The Bradford Owls’ 4×800 relay team soared to new heights
Saturday by winning the prestigious New Balance Games title in New
York City.
Shroy Mukerjee, Rich Bartlebaugh, Jared Feura and Colton
Langianese ran the race in 8:03.19 – the best time of any
Pennsylvania team and one of the top 10 best indoor times in the
nation.
Bradford beat 96 teams to win this title.
“It was an incredible accomplishment for these four young men,”
BAHS coach Tom Tessena said. “They are outstanding examples and
proof positive you can accomplish tremendous things if you are
willing to work harder than other people and set goals. To win this
meet is just an unbelievable situation.
“These four guys have been running track and cross country
together for six years. I am so proud of these guys because they
have worked so hard to get to this level.
“Mukerjee led off with a great first leg. He went out hard and
was in good position at the 400-meter mark but a group of five or
six runners moved up fast and boxed him so he couldn’t pass the
leader or get around the others.
“He finished strong in 2:03. He had a good handoff to Rich
Bartlebaugh and Rich went out hard, taking the first 400 meters in
59 seconds. Rich is really learning how to run the 800 this year
and today his experience showed. He finished strong to run his leg
in 2:00.4. This is three seconds better than his best indoor time
of last year.
“He handed off to Jared Feura, who is the new guy on this relay.
Feura replaced Steve Kirkland who graduated last year. With Steve
the guys ran 7:57 outdoors and 8:13 indoors, both school records.
After last year’s season the other guys told me Jared is our guy.
Jared ran a personal best of 2:02.9. Everyone was excited about
Jared’s split.
“The best leg was yet to come. Colton Langianese took the baton
in third place some 10 yards behind the leaders. He gradually made
up this distance by the 400-meter mark. He had only two more laps
to go.ð
“He wisely stayed behind the leaders until the last lap. He
smoothly took the lead and with 150 meters to go as he took off
with a burst of speed we didn’t know he had. Coach Mark Kelley had
him timed around 24 seconds for his last lap. Colton ended up with
a fantastic 1:56.2 split for his leg.”
Tessena said his four runners received first place medals and
New Balance jackets for their win.
“To be the number one team in the state of Pennsylvania is quite
a feat,” Tessena noted.
“I told the guys getting to the top is hard enough but staying
there is even harder. They are now qualified for Indoor Nationals,
the Penn Relays and Outdoor Nationals.”
This was the fourth straight meet the Owls have broken an indoor
record. The time of 8:03.19 broke the old record by more than 10
seconds in the 4×800 relay.
Bradford will travel to Slippery Rock on Friday for the
Tri-State Coaches Meet. Some members of the team will also be going
to the Akron Relays on Saturday.
