Survive and Advance

Life as a tiny Catholic school can be tough.  Life as a tiny Catholic School located in arguably the best running County and Conference in the state can be even tougher.  And over the last few weeks we had some really really good performances at the Skyland Conference and Somerset County Championships (such as Shannon Reinhart's school record in the 400m - 63.78).  But those performances often go unnoticed due to the fact we are competing against literally some of the best and biggest teams in the State.  But what don't kill ya make ya stronger.  And our strength and experience showed the past 2 days at the Non-Public B South State Sectional Championships. 

The name of the game at Sectionals is Survive and Advance.  The goal is top 8 in your event so that you advance to the State Group Championships.   Top 6 you get a medal and help contribute to the team point total. 

That said, here's the highlights from Sectionals:

Boys

• Avery Lawrence - 5th in 100m
• Avery Lawrence - 5th in 200m
• TJ Harkins - 2nd in 1600m
• Mike Paustian - 8th in 1600m
• TJ Harkins - 2nd in 3200m
• Michael Blandino - 4th in 3200m
• Tim Albano - 3rd in Javelin *School Record*  129-9
• 4 x 100 (Avery Lawrence, Jason Rizzo, Matt Lumia, Thomas Lederman) - 4th
• 4 x 400 (Mike Paustian, Jason Rizzo, Matt Lumia, TJ Harkins) - 5th
• 4 x 800 (TJ Harkins, Matt Lumia, Jason Rizzo, Michael Blandino) - 3rd

Girls

• Caroline Onderko - 6th in 400m Hurdles *School Record* 73.65
• Ali Wehrhahn - 7th in 1600m
• Ali Wehrhahn - 7th in 3200m
• Kelly Griffin - 7th in 100m Hurdles *School Record* 19.37
• 4 x 400 (Caroline Onderko, Ali Wehrhahn, Haley Rogers, Shannon Reinhart) - 4th *School Record* 4:26.69
• 4 x 800 (Caroline Onderko, Ali Wehrhahn, Haley Rogers, Shannon Reinhart) - 3rd *School Record* 10:35.18

All in all it was a successful meet for our young team.  8 different individuals and 5 relay teams earned the right to compete at the State Group Championships next weekend.  For comparison sake, 3 years ago Sectionals was also held at Donovan Catholic and we didn't have anyone advance (and only 3 kids competed from IHS).  2 years ago we had 2 different individuals and 1 relay team advance.  And last year we had 7 different individuals and 5 relay teams advance.  So we keep one upping ourselves.  Plus as a team our Girls basically tripled their previous highest ever team point total with 11 points.  Anddddd that's with basically all underclassmen (Kat Diana you will be missed).

Now we get 9 days to recover and prepare for Groups.  The task gets tougher as only the top 2 in each event qualify for the Meet of Champions.  We'll have to be faster and tougher than ever before.  But why not?  

There has to be a first time for everything, right.  At Groups you better believe we're gonna have plenty of first times.

#MakeEmNotice