by Tom Utescher

Track teams from this side of the Schuylkill River claimed the 2017 and 2018 Inter-League titles, but in the 2019 championships at Episcopal Academy, past winners Penn Charter and Germantown Academy could not match the output of runners from Haverford School.

The Fords piled up 124 points to seize the Inter-Ac crown, while the PC Quakers finished second with 101 points, and the GA Patriots were third with 86, edging out meet host EA (84). In fifth with 78 points was Malvern Prep, and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy put up 20 points for sixth place.

GA saw sophomore Robert DiDonato (the reigning league cross country champion) pull off a rare sweep in the distance events, as he won the 800, 1600 and 3200-meter races.

Haverford owned the sprints, though. Junior Daiyaan Hawkins set new meet records in the 100 and 200-meter dash, and the Fords won the 4 x 100 relay and also smashed the 4 x 800-meter relay record by 15 seconds.

Although SCH was dealing with a few injuries (one to a 2018 bronze medalist), the Blue Devils managed to raise their point total from 16 last year to 20 this time around. Accounting for much of that figure were sophomore Carnell Kemp, who placed second in the shot put, and junior Trevor Meyer, who was third in the 110-meter high hurdles.

PC lost some heavy hitters in the sprints from its 2017 championship team, while in 2018, GA graduated three-time league MVP Kyle Garland, now a decathlete at the University of Georgia.

In the field events portion of the meet, in the morning and early afternoon, GA had two individual winners but didn't accumulate many points overall. Senior Caleb Johnson easily repeated as pole vault champion, coming into the competition when all but one rival had already bowed out. His classmate, Ola Abinusawa, stepped up from second place in the shot put in 2018 to win the event this year.

PC, on the other hand, pulled 53 points from the field events, more than half of its total for the entire meet. Senior Pat Gabor led a one-two-three finish for the Quakers in the high jump. Second in that event was junior Akeel Blake, who gave PC victories in the long jump and triple jump. Another 11th grader, Patrick Fehm, was third in the high jump and fourth in the triple.

Out on the track later on, the GA Patriots accumulated 53 points just from the three longest footraces. These were the ones won by DiDonato, and his efforts were complimented by second-place showings in the 1600 and 3200 by junior Matt Sandifer, as well as a fourth-place outcome in the 800 by fellow junior Owen Fitz.

PC had junior Myles Sams come in second in the 110-meter high hurdles and sixth in the 300 intermediates. The Quakers collected third-place points in the 100-meter dash from senior Edward Saydee and in the 800 from freshman Oliver Leedale-Brown. Sophomore Finnegan Glew scored in the distance events, placing third in the 1600 and fifth in the 3200.

A few events into the track portion of the schedule, PC was in first place in the team point standings, but then Haverford got rolling and didn't stop. Between the individual footraces, the hurdles and the three relays, the Fords stacked up 65 points to put all their rivals in the rearview mirror.

They finished second in the final event, the 4 x 400-meter relay, as EA won with a meet-record performance. A third-place finish didn't change PC's standing, but by placing fifth here, GA kept ahead of the EA Churchmen for third place overall.

MEET RESULTS (*meet record)

100 Meters

1. HS Daiyaan Hawkins 10:46*

2. MP D’Angelo Stocker 10:88

3. PC Edward Saydee 10.97

4. EA Jack Bush 11.03

5. EA Malcolm Folk 11.21

6. SCH Ke’Shawn Williams 11.23

200 Meters

1. HS Daiyaan Hawkins 21.48*

2. MP D’Angelo Stocker 22.32

3. EA Jack Bush 22.40

4. HS Dan Whaley 22.43

5. EA Malcolm Folk 22.53

6. EA Chris Zimmerman 22.68

400 Meters

1. EA Chris Zimmerman 48.48

2. HS Dan Whaley 48.77

3. HS Guillaume Laforest 50.88

4. MP Devon Greaves 51.92

5. PC Alex Turner 52.64

6. EA C.J. Jones 52.88

800 Meters

1. GA Robert DiDonato 1:58.72

2. HS Lleyton Winslow 1:59.61

3. PC Oliver Leedale-Brown 1:59.81

4. GA Owen Fitz 2:00.74

5. HS A.J. Sanford 2:00.85

6. MP Eric Villano 2:04.56

1600 Meters

1. GA Robert DiDonato 4:25.46

2. GA Matt Sandifer 4:26.62

3. PC Finnegan Glew 4:35.27

4. MP Zach Brill 4:39.57

5. GA Alex Badami 4:42.40

6. HS Khalil Brand 4:42.69

3200 Meters

1. GA Robert DiDonato 9:42.15

2. GA Matt Sandifer 9:54.06

3. EA Owen Maier 10:09.10

4. MP Collin Hess 10:17.90

5. PC Finnegan Glew 10:18.68

6. GA Alex Badami 10:21.30

110-Meter Hurdles

1. MP Sebastian Costantini 14.82

2. PC Myles Sams 15.47

3. SCH Trevor Meyer 15.87

4. MP Ryan Rosenberger 16.32

5. MP Kyle Leonard 16.48

6. PC Akeel Blake 16.62

300-Meter Hurdles

1. HS Kevin Thomas 39.08

2. EA Bryce Cooper 40.83

3. HS Caleb Reed 41.01

4. GA Kevin Lamb 42.36

5. MP Kyle Leonard 42.60

6. PC Myles Sams 42.63

High Jump

1. PC Patrick Gabor 6'4"

2. PC Akeel Blake 6'2"

3. PC Patrick Fehm 6'2"

4. MP Sebastian Costantini 5'10"

5. EA Michael Agbeye 5'8"

6. HS Tyler Seward 5'8"

Long Jump

1. PC Akeel Blake 21'9.25"

2. MP Ryan Rosenberger 21'8.0"

3. HS Tyler Seward 21'2.5"

4. PC Matt Marshall 21'1.75"

5. HS Chris Sims 21'1.75"

6. GA Kevin Lamb 21'0.75"

Triple Jump

1. PC Akeel Blake 49'9.5"

2. HS Chris Sims 44'4"

3. HS Kevin Thomas 43'5.75"

4. PC Patrick Fehm 42'10"

5. EA Michael Agbeye 41'6"

6. SCH Zyon Grant 41'2.25"

Pole Vault

1. GA Caleb Johnson 15'0"

2. EA Peter Lim 13'6"

3. MP Sebastian Costantini 13'0"

4. EA Jacob Viscusi 10'6"

5. HS Jamaal Shaw 10'6"

6. PC Jake Herskowitz 10'0"

Shot Put

1. GA Olatide Abinusawa 58'10.75"

2. SCH Carnell Kemp 50'7.5"

3. HS Petey Lemmon 49'1.25"

4. EA Matt Dade 46'1.25"

5. MP Will Redden 45'10.25"

6. MP Tyler Frank 45'8.25"