Article by Mike Leonard ’00 – Head XC/Track & Field Coach
Monday April 4, 2022, LaSalle College HS — Father Judge opened its PCL season on the road at LaSalle Monday. Joining the Crusaders and Explorers in competition were St. Joe’s Prep, Conwell-Egan and Lansdale Catholic. Finishing 1st with 192 points, Judge came out with 4 wins and zero losses as they defeated LaSalle who had 157 points, St. Joe’s Prep (139), Conwell-Egan (32), and Lansdale Catholic (15).
Leading the way was sophomore Joseph Walker who posted 20 points with his double victory in the Mile (4:39.73) and the 800 (2:07.91). The Mile seemed to ignite the Crusaders as Walker joined the sub 4:40 club opened up by Michael Carolan ‘22 and Gavin Kelly ‘23 this past weekend.
Other large point events for Judge included the 100m led by Momo Peters ‘23, who ran 11.24 in his season opener and now has Judge’s fastest 100 meter dash time in 7 years and ranks him 3rd all time amongst juniors. Right behind Peters was sophomore Nigel Isaac in second (11.68) and freshman Ryan Stankeiwicz (11.92).
Overall, the Crusaders showed their depth, covering all events well, especially putting up significant points in both hurdle events, the javelin and the pole vault where junior Anthony Knuttle jumped a foot over his previous personal best, clearing 10 feet 6 inches and finishing second.
Knuttle’s vault was good enough to qualify him for the District 12 Championship meet. Also qualifying for Districts on Monday were Walker (Mile), Peters (100m), Daniel Figueroa ‘22 (400m), and Timothy McCloskey ‘23 (3200m). That now brings the Crusaders to an early season total of 16 District qualifiers, which is already 2 more than they had in 2021.
The team will stay local this Saturday at Council Rock as they compete at the prestigious Kiwanis Invitational before having their PCL home opener next Monday (3:30pm). This Saturday’s meet will begin at 10:00am and will have live results at RUN.TF.
