Staff Writer
The New Hope Track and Field started the year off strong. The team participated in the Haverford Invitational on April 1. This meet, held at Haverford High School, featured many strong performances from the New Hope Team.
In Field Events, Matt Jopling in Triple Jump posted a jump of 33’½”. Amelia Wurster got a distance of 14’11” in Long Jump to earn ninth place. In Javelin, Nico Marino was able to throw for 111’, and in High jump, Max Chuma got over the height of 5’8”in with sister Maryna Chuma reaching 4’8”.
In relays the New Hope boys 4x800 team took second place with the use of new American flag arm sleeves on all members right arms. The girls 4x400 ran a solid time of 4:26.85, and their 4x100 ran 55.11 for fourteenth place.
In individual events Kate Hunt got ninth place with a time of 28.14 in her 200m race; Ryan Smith clocked a 12.64 in his 100m race. In the 400m Andrew Purdy ran a 53.73 and freshman Christian Kruse ran a 55.37. Eric Cammarata clocked a 5:25 in his mile and Eric Wanat got a personal best in the 800m with a 2:49. Finally, to end the day Sam Czupich clocked in an 11:35 in his 3200m race for thirty-third place.
Overall, it was a great start for the beginning of the season for the track and field team with their new spring track coaches: Scott Kunkel and Erin Moss.
On May 10 and 11 at Holy Ghost Preparatory School, New Hope Solebury participated at BAL’s ( Bicentennial Athletic Leagues) track meet and it was one of the top performances in recent memory for the team. First off for the girls team there were pr’s and strong performances all around. In field events Maryna Chuma took 1st in high jump with a personal best of 5’2’’. In long jump Amelia Wurster secured 2nd with a jump of 15’5’’ and 3rd in triple jump with a 31’10’’. Samantha Renson beat out almost 20 girls for a clutch 3rd place medal for Javelin 95’10’’. In the mile, Julia Mycek nabbed first place with a time of 5:29 and a season best. Savannah Herring took 2nd place in the 400m with a 1:01.46. In relays the girls took third in the 4x100, second in the 4x400, and third in the 4x800. The girls had a great meet finishing 3rd out of 9 overall and have many strong runners ready for the upcoming districts meet.
On the boys side there were some clutch performances and some last minute qualifying for districts. In the field events Max Chuma took 5th in high jump with a height of 5’8’’ and Nico Marino took 7th out of 28 in Javelin with a throw of 131’6’’. Freshman Grant Harm jumped an impressive 16’ 5’’ in long jump. In running events Ryan Smith ran a strong 100m with a 12.26 and Andrew Purdy got a 53.81 in his 400m good for 8th out of 30. Matt Peshek finally beat Greg House’s 1600 pr with a 4:29.76 good enough for first place out of 46 runners and bragging rights with Greg. Joshua House came out of nowhere in the last 100m of the 800 to nab a 3rd place medal out of 48 runners getting a time of 2:06.27. In relays the New Hope boys finally qualified for the district in the 4x400 getting a 3:39, the boys 4x100 got a 46.36 good enough for third place, and the boys 4x800 took 3rd place with a nice time of 8:27.80. The guys are ready to compete for districts having over 15 runners sent to it.
