CB West sweeps 4×800 relays on Day 1 of SOL Continental Championships

DOYLESTOWN >> Conference title hopes were put into motion Friday by a determined 4×800-meter relay.

“We’re really hungry for a win so we’re gonna put our best foot forward,” said Central Bucks West’s anchor, Darby Roth. “Whatever happens happens, but we just wanna know that we’re doing our best.”

West was best in the 4×8, racing to a first-place time of 9 minutes, 21.68 seconds to gain a head start towards winning the Suburban One League Continental Conference title. The Bucks, unbeaten in the regular season, will resume their battle against the rest of the conference, including four-time defending champion North Penn, on Saturday at CB South.

The CB West boys were also victorious on their home track, winning the 4×8 — the only track final of the day — to keep pace with four-time defending champion Pennridge.

“I knew (CB East) was gonna come up on me so I tried to have enough energy with 250 (meters) to go and I just went,” Roth (2:19) said of pulling away down the stretch. “It’s all about trusting your training, and my teammates put me in position to do that.”

Lexi Gartenberg, Carlin McFadden (2:18) and Julia Flood raced the first three legs, moving the Bucks past rivals East and North Penn. The Bucks ran their season best and moved to a No. 2 time in the state this season (tops in Class 3A).

“We were all very nervous because we knew we wanted to be able to get our team a good start,” Roth said of winning gold.

West depth continues to show, especially in the half mile.

“We have a lot of great middle distance runners,” Roth said. “We’re all very strong and work out together so we could easily switch people in and out.

“We’re just gonna keep working towards our goal to get faster,” she said of the 4×8’s goals for the postseason. “We all wanna be far under 2:20 and just make it to states and do our best.”The Bucks added to their point total with a first place in the pole vault, as Chloe Timberg got over the bar at 12 feet.

North Penn took steps towards its title defense, with Natalie Kwortnik winning the long jump with a leap of 18-6.5.

Meanwhile, Quakertown’s Adria Retter threw the discus 130 feet, 2 inches for first in the girls event.

The West boys, who already own the state’s fastest time this season in the 4×8 (7:49.72), overcame Pennridge to start off the weekend with a gold. Luke Fehrman put the Bucks in the lead.

“When I got the baton, all I was thinking about was getting it to Blake in a good position,” he said.

Owen Shields, Christian Crabtree, Fehrman and Blake Ewaskey combined to run a 7:54.72, third fastest in the state this spring. Pennridge was second (7:58.24) and Central Bucks East (8:02.53) third.

“We got the result we were looking for so I’m excited to see what we can do (Saturday) and maybe see if we can pull out the conference title,” said Fehrman.

Central Bucks West added a victory in the field, with Kevin Guevara throwing 51 feet to claim top honors in the shot put.

The Pennridge boys earned a pair of wins, as James Estep cleared 6-foot-3 for the gold in the high jump and Billy Anderson had a leap of 22 feet, 9.75 inches for first in the long jump.