Sat Feb 19, 2011 - 84th CHSAA Indoor Championship - Armory

 

Prep 3rd at Cities!
 4x400, HJer Trevon Tann win City Titles
 Seminario 2nd in SP nailbiter, Rosa 5th in 1K
 McEvoy, Civetta & Kowarick claim PV medals
Prep Sprint Coach Daryn Johnson '99, with 2011 CHSAA 4x400m Champions Gio Graziosa '12, Malik Crossdale '14, Patrick Gray '12 and Lucas Keefer '12
Coach Johnson '99 & 4x400 City Champs Graziosa, Crossdale, Gray & Keefer 		Trevon Tann '11, and Coach Matt Febles with 4th HJ City Champ plaque for FP in last 5 Years
Jumps Coach Matt Febles & 2011 City Champ Trevon Tann

Sat Feb 19, 2011 - 84th CHSAA Indoor Championship - Armory
    A great day at the Armory ended with a spectacular win the 4x400 meter relay for the Prep, as the foursome overcame a 7th place seed and many lead changes to emerge atop the CHSAA in the famed "mile relay"- a race steeped in history up at Rose Hill.  But the day began with an event that the Prep, under Jumps Coach Matt Febles, has come to "own" in the past half decade, as Trevon Tann '11 became the winner of the 4th HJ title the Prep has seen in the past 5 years.  Add surprise 6th place achiever Danny Lee '12 (5'10") to the mix, and one easily can see the dynasty continuing.  The vaulters were "all over" their event, as Soph Sean McEvoy and seniors Pat Civetta and Berent Kowarick led 10 Rams into the top 20 places.   Senior Tony Rosa overcame weeks of nagging injuries to claim a fast 5th in the 1000m, while classmate Mike Seminario tied for the best Shot Put toss of the day, placing 2nd only based on his #2 throw.  The Prep's 20 points claimed the 3rd place plaque in a tight, exciting meet.

  But it was the 4x400 that dominated the thoughts of the faithful as they left the Armory on Saturday night.
 A disappointing  photo-finish loss in the 4x400 at the Jan 23 sectional champs left the team with only a 7th-best seed entering today's Cities, relegating the Rams to the 3rd heat of the 4x400 trials.  But the all-underclassmen foursome of Graziosa, Keefer, Gray and Crossdale emerged with the best time in the trials, running all alone in 3:29.64.   But cramping for Crossdale, and for Keefer in his 600m run created concerns, led to the decision to withdraw the Freshman from the 2 rounds of  the 300m Dash in the late afternoon.  In effect, risking points in favor of an "all-eggs-in-the-basket" approach to earning a state berth in the relay.    Things were made more complicated with the knowledge that St. Anthony's two star 400m runners, Warner Cooley III and Payton Hazzard, were held out of the trials but were inserted into the final.  The finals saw Gio Graziosa calmly charge to the lead, handing off in a close 2nd at 52.7, then Lucas Keefer got seemingly "swallowed up" by a horde of giant sprinters only to emerge on lap 2 with a 5 meter lead via a 51.7 trip.  Pat Gray took the baton and his 53.1 PR relinquished the lead only slightly to Mount St. Michael, with the rest of the field in good position to overwhelm Freshman anchor Malik Crossdale.   Last year, the Prep fans watched helplessly as St. Anthony's star Pat Farmer destroyed the 4x400 field, coming from last to first in a record 46.5 split.  And soon it looked like a late "groundhog day" event as senior Payton Hazzard passed the entire field in the first 200 meters on anchor leg.  But then the precocious 9th grader, having just turned 15 years old last week, went to work.   Malik latched on to Hazzard on the back stretch, only to make the big move with 100 meters to go, pulling away in a spectacular 50.8 effort to win the Prep's first Indoor 4x400 title in 48 years!  Congrats on yet another historic day!