chstarmac Sports

Flying Past the Competition: Chaminade Track and Field Participates at the University of Pennsylvania Invitational

Jack McKie ’19 leaps over a hurdle while maintaining a safe lead ahead of two opponents.

OBy Jack Hardy ’18

On Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29 a select group of Chaminade track-and-field athletes traveled to the University of Pennsylvania for the competitive and historic Penn Relays.  Varsity members from the 4×800 meter, 4×400 meter, and 4×100 meter relay teams traveled to Franklin Field for one of the longest-running meets in the country.  It hosts some of the fastest athletes from across the world, with hundreds of high schools from the United States and a few dozen teams from Jamaica, a team from South Africa, and various other countries.  The Penn Relays is considered one of the highlights of the season, and all of the Flyers’ hard work and preparation during the season led up to this competition.

Flyers stick together and lead the field.

The first event that Chaminade competed in was the 4×800 meter relay.  The quartet took to the track on Friday morning amid hot and humid conditions.  Chris Strzelinski ‘17 ran the leadoff leg for Chaminade, with a split of 1:59. Strzelinski then passed the baton to Chris Loumeau ‘17, who ran a split of 1:58.  Will Reich ‘17 served as the third leg on the relay and successfully maintained the team’s position before passing the baton off to Cam Sherry ‘17 who closed and ran a time of 2:00.  The relay teams overall time was 8:00 minutes.

The next relay team to compete was the 4×100 meter.  The team was led by Brian Shevlin ‘17, who was followed by Joe Reich ‘17, Jack Kenny ‘17, and Tommy Toles ‘17, who ran a time of 43.89 seconds.

Jude Okonkwo ’17 (l.) attempts to blow past the competition.

The final event that Chaminade competed in was the 4×400 meter which took place on Saturday morning.  Joe Reich ‘17 led the team with a split of 50.3 seconds.  Joe passed the baton to his brother Will Reich ‘17 who ran a split of 50.2.  Sophomore Kyle Krummenacker ‘19 ran the third leg with a split of 50.9, and passed off to Chris Strzelinski ‘17 who closed for the relay with a time of 51.2 seconds.

The Flyers had an outstanding performance at the meet and hope to continue their success in the future with the upcoming league championships.  “We performed great, and we hope to continue the positive momentum into the future,” said  Chris Loumeau ‘17.  The team will be competing at its league championships on Saturday, May 20.  Until then, the team will continue to train hard.