After falling to rival Parkland in their final regular season dual meet, the Emmaus girls and boys track and field teams knew bigger things were ahead.
That being the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference league meet.
“Our motto going into the league championship meet was not to allow a speed bump to turn into a roadblock after the loss in our dual meet with Parkland,” said Emmaus head coach Kami Reinhard. “We had full faith the EPC title was within reach for both of our teams, despite navigating plenty of speed bumps throughout the season.”
That league title became reality as the girls captured the championship, dethroning the four-time defending champs, the Trojans, while the boys also had a strong showing with a runner-up finish.
“As a program, we broke four league meet records,” said Reinhard. “Each event group scored points for our team, which is an immense credit to our entire coaching staff.
On the girls’ side, junior Mady McCartney was outstanding in the two-day event capturing the triple crown in winning the 800m (2:20.53), 1600m (4:58.79) and 3200m (10;42.80).
Senior Kayla-Rayne Quinones also won first place in the 100m hurdles (15.04), and earned a runner-up finish in 300m hurdles (45.81).
In the field events, junior Claudia Walls captured three medals finishing first in the high jump (5-2), second in the triple jump (35-9) and third in the long jump (16-11).
Senior Payton Campbell was second in the 3200m (10:52.51) and third in the 800m (2:22.63), while junior Gabby DeVita finished in the 100m dash (12.30).
“The girls pushed through, event by event, and really rallied together to earn the overall win,” said Reinhard. “Mady, Claudia, Payton, Kayla-Rayne along with Sophia Pratt, Morgan Tandy and Morgan Fletes exceeded any and all expectations for the team. They fought incredibly hard event after event to reap the rewards from all of the training and preparation for this meet to compete/score in three or more events”
“Also the achievements of athletes like Kayleen Louis who placed third in the shot put, and Gabby who placed third in the 100m and was part of the third place 400m relay. Every bit of effort put forth during this particular meet was remarkable! We couldn’t be happier for them to win the EPC League championship trophy.”
Not to be overshadowed by their female counterparts, the boys also had a number of outstanding efforts.
“There were unbelievable performances on the boys side which should be noted,” said Reinhard.
“Senior Tyler Grabinski earned the league and all region record for the boys pole vault leaping 16-0!. Our boys 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams took first place, and also propelled the team ahead to get that runner-up finish in the meet. We also had three boys place fourth, fifth and sixth in the shot-put earning 12 points for the team.”
The 4x100m relay team of juniors Kai Jefferson-Rushing and Nicholi Marsh, along with seniors Dorrain McCargo and Michael Milot won first place in a time of 42.18, while the 4x400m relay — seniors Jared Petre, Miles Cook, Richard Will and junior Rien George — also captured gold in a time of 3:26.06.
“The boys should hold their heads high as they really do treat each other like a family,” said Reinhard. “It’s clear and evident to anyone who is part of the team. So even though they didn’t earn the overall win in the meet, they win in my book in regard to team camaraderie. Parkland is an incredible strong top state team, so it is a big task to compete with them. They keep the bar high.”
Girls (Emmaus place-winners)
100m – Gabby DeVita, 3rd place
200m – Sophia Pratt, 7th place
400m – Morgan Tandy, 6th place
800m – Madelyn McCartney, 1st place; Payton Campbell, 3rd place
1600m – Madelyn McCartney, 1st place; Payton Campbell, 4th place
3200m – Madelyn McCartney, 1st place; Payton Campbell, 2nd place
100m hurdles – Kayla-Rayne Quinones, 1st place
300m hurdles – Quinones, 2nd place
4×100 relay – Emmaus, 3rd place
4×400 relay – Emmaus, 6th place
4×800 relay – Emmaus, 4th place
High jump – Claudia Walls, 1st place
Long jump – Walls, 3rd place; Morgan Fletes, 6th place
Triple jump – Walls, 2nd place
Pole vault – Malena Stetz, 9th place; Elle Bagley, 10th place
Javelin – Sofie Laird, 11th place
Shot put – Kayleen Louis, 3rd place
BOYS (Emmaus placewinners)
100m – Nicholi Marsh, 4th place
200m – Marsh, 4th place
400m – Richard Will, 5th place; Jeremy Sharpless, 7th place
800m – Jared Petre, 3rd place
1600m – Petre, 9th place
4×100 relay – Kai Jefferson-Rushing, Nicholi Marsh, Dorrian McCargo and Michael Milot, 1st place
4×400 relay – Rien George, Jared Petre, Miles Cook, Richard Will, 1st place
4×800 relay – Miles Cook, Conor Fisher, Jared Petre, Richard Will, 2nd place
High jump – Jathniel Feguiere, 2nd place; Gabe Kabba, T3 place
Long jump – Konstantin Panagopoulos, 4th place
Triple jump – Damar Gilzeane, 7th place
Pole Vault – Tyler Grabinski, 1st place
Discus – Matt Buss, 6th place
Javelin – Nicholas DeSantis, 6th place
Shot put – Colin Nonnemacher, 4th place; Robert Edwards, 5th place; Brody McHugh, 6th place
PHOTO GALLERY – Courtesy of Kris Petre
Madelyn McCartney
Tyler Grabinski
Kayla-Rayne Quinones
4×100 – Kai -Jefferson Rushing, Nicholi Marsh, Dorrian McCargo, Michael Milot