CB West continues charge, tops rival Pennridge

EAST ROCKHILL >> Central Bucks West continues to march to its own beat, at an unbeatable pace.

Overcoming stiff competition from rival Pennridge, the Bucks excelled in several events and combined their efforts for a 85.5-64.5 victory over the Rams Tuesday afternoon.

“It was a good meet, a tight one for sure,” said West’s Emmi Simon. “Our coach (Kiki Bell) was definitely trying to prepare us a lot leading up to this week. We knew that this was gonna be the toughest dual meet of the year, for sure.

“(Pennridge has) a lot of awesome competitors. I know they’re missing a lot of their top people but they put up a good fight.”

Fast times by both teams decorated the scoresheet.

West’s 4×400 relay capped things off, the foursome of Simon, Justine Maraska, Carlin McFadden and Kate Edenson churning out an impressive 3:56.36. Pennridge also broke four minutes, finishing in 3:59.99.

Simon was tremendous at any distance, winning the 800 (2:21.11) and the 1,600 (5:27) before leading off the first-place 4×4.

“I love it. I love middle distance and I love getting back into the mile,” she said. “I just started getting back into the 16 for the first time in about a year.”

West was plenty ready for Tuesday.

“We got into some really cold pools this past week with no heat, trying to get our legs ready,” Simon said.

Currently the state’s best, Chloe Timberg vaulted to a victory by clearing 9 feet, 6 inches.

Maya Monti won both the shot put (31-7) and the discus (90-9) for the Bucks.

Edenson won the 400 for West in 57.76 and also long jumped to a victory with a leap of 16-3.5. McFadden triple jumped to a victory with a mark of 33-2.5.

Said Simon of this team’s drive: “I’m really excited, especially it being senior season. A lot of us are going onto college next year so for our last year all together, we really wanna show up at leagues and districts, and hopefully states.”

West strengthened its grip on the Suburban One League Colonial Division, improving to 4-0.

It took a balanced effort by the Bucks to overcome the Rams, who were led by Emma Schlotter’s wins in the high jump (5-4) and 100 hurdles (14.98). Schlotter also ran on the 4×1 team that won in 49.70, and the 4×4 team shaved seven seconds off its season best to break four minutes.

Tori Angelo, a freshman, ran on that 4×4 and also won the 300 hurdles, with a 46.92. And that was just the third time this year Angelo has run the 300 hurdles.

“We had really good performances today against some really good competition. And the times were lights out,” Rams coach Bill Smith said. “(CB West) is a very, very good team. They could be the best in the state.

“We had some people that stepped up really well.”