BA boys track wins I.C.C. crown

Kaleah+Smith+sprints+down+the+runway+in+the+pole+vault+at+the+ICC+championship+meet.

Kerry Naylor

Kaleah Smith sprints down the runway in the pole vault at the ICC championship meet.

Colin McCaulley, Sports Writer

The Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils won the I.C.C. Championships yesterday at Bellwood-Antis High School with a team score of 146.5.

It was the ninth ICC meet championship in the last 11 years for the Devils, who also won the regular-season crown.

“I thought our kids did really well yesterday.  We have had a really rough season as far as weather and training, but our kids have worked hard through all of it, so it is nice to see them rewarded for their efforts,” said Coach Nick Lovrich.  “We set goals at the beginning of the season to win this meet and to do so is very satisfying.  The guys stepped up when they needed to and it shows the team depth that we have shown all season.”

Clay Engle was named the meet’s outstanding jumper, and it was well deserved. He set his own PR in the triple jump with a leap of 45 feet and captured a win in the long jump.

We set goals at the beginning of the season to win this meet and to do so is very satisfying.

— Coach Lovrich

In the field the BA throwers were able to take home a couple of victories, producing 40 points. The first coming from Chris Wertman in the shot-put with a throw of 43-9 feet and Braden Heisler threw the javelin 156-4 feet for the easy win.

The performance continued a pattern of excellence for B-A’s field participants this season.

“I was very pleased with the throwers this season! It was one of our most dominating performances in many years in dual meets, and it carried over to a 40 point day at the conference championship,” said field coach Charlie Burch. “Taking 1st and 2nd in the shot, 1st and 3rd in the javelin, and 3rd in the discus is the best day we have had in the ICC meet in all of my years involved.”

The boys 1600 relay team of (Wilson, DeArmitt, Wolfe, Worthing) was the last Blue Devil victory for boys.

In all the boys had place-winners in all but two events.

“We placed athletes in 16 of 18 events, had double place winners in 3 events, and triple place winners in both the long and triple jumps,” said Coach Lovrich.  “When you have results like that it shows that it is a total team effort which is something we really try to emphasize on our team.”

The Bellwood-Antis Lady Blue Devils ended up taking third place with 70 total team points.

Lexi Gerwert set the meet record and tied her own PR by clearing a height of 11-6 in the pole vault. The only other win for the ladies all day came on a 3200 meter relay win with a team made up of all freshmen. Haley Campbell, Lauren Heisler, Kali Lonsinger, and Sicily Yingling took the title, and the race wasn’t even close, with Southern Huntington finishing 18 seconds slower.

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