MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / WIRE PHOTO
The Bensalem High School track team practices on the hurdles last week. The Owls won their first five Suburban One National Conference League meets in April.
By Mike Gibson
For the Wire
In sports like track and field, as the weather turns warmer, the performances usually get better.
Unfortunately for Bensalem High School — and just about every other program in the area — the weather has yet to get warmer. But, there’s always May.
May means championship season and, while the Owls won their first five Suburban One National Conference League meets in April, they were always gearing up for the end of that month and the first part of this month because this is really championship season.
Despite the loss at Council Rock North last week, the Owls consider themselves right on, err, track to defend their boys’ league title. By winning their first five league meets, they’ve built up an early 50-point cushion.
Though the formula of winning a league includes the dual-meet season (where they get 10 points for a win), the preponderance of points is weighted heavily toward the team championships, which will be held May 10 and 11 at William Tennent.
“We can still win the league even if we don’t win every meet,” said Brad Rivera, the Owls’ star. “It’s a complicated formula, but the best way of describing it is that the Suburban One League meet is the most important element of the formula.
“The dual-meet season is something where you’d like to build a nice cushion going into the meet, but if you can go in with one or two losses, you still have a chance to take the championship.”
That’s important at Bensalem High School because the Owls are coming off a spectacular 12 months where they won the league title last May, then followed that up with an indoor state title. On April 8, they were honored in a special assembly in Harrisburg for the state title.
If they are able to pull off the same, it’s another trip next year for the underclassmen.
“To a lot of them, that was the best thing, they got off school,” said head coach Mary Ellen Malloy. “They got the whole day off, but it was really an educational experience to go to Harrisburg, to tour the Capitol building and to see how the government works.”
State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo rose from his seat to read the proclamation.
“I’ve known him for years,” Malloy said. “I only know him as Gene. I was calling him Gene and the kids said. ‘You know him?’ They were really impressed.”
When they got back home, it was time to get to work with at least a couple of meets every week, mostly in weather not made for spring track.
“We’re just starting to get back in the swing of things,” Rivera said. “It’s a lot of meets. Ideally, it would be perfect to have two weeks between the (dual) meets, but that’s just not happening because of the way the spring schedule is bunched up. It’s been cool, but it’s cold for everybody.
“This is the kind of sport where you’d like to get more practices in as opposed to the meets because the practices mean so much to improve the times and get the better coordination between the guys on the relay teams.”
The exception to that, of course, is the Penn Relays, which were held last Friday and Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
“I’ve been going to the Penn Relays for the last eight years and it’s such a blast,” Rivera said. “It’s such a fun time. I love it and everything about it. They put the high school competitors with the college competitors, and the U.S. vs. the World factor is there. It’s just a whole lot of things that make it the best track and field event ever.
“The biggest crowd they ever had is when (Olympic sprinter Usain) Bolt came a couple of years ago. That pretty much filled Franklin Field.
“The crowd is loud, but I don’t hear it during the race. I tend to tune everything out. As I’m running, I don’t hear anything but when you get ready to hand off the baton you hear it and that gets the adrenaline flowing.”
Bensalem’s signature relay teams so far have been the 4×400 and 4×800 and those times have been outstanding all season.
Against Council Rock North, the 4×800 team of Armand Cox-Finn, Kyle Brockett, Matt French and Brad Rivera posted a blistering time of 8 minutes, 13.9 seconds. The 4×400 squad of Kyle Francis, Brockett, French and Rivera ran an impressive 3:30.30. Both were good enough to win those events.
“We can do better, but the question is how much better,” Malloy said. “The answer to that question will determine how far we go in the districts and the states.”
The finish line is coming up fast and, with it, the warmer weather.
Editor’s note:
This story was printed incorrectly in the May 1 issue of the Midweek Wire. It will be reprinted in its entirety in the May 8 edition. The staff apologizes for any inconvenience.
