Invitational Season is Underway

The Rich Township Raptor Invitational gave the Wildcats a chance to compete at their 2^nd Invitational of the season and brought some great performances out for the team. Here are a few of the standout performances:

Joey Des Garennes was the lone winner on the day. Joey ran a tough race in the JV 800. He stayed patient and sat in 2^nd place, took the lead at the hallway point and continued to pull away the last 200 for the victory.

Nathan Dybas had an incredibly impressive double. He was going to be making his triple jump debut and also racing the open 400. Unfortunately, for Nathan, the time of the meet meant he had to run his 400 right before the triple jump. But that didn’t deter him. He stepped up a had a great series of jumps each improving by nearly half a meter, ending with a 3^rd place finish in the JV triple jump (12.0 meters) after running a new PR in the 400.

Torrance Freeman had a strong double with top 5 finishes in both the 60 and the 200 in a very competitive sprint field for both.

Winning sections was a theme for the sprint crew as well. Being competitive is something that can always push towards faster times. The sprinters won their sections in multiple events. Torrance won his section in both the 60 and the 200 (5^th overall), Xavier Jones won his section in the JV 200 (4^th overall), Zain Quarishi won his section in the 60 (6^th overall), and Na’Varyian Junior won his section in the 60 (9^th overall). As a coach, I love seeing guys get out and RACE!

The freshman distance crew had a big day. Caden de Graaf took 2^nd overall in the JV 3200, running a 10:48 in his first attempt that the distance. Jimmy Gutmann had a big breakthrough in the 1600, dropping his PR nearly 20 seconds (down to 5:08) to finish 3^rd in the JV 1600. Emerson Raino ran his first 3200 and finished 8^th overall in the JV race.

The jumps crew continues to be a huge bright spot for the team. Curterry Clark and Jakub Banka led the way. Greg Togle had top 5 finishes in both horizontal jumps at the JV level. Nathan Dybas in the JV triple. Cobey McGregory 5^th in the varsity high jump.

Nathan Reyes (5^th varsity) and Eli Smith (big PR) brought the heat in the throws. Josiah Castillo also had a nice PR.

Spencer Kazak finished 4^th in the 3200 with a big breakthrough race (10:22) and then came back and ran within 1 second of his 1600 PR, after completing the distance double for the first time.

To close out the meet both 4x400 relays ran season best times (Varsity and F/S level). Gilberto Saucedo had a big anchor leg running 52.3 (FAT split). Guilian Salas also added a 2nd PR split in that race. Ameer Hamza, and Na'Varyian Junior added PR splits.

A huge step forward for the team. Next up the York Open Meet next Saturday, and another chance for some big steps forward.