”

Pennridge travels to the Jim Kelly Invitational Saturday at Hatboro-Horsham while North Penn gets ready to host the Knights Invite on April 4.