Last year, Bradford High ran roughshod over its competition on its way to the District 9 Class AAA boys track and field team championship.
With 11 top seeds, eight second seeds and six third seeds, along with returning James Manners Award winner Mitch Vleminckx, the Owls are expecting to hoist yet another championship plaque today at Brookville High School.
And why wouldn’t they be? The Tom Tessena-led Owls have captured 17 of the last 18 district championships and are the favorites once again with a stacked lineup from top to bottom.
“We have some pretty good depth to go with the first-place guys this year and we hope that will provide a margin of safety,” Tessena said, “but this is districts where every team has somebody who rises to the occasion. It should be a great meet.”
As has been the case all season, the Owls start with Vleminckx at the top. He won the Manners Award last year after scoring the most points with his first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 dashes and 1,600 relay. He’s qualified in five competitions today, so which events he competes in will affect the rest of the Bradford High lineup –– and the field of Clearfield, St. Marys, Punxsutawney and DuBois.
“Mitch Vleminckx is the favorite to win the long jump and the 200 meters,” Tessena said, “and although he is ranked third in the 100 meters, he is going to be hard to beat there as well.
Vleminckx’s top long jump this season, 21-11.05, is just a few inches shy of Shawn Colligan’s school- and district-record jump of 22-02.25 from 2003.
The lineup shifting will likely revolve around the 400 dash and 1,600 relay. Should he run in the relay, sophomore teammates Mike Bosworth (53.24) and Vinnie Bizzarro (53.84) would be the new first and second seeds.
“Our 400 meter guys, Mike Bosworth and Vinnie Bizzarro are the top seeds if Mitch doesn’t run,” Tessena said. “These guys have both run 52 seconds in the 4×400 relay, so they can go faster.”
Individually, sophomore hurdler Jaron Ambrose (110 and 300 hurdles) and distance runner Logan Caruso (1,600 and 3,200 runs) are both seeded at the top of their two individual events.
Sophomore Matt Stafford is seeded second in the 110 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles behind Ambrose.
“The hurdles shape up to be great races with sophomores Jaron Ambrose and Matthew Stafford being the top seeds in high hurdles with Clearfield’s Mason Royer (15.94) close behind,” Tessena said.
Bizzarro is seeded second in the 800 (2:04.46), Kraft third (2:05.24) and Nathan Blauser fourth (2:07.24). They’ll both be chasing Punxsutawney’s Matt Wehrle (2:01.74).
“We have several sprinters like (Donnie) Pattison and (Matt) Stafford who will score in the sprints along with a good distance crew who should break the top five in those events like Dawson Ambrose, Tyler Kraft, Andrew Kraft, Isaac Paterniti and Cade Hayden,” Tessena said.
In the throws, junior John Eakin is far and away the top seed in the shot put, having thrown 55-11, which is nearly four feet better than the minimum automatic state-qualifier mark and almost 12 feet better than the second seed, sophomore teammate Nathan Gehm. Eakin is also seeded second in the discus.
Andy Pantuso is the second seed in the long jump behind Vleminckx, while Ryan Whittemore is seeded second in the javelin. Whittemore is a threat in each of the throws, as he’s also seeded fourth in the discus and fifth in the shot put.
The Owls have three of the top five seeds in the discus, three of the top six in the javelin and four of the top six in the shot put.
Jack Kellam is narrowly the second seed in the pole vault (13-01) behind DuBois’ Matt Holben. Steven Kellam (11-06) and Derek Sunafrank (11-03) are third and fourth.
“We are also looking for some of our younger guys to get crucial points in the jumps and throws,” Tessena said.
The Owls’ three relays also are top seeds.
The 3,200 relay (Isaac Paterniti, Tyler Kraft, Nathan Blauser, Vinnie Bizzarro) is seeded at 8:24.34, while the 400 relay ( Stafford, Mike Bosworth, Andy Pantuso, Donnie Pattison) are just ahead of Punxsutawney (45.49) at 45.29.
“Punxsy always run those relays hard, so that should be a close one there,” Tessena said.
The 1,600 relay team of Kraft, Bizzarro, Bosworth and Vleminckx is seeded at 3:33.52.
Relay rosters are, however, subject to change.
Events from Brookville High School begin at 3 p.m. with the commencement of the boys javelin and long jump. Hurdles and 100 dash preliminaries begin at 4 p.m.
The top finisher –– or those reaching the state-qualifying standards –– in each event advances to the state meet at Shippensburg University on May 26.
