Junior BJ Townley, pictured here at the Draper Relays, was everywhere for the Cardinals in their Catholic state championship-winning performance Saturday in Richmond.
Bishop Ireton’s boys’ track and field team defended their Catholic State championship over a 9-team field on Saturday and the girls snared a runner-up team trophy on a busy day at the Abbey of Benedictine High School in Richmond. The boys edged Pope John Paul the Great for their second consecutive title, while the girls finished behind Bishop O’Connell.
Junior BJ Townley took the boys’ team almost literally on his shoulders, scoring 30 points in individual events and running in a winning relay team to chip in a critical 10 more, scoring in six events, and breaking his own record in the 110 hurdle event. The versatile Townley, a 2011 track athlete of the year in Alexandria, placed 5th in the long jump, second in the high jump, won the triple jump and 110 meter hurdles (School record time :15.87), grabbed a second in the 300 hurdles, and ran a leg of the winning 4×400 relay event.
The boys received help from depth in a number of events, as Michael Andersen won the 400 meter race in School record time of :51.58 and the 800 meter run. Almost as important, however, Sam Ferrara finished second and Khyree Robinson 5th to collect 20 team points in a single event. Arthur Stier chased Andersen home in the 800 to take second by a mere .01 seconds behind the Ireton senior and nearly 3 seconds ahead of Jay Carroll of O’Connell in third.
In the high jump, Stier chipped in 2 points with 5th, Andrew Baehre a 5th in the 110 meter hurdles, while Moses Webb earned a third place in both the 100 meter and 200 meter sprints. Liam O’Connor ran a 10:19.47 to win the 3200 meter race by more than 11 seconds and came back with a 4:44.09, good for third in the 1600 meter event.
The girls’ team likewise displayed athleticism and depth in their performance in the Catholic state meet. Senior Shannon Gordon did everything but drive the bus to Richmond for the Cardinal girls Saturday. Much like Townley, Gordon scored 24 team points in five events. She won the 100 meter hurdles and was second in the 300 hurdles, grabbed a 4th place finish in the long jump, and a sixth in the triple jump and 200 meter dash.
Junior Hannah Thomas jumped 4’8″ for a third place in the high jump, while classmates Nicole Bond (:12.99) and Katrina Guillou (:13.63) finished second and fourth respectively in the 100 meter dash. Bond and junior Anna Wissler combined for another second and fifth place in the 400 meters for the redbirds. Wissler came back to battle senior teammate Marin Nolan in the 800, where Nolan claimed a third at 2:28.12 and Wissler a 4th at 2:34.48. Senior Madeline Thomas, another Alexandria track athlete of the year winner, ran a personal best 5:17.39 in the 1600 meters, just a second off the School record, for third behind O’Connell’s Sarah McCarthy and only .03 behind second place Alison Dommel of DJO. The Radford-bound Thomas was a second in the 3200 meter race, again chasing McCarthy across the finish line.
Ireton’s relay teams placed well. On the girls side, the 4×800 relay (Marin Nolan, Joanna Faletti, Kaitlyn McNutt, Megan Reilly) finished second to the champion Knights, in 10:43.12, and again they were runners-up to PVI in the 4×100 relay(Ricca Graham, Ileana Gutierrez, Katrina Guillou, Loren Gant in :55.83). The gals did win the 4×400 relay (Marin Nolan, Ricca Graham, Anna Wissler, and Sarah Hersey) in a time of 4:24.10 ahead of PVI, DJO, and JPGHS.
The boys 4×800 (Arthur Stier, Dan Burns, Stephen Gottlieb, Kevin Moran) took a second behind O’Connell, another second in the 4×100 (Moses Webb, Brandon Price, Sam Ferrara, Andrew Baehre) to John Paul the Great, but like the girls, won their signature event, the 4×400 (Mike Andersen, Arthur Stier, BJ Townley and Sam Ferrara) in a time of 3:31.09, a full 7 seconds ahead of Bishop Sullivan.
“We are thrilled to repeat as boys’ championships, and proud of the performance of our girls to finish second.” said the Cardinal head coach, Mike Resnick. “We were aiming for both titles, but it was a competitive meet and I think we are ready for some great times in the WCAC meet this coming week.” The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference will host their annual track and field championships on Thursday, May 19th and Saturday, May 21st at Good Counsel High School in Olney, Maryland. With a number of Conference schools hosting proms, Friday will be an off day in the unusual schedule for this year’s event.
Team Standings
Boys
1) Bishop Ireton 135.5
2) Pope John Paul the Great 122
3) Bishop O’Connell 68.5
4) Benedictine 46
5) Peninsula Catholic 42
6) Bishop Sullivan 40
7) Paul VI Catholic 31
8)Walsingham Academy 7
Girls
1) Bishop O’Connell 156.5
2) Bishop Ireton 113..5
3) Paul VI Catholic 109
4) Bishop Sullivan 36
5) Peninsula Catholic 33
6) St Gertrude’s 17
7) Pope John Paul the Great 16
8)Walsingham Academy 6
Processing your request, Please wait....
