PUNXSUTAWNEY –– Bradford High recorded nine season-best times as Mitch Vleminckx, Logan Caruso and Jaron Ambrose individually doubled as the Owls downed Punxsutawney, 120-30, on Tuesday.
The win the gives the Owls (6-0) a third straight undefeated dual meet season.
“I’m happy we won and happy we got some personal bests, but there are some places we need to get better in,” Owls’ head coach Tom Tessena said. I’m happy but I’m not satisfied. I was happy our 4×1 won because that was a real close race and they came back from having a problem Friday night.”
On Wednesday, May 17, the Owls will try to win the District 9 Class AAA championship. Bradford High has won districts 17 out of the last 18 seasons.
“We pretty much have our lineup set,” Tessena said. “I’m just deciding between a couple guys in different events. I think we’ll be able to get that just right for districts.
“We’ll get a little rested up, polish up our technique a little bit and look for our third straight D-9 title. It would make it 18 out of the last 19 years, so that would make it something to shoot for.”
Vleminckx won the 200 dash (22.6) and long jump (20-00.25). He also ran the anchor leg for the Owls’ winning 1600 relay team with Vinnie Bizzarro, Tyler Kraft and Mike Bosworth.
“Mitch had his usual good day with wins in the 200 and long jump,” Tessena said. “He lost a close race in the 100, but ran a good race in the relay.”
Caruso completed the distance double by winning the 1600- and 3200-meter runs in 4:41 and 10:51, respectively. Ambrose swept the hurdle events and posted a personal-best in the 110s, crossing the finish line in 15.4 seconds.
Bosworth was the other track winner on the day for the Owls, winning the 400 in a personal-best 53.0. Tessena said Bosworth “also ran two good races in the relays,” as he helped the 400 and 1600 teams to wins. Bradford High swept the three relays, as Tyler Kraft, Isaac Paterniti, Nate Blauser and Bizzarro won the 3200 relay.
“We’re looking very good in the 4×8 and the 4×4,” Tessena said. “We should be able to win both of those comfortably.”
The 400 relay team bounced back from a disqualification on Friday night at Altoona by running a season-best time of 45.1. That team of Bosworth, Matt Stafford, Andy Pantuso and Donnie Pattison has continued to drop its time as the season has progressed.
Other personal-bests on the track belonged to Bizzarro in the 400 (53.6), Nate Blauser in the 800 (2:07) and Stafford (15.6) and Dylan Phillips (16.4) in the 110 hurdles
Kraft, meanwhile, set the freshman record in the 800, finishing in 2:04.8. That broke Tyler Nuzzo’s record of 2:05.24 from 2013.
In the field, the Owls had a bounce-back effort of sorts in the throwing events as Bradford High swept the field events.
“We scored a lot of points in the field events today,” Tessena said. “We won all the field events and we don’t normally do that. We have some places to clean up before districts.”
In the throws, John Eakin won the shot put (53-06), Ryan Whittemore (120-00.50) won the discus and Nathan Gehm (143-00) took the javelin. Gehm also had a personal-best in the shot put of 45-00.
This comes after Tessena said he was looking for better results in the throws after Friday night’s invitational.
In the jumps, Daemone Patterson won the triple jump (38-04.50), Pattison (5-04) won the high jump and Jack Kellam (12-06) came in first in the pole vault.
The Owls now have a week off before the district meet in Brookville.
“I’m happy we won and happy we got some personal bests [on Tuesday], but there are some places we need to get better in,” Tessena said. “I’m happy but I’m not satisfied.”
At PUNXSUTAWNEY
Bradford 120, Punxsutawney 30
100: Anthony Stello (P) 11.1, 200: Mitch Vleminckx (B) 22.6, 400: Mike Bosworth (B) 53.0, 800: Matt Wehrle (P) 2:01, 1,600: Logan Caruso (B) 4:41, 3,200: Logan Caruso (B) 10:51, 400 relay: Bradford (Matt Stafford, Mike Bosworth, Andy Pantuso, Donnie Pattison) 45.1, 1,600 relay: Bradford (Vinnie Bizzarro, Tyler Kraft, Mike Bosworth, Mitch Vleminckx) 3:41, 3,200 relay: Bradford (Tyler Kraft, Isaac Paterniti, Nate Blauser, Vinnie Bizzarro) 8:40, 110 hurdles: Jaron Ambrose (B) 15.4, 300hurdles: Jaron Ambrose (B) 42.1, longjump: Mitch Vleminckx (B) 20-00.25, triplejump: Daemone Patterson (B) 38-04.50, highjump: Donnie Pattison (B) 5-04, pole vault: Jack Kellam (B) 12-06, shotput: John Eakin (B) 53-06, discus: Ryan Whittemore (B) 120-00.50, javelin: Nate Gehm (B) 143-00
