-Article by: Mike Leonard ’00, Head XC/Track & Field Coach
Saturday April 2, 2022, North Penn HS —– The second meet of the 2022 Outdoor season appeared as if it was going to be similar to the first meet with chilly temps and blustery winds. But bad weather gave way to ideal early season weather and the relays of the first week gave way to individual events at the newly renovated Crawford Stadium, as the Crusaders took on many of the best from District 1 and the State.
The meet started with a bang with Colin Murray (‘22) taking 7th in 110 meter high hurdles to mark the first of 13 top 10 performances on the day for Father Judge. He would later top that with a 5th place finish in his preferred event, the 300 meter hurdles. Both performances qualified the senior for both the PCL and the District 12 Championship meet.
Shifting up in distance to the 1600m (just short of a mile), the trio of Gavin Kelly (‘22), Michael Carolan (‘22) and Tim McCloskey (‘23) excelled, racing with some of the best in the area, and shattering their previous personal bests, finishing 3rd, 4th, and 8th. For Kelly and Carolan, their 4:37’s marked the fastest regular season times in the program in 10 years. For McCloskey, valiantly racing in an arm cast, it marked his first time under 4:50.
Youth made its presence known Saturday as a quartet of freshmen stood out amongst their peers. Leading the way was thrower David Costa who finished 4th in the discus and 8th in the shot put. Both performances rank him PA #2 amongst freshmen. In the 100 meter dash Jeffrey Wah and Ryan Stankeiwicz posted PA #10 and #15 times respectively for freshmen. The duo then stepped up to the Varsity 4×100 meter relay that qualified for the District 12 Championship meet. Finally, in the 800 meters, Gavin Dwyer dipped under 2:15 for the first time, ranking him 17th among freshmen in PA.
Sticking with middle distance events, in the 800 meters, the duo of Michael McGerry (‘22) and Joseph Walker (‘24) qualified for Districts, with McGerry’s 2:02.97 making him the fastest Crusader since 2013. McGerry’s performance also earned him Crusader of the Meet, as voted on him by his peers. Walker’s time was also good for PA #5 among sophomores. Meanwhile, a few minutes before in the 400 meters, another sophomore Nigel Isaac blazed his way to a 6th place finish, good for PA #6 among sophomores and the fastest time by a Judge sophomore since Mike Hagan in 2012.
Finally, in the field events, senior Captain Brendan Hutz and junior captain Momo Peters showed up in a big way Saturday with Hutz taking 4th in the pole vault and Peters taking 3rd in the long jump and 6th in the triple jump. Both captains were also on the 4×100 meter relay that qualified for Districts. In total, the Crusaders would qualify 10 new events to the District meet bringing their total to 11 for the early season.
Father Judge will face the defending league champs, LaSalle, at their facility on Monday April, 4th at 3:30pm. Also in the meet will be perennial power St. Joseph’s Prep, Conwell-Egan Catholic and Lansdale Catholic. Live results will be available at Run.TF
