The dominance of the Wyomissing boy’s field event athletes will be observed this Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg. The Spartans project to score 53 points in the field events alone, led by the Williams brothers in the Shot and Discus. If anyone is to challenge Wyomissing for the district title it will likely be Annville-Cleona.
Using the final performance list as a guide, here are the top 6 teams heading into this weekend, based on seeds from the final performance list. In other words, if everyone places as they are seeded on the performance list, this is how the meet will turn out:
The Wyomissing boys will be dominant in the field, and in particular the throwing events. Sophomore J’ven Williams is coming off a terrific 2 week period that saw him set new PRs in the shot put (57-06.75) and discus (176-02). He is the #1 seed in both events this weekend. Senior Rushard Williams is coming off of a couple of PRs himself, and enters the weekend seeded 2nd in the shot put (56–03.75) and 3rd in the discus (157-05). Greenwood’s Mitchell Kauffman (sr) appears most capable of breaking up the shot and discus sweep for the Williams as he is the #2 seed in the discus with a 161-01 season best. While senior Evan Niedrowski missed his senior season due to injury, younger Niedrowski, Collin, has filled in nicely. He’s one of the top freshman javelin throwers in the nation (US #9 ranked freshman) and is seeded 2nd in the event. Wyomissing has 3 strong relay squads with their 4x800m seeded 1st. Another strong event group includes the 3200m, where three Spartan athletes are seeded in the top 7. Nolan Larkin (sr) will look to add team points in the 100m (4th seed) and 200m (tied for 3rd seed) and Jason Gartner (sr) should score well in the 300mH (3rd seed).
Annville-Cleona will look to make this competitive through the final event on the track, the 4x400m relay, where they are the #1 seed. To do so, they will need to get out to a hot start. On Friday, they have 2 #1 seeds competing in Casey Hess (sr) and Jack Tshudy (sr). Hess is the #1 seed in the Long Jump while Tshudy is ranked 1st in the 3200m. On Saturday, Hess is seeded 4th in the triple jump and Tshudy is seeded 5th in the 1600m. Annville-Cleona will look to open day 2 with a strong performance in the 4x800m relay where they are the 3rd seed. Michael Moran (sr) will be a busy man for the Dutchmen this weekend. He is a top 3 seed in 4 events: 100m (tied for 2nd), 4x100m (1st), 200m (tied for 3rd), 4x400m (1st). Another athlete entered in 4 events is sophomore Jahmar Gonzalez-Allie. He will run in the 4×800 and 4x400m relays and is the #4 seed in the 400m and #2 seed in the 800m.
Other events and athletes I am excited to watch:
- Ryan Murphy (sr, Delone Catholic) enters the weekend as a top 2 seed or better in 3 events. He is the #1 seed in the 300mH, is the #2 seed in the High Jump, and is tied for the #2 seed in the 100m.
- Luke Seymour (jr, Schuylkill Valley) may not be challenged in the 1600m and 800m runs where he is seeded 1st in both. He has a 6.5-second gap over the 2nd seed in the 1600m and a 4-second cushion in the 800m. He’ll also run for the Panthers #2 ranked 4x400m relay.
- Dante Elliot (sr, Littlestown) will be seeking double gold. He is the top seed in both the High jump and Long Jump.
- Marcus Pruy (sr, Fairfield) will also seek to win 2 events. He is the #1 seed in the 200m and the #2 seed in the 400m, behind Berks Catholic’s William DeYoung (sr).
- Keep an eye on the Pole Vault as Camp Hill senior Brody Myers will look to challenge the 15-foot barrier. He is the #1 seed and enters with a PR of 14-07.
- Brady Mider (fr, Berks Catholic) is the #9 ranked freshman shot-putter in the US. He enters this weekend with a personal best (set last weekend) of 50-07.75.