The St. Joe's Track and Field Team spent the weekend of June 5th and 6th at St. Francis High School competing for a chance to win All-Catholics. Although they were up against the wall and in 5th place out of seven teams after the 1st day, the team rebounded on the more event-heavy Sunday to place 2nd, just one point ahead of Canisius.
The St. Francis Red Raiders team, who won the event, was utterly dominant, and no matter how hard St. Joe's tried, St. Francis' experience and depth overpowered the freshman- and sophomore-heavy Marauders.
Among the many highlights were Kai Messmer '23, Jack Occhipinti '22, and Andrew Talbot '23 who used their versatility to bring points to the Marauders. Messmer placed 3rd in the 100 yard dash, 4th in the long jump and 4th in the triple jump with a personal record 40-03.25 jump while being an anchor on the 2nd place 4 by 400m relay team. Talbot placed 2nd in the 800 meter run with a personal record 2:06 and leading the 4x800m relay squad to a 3rd place finish. He also placed 4th in the 400 meter qualifiers but was unable to run in the finals. Occhipinti anchored the distance races for the Marauders, placing 4th in the mile with a 5:00 time, a personal record, and placing 6th in the 2 mile with an 11:02 time.
The Marauders got solid production from the veterans with Andrew Gorny '21 having a personal record in both the 200 meter dash and long jump, placing 6th in the 200m, Anthony Paglino '21 qualifying for the 100 and 200 meter dash final, and Daehsyon Riley '22 garnering a personal record in the 800 meter run of 2:15 while placing 6th.
Going into the year, many Marauder runners were freshman or sophomores, but many did not disappoint in offering depth for the team and gaining points.
Andrew Connolly '24 finished 6th in the discus throw with a healthy PR of 4 feet, Brendan Murphy '23 placed 6th in the high jump, and Dorian Buckley '24 plus Manny Guerrero '24 finished 5th and 6th respectively in the 400 meter dash with big time personal records.
Although these individual runners helped rack up the points necessary to place 2nd, the relays were what eventually led to the huge victory over Canisius.
The 4x400 relay of Talbot, Guerrero, Buckley and Riley placed 3rd, and the 4x800 relay of Talbot, Riley, Occhipinti and Andrew Cancilla '21 both finished 3rd. However, the 4x100, which was the last event where Canisius and the Marauders found themselves in a 2nd place tie, really set the tone.
Comprised of Gorny, Paglino, Isaac Gwitt '24 and Messmer, the team dominated Canisius for a resounding second place finish, officially placing St. Joe's in 2nd place.
To cap off the weekend the JV team ran well with Faustin Ushindi '24 placing 4th in the 100m and 200m, and 3rd in the discus throw, Sam Tomm '24 placing 1st in the 800m and 2nd in the 3200m and 1600m, and some big personal gains by Tommy Modica Amore '24, Henry Walsh '23, and Ryan Mucica '24.
It was definitely a well-run weekend for the Marauders who ran with grit and made a bunch of personal and team gains.