Ambler, PA. – It’s May. Championship season. As Carl Spackler said to the gopher “I think the fooling around is just about over. I think it is!” PRs all over the place especially on the distance side.
Dom Sheppard failed to PR for the first time all season in winning the 300 hurdles with ease in 38.30, still one of the top 3 times in the state and remains undefeated this spring.
The all-sophomore 4×1 (Zion Ford, Quentin West, Jayden Davis, Dom Sheppard) had been sitting between 43.0 and 44.0 all season until tonight, dropping a 42.60 putting them on the Wiss All-Time list at #7.
Big match up at 1600 meters between Grayson Ruffner and North Penn’s soph Justin Landis (dad Scott Landis, Wiss alum, retired Wiss middle school teacher/coach and part of our legendary ’82 team was on hand). Wanting a fast time, Justin took it out with Gray on his shoulder through three laps hitting 65, 2:11, 3:16. Down the back stretch of the last lap, Justin ramped it up but couldn’t shake Gray and they stayed glued to each other until the home stretch where Gray tried to pass. Landis matched Gray’s kick stride for stride until about 20 meters out when Grayson surged ahead for the win 4:17.68 – 4:18.12. Although no fun to lose, Justin was happy to dip under 4:20.00 for the first time. Back in the pack, Ralph Antonucci and Alex Gobin were taking care of business dipping under their own previous barriers. Ralph under 4:30 (4:29.80) and Alex under 4:40 (4:38.12).
Watching the 800, our guys looked like they always do. Heat 2 of 3, same stride, same turnover, etc. I think I actually said “Whoa!” out loud as I glanced at live results on my phone. These three guys simply demolish their previous bests. Jishnu Dass minus 4 sec (2:06 to 2:02.33), Jack Pickel 6 sec (2:10 to 2:04.24) and Luke Etzler 5 sec (2:12 to 2:07.52). And not a senior in the bunch.
Our lone 400m runner, Xavier Johnson, has shown lots of improvement in a very short time. Having only been on the team for about a month, he’s dropped from a 54.33 on 4/20 (his first 400 ever) to 51.65 here good for 3rd place. Add him to our stable of rising sophomores. Check our 400 splits ‘Season Bests’ list to see our future potential. Save for Ruffner, all under-classmen.
The long jump FINALLY came alive after floundering in the 17, 18, 19 foot range all spring. Figuring out his landing, Jonah Sydney popped a district Q 21-0.25 for the win with Aiden Wescott over 20 for the first time with 20-1.5 taking third.
As the night drew to a close, a coach said to me “You guys are gonna take leagues.” For the first time this spring, I allowed myself to actually think “He might be right.” Although I always refer to the poster in the locker room of the great philosopher Pogo “I have seen the enemy, and he is us.”
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