The weather conditions weren’t the best, but Bradford High senior Mitch Vleminckx did his best to give Owl track and field fans one last showing at Parkway Field Tuesday.
Vleminckx won the 100 dash (11.3), 200 dash (23.2) and long jump (20-08) on Senior Night as the Owls took 13 of the 18 events against Elk Catholic in a runaway 106-44 win. Vleminckx, along with fellow seniors Jack Kellam, Dawson Ambrose, Harley Peterson and Matt O’Brien, were honored midway through the meet for their contributions to the program over the years.
“This meet was a good way to honor our seniors. We had a lot of good races today even with the weather not being ideal,” Owls head coach Tom Tessena said. “We were a little rough in the field today and need to get back to the distances we had achieved.”
For good measure, Vleminckx anchored the Owls’ “A” 1600 relay team with sophomores Tyler Kraft, Jaron Ambrose and Vinnie Bizzarro to a win in season-best 3:35.8 as the on-again, off-again rain dampened the last race of the day.
“Mitch had his usual strong performance,” Tessena said, “but the sophomores in that relay stood out as well.”
Vleminckx, with his three individual first places and relay victory now has 702 career points, putting him at 10th on the all-time scoring list.
The Owls showed their depth in the mid-distance events as the “B” team ran a 3:40, beating Elk Catholic’s top squad.
“We have a nice problem,” Tessena said, adding that sophomore Mike Bosworth ran a 53.5 split and freshman Derek Sunafrank ran a 53.6 split. “That is real depth.”
Ambrose won both hurdle events, while Ryan Whittemore took the discus and javelin to round out the doubles winners for the Owls. Ambrose took the 110s in 16.9 and then the 300s in 42.3, with teammate Matt Stafford close on his heels –– as he has all been year.
Other individual winners for the Owls were Tyler Kraft, Vinnie Bizzarro and John Eakin.
Kraft ran a fast opening lap of the 800 to separate from the field then hung on to win in 2:08.8, while Bizzarro took the 400 dash in 54.6. The two ran the 3200 relay with Nate Blauser and Isaac Paterniti in a season-best time of 8:35.8.
Eakin continued his dominance in the shot put, throwing 48-01 for another first-place finish and added a second-place finish behind Whittemore in the discus.
The Owls 400 relay team of Stafford, Mike Bosworth, Andy Pantuso and Donny Pattison ran a fast 45.1, the team’s fastest time of the season.
Pattison nearly had Vleminckx in the 100 dash, running a personal-best 11.4 behind Vleminckx’s 11.3. The sophomore also was second behind Vleminckx in the 200 dash (24.1).
Jack Kellam finished second in the pole vault (12-03) behind Elk Catholic’s Ben Koss (12-09) and was third in the long jump (18-00). Nathan Gehm added two seconds behind Whittemore in the javelin (129-08) and behind Eakin in the shot put (42-03).
Adding third-place finishes for the Owls were Daemone Patterson in the high jump (5-05) and 110 hurdles (16.9), while Danny Fedak (400 dash) and Steve Kellam, who jumped a personal-best 10-09 in the pole vault.
The Owls travel to Altoona Friday for the West Central Coaches Classic where some of the top talent in the western half of the state will be on hand.
“There will be great competition and an opportunity for us to improve,” Tessena said.
BOYS
At BRADFORD
Bradford 106, Elk Catholic 44
100: Mitch Vleminckx (B) 11.3, 200: Mitch Vleminckx (B) 23.2, 400: Vinnie Bizzarro (B) 54.6, 800: Tyler Kraft (B) 2:08.8, 1,600: Matt Dippold (ECC) 4:40.9, 3,200: Ben Hoffman (ECC) 10:23, 400 relay: Bradford (Mike Stewart, Mike Bosworth, Andy Pantuso, Donny Pattison) 45.1, 1,600 relay: Bradford (Tyler Kraft, Jaron Ambrose, Vinnie Bizzarro, Mitch Vleminckx), 3,200 relay: Bradford (Tyler Kraft, Vinnie Bizzarro, Nate Blauser, Isaac Paterniti) 8:32, 110 hurdles: Jaron Ambrose (B) 16.4, 300hurdles: Jaron Ambrose (B) 42.3, longjump: Mitch Vleminckx (B) 20-08, triplejump: Jared Braun (ECC) 41-07, highjump: Ben Koss (ECC) 5-09, pole vault: Ben Koss (ECC) 12-09, shotput: John Eakin (B) 48-01, discus: Ryan Whittemore (B) 124-06, javelin: Ryan Whittemore (B) 140-05
