KANE – Rob Bleem and the rest of his Bradford High teammates
made certain it would be no contest as the Owls rolled to their 8th
straight District 9 Class AAA Track and Field Championship by
nearly 100 points on Wednesday at Kane High School.

Bradford finished with 180 points, while Punxsutawney was a
distant second with 83, followed by DuBois with 76 points and St.
Marys and Clearfield with 17 points each, to share fourth
place.

“Our guys were all business today,” said Tom Tessena, Bradford
coach. “We scored 180 points and that’s an awful lot of points. We
had everyone contributing to this victory.”

Bleem spearheaded the Owls’ rout by winning three events, each
worth eight points, to pile up 24 points, good for the James
Manners Award as the Outstanding Male Athlete of the boys meet.

“Rob has been tough all year,” said Tessena. “I knew he’d be in
the top three. This is the first time a thrower has ever won this
award.

“He won all three throwing events.ðOnly one person has ever done
that before and they didn’t have the distances Rob had.ðHe (Bleem)
is only a junior and will be even better next year.”

Looking at individual and relay performances, Tessena could only
smile because even a mid-meet downpour couldn’t slow his team.

“Our 4×100 relay team of Alex Ita, Shane Hvizdzak, Ben Walter
and Vanere Maynard broke the school record for the fourth time this
year with a 44.11,” he explained.

“Our 4×400 team of Andy Preston, Shroy Mukerjee, Shane Hvizdzak
and Ita broke the school and district record with an incredible
time of 3:23.72. Alex had a 48.9 split and Shane ran a 50.4. It was
their fourth event so those are tremendous times.

“Andy Preston had a great day with a second in both hurdles. He
was edged out in the 110 high hurdles by .02 of a second and ran a
good time in the 300 intermediate hurdles with a 40.23 time.

“The sprinters did an incredible job. Hvizdzak won the 100
meters, Vanere Maynard was second and Ben Walter was fifth. That
was 15 points in an early event.

“Maynard then came back in the 200 meters to lead a Bradford
sweep. Vanere ran 22.74, Shane ran 22.82 and Alex took third with
22.84. That was good for 18 points. Alex also took second in the
400 meters with a great time of 50.51. They all ran great legs in
their relays, too.ð

“Hizdzak had a super day with three first places and one second
place.ð Maynard had two first places and a second place, while Ita
had two firsts, one second, and a third.

“Our hurdlers came through with sophomore Nick Johnson placing
fourth in the 110 high hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles with a
personal best time of 41.84. Freshman Tyree Bennett placed fourth
in the 300 hurdles and Ryan Miller took fifth in the high hurdles.
Bennett earned his varsity letter today with that fourth place.
That gave us 21 points in the hurdles.ð

“The distance event people also did well. Our 4×800 relay team
of Steve Kirkland, Rich Bartlebaugh, Colton Langianese and Shroy
Mukerjee took first with a 8:13.87. Kirkland came back to place
second in the 1600 and third in the 3200 meters. Langianese won the
800 in 2:03 and Bartlebaugh took third. Ben Moran placed fifth in
the 1600 and Jared Feura took fifth in the 3200. Mike Foerstner
placed sixth with a personal best of 10:43.

“Our throwing group did a great job as well,” Tessena observed.
“In addition to Rob Bleem winning all the throws, Garrett McEwen
had a personal best of 47’6″ in the shot put for second place and
Ryan Mongillo placed fourth with 44’1 1/2″. McEwen was third in the
javelin with 164’5″ and David Rivera was fifth with 152’2″. The
discus was just as solid with sophomores Dan Gonzalez and Ben
Lanich taking third and fourth. Lanich had a personal best with his
throw of 131’3”. That gave us 43 points in the throws.

“Sophomore Matt Teribery won the pole vault with 12’6”. It
really started to rain hard and Matt had a bad back so he decided
to stop after he had won it.ðHe wants to really get after this at
states. He is capable of 13’6″ or better. He just needs to be
healthy.ð

“David Rivera won both the long and triple jumps. David was the
favorite in the triple but not the longðjump. He has a bad heel so
it was great he was able to win today. We need to get him healthy
for states. Ryan Miller took fifth in the long jump and Tyler
Hopkins was fifth in the triple jump. Rich Bartlebaugh and Tommy
Morris tied for fourth in the high jump.

“This was just a great team effort today,” Tessena emphasized.
“Coaches Bart Simpson, Scott Mealy, Bob Macfarlane and girls head
coach Larry Stillman all did a great job getting these guys ready.
This was the most points we have ever scored at districts. We have
14 guys qualified for states.

“I would like to thank everyone for their great effort this
season. We have had a fantastic season and it isn’t over yet. We
have some big things to accomplish at states.ð

“We would also like to congratulate the girls team and their
coaching staff for a great season and wish them well at states,” he
added.