It was a fun and successful season for the Pirates boy’s track and field program in 2015. Not only did the team win the Patriot Division title, it also took home a league title, a Group 2 state title and two appearances in the Meet of Champions in three events.
The Pirates won all of their meets this season en route to a league title, which they clinched in the final meet of the season against Holy Cross.
Prior to that accomplishment, the Pirates clinched the Patriot Division title at the BCSL meet hosted by Northern Burlington.
After the BCSL meet, the Pirates took part in the BC Open, hosted by Maple Shade. Head coach Dan Fourney said this meet was the most impressive of the season for his boys.
“Our county open. That’s where every kid performed very well there. We were hoping that would parlay into a sectional meet win as well. Everyone was hitting on the same day. We had some really good performances.”
At the BC Open, the Pirates won the first-ever small school title, finishing second behind the overall champion, Rancocas Valley.
When sectionals came around, the Pirates had quite a few athletes competing for titles. Coach Fourney said that the performance by Steven Liu at sectionals was easily one of the most impressive performances he saw all year.
“Steven Liu. What he did at sectionals in the triple jump as a sophomore was very impressive. He was the second farthest triple jumper in the state for sophomores.”
Liu won the event with a jump of 44-11.00.
After sectionals, the Pirates competed in the Group 2 state finals. At this event, Ryan Addlesberger won the Group 2 title for shot put, advancing him to the Meet of Champions. He also advanced to the MOC for discus. Thomas Long finished fifth in the 800 meter run, advancing to the MOC with Addlesberger.
At the MOC, Addlesberger finished fifth in the shot put and Long finished 15th in the 800 meter run.
“You go up to the MOC and it’s an electric atmosphere,” Fourney said. “Hundreds of people around. A lot of big throwers didn’t perform their best because they got nervous. Ryan was there last year so he knew how to handle it. Tom got experience of running at the MOC so he got his nerves out of the way for next year. A lot of it is experience.”
Coach Fourney offered his final thoughts on the 2015 season, saying, “This was my 21st year as a coach and it was one of my most enjoyable ones. Not one single problem throughout season. They were a great bunch of kids to coach. I love coaching them and I love them. It was a great time.”
[…] track and field meets of 2015 in this post, working backwards from number three to number one. The Pirates went 5-0 this season to win the Patriot Division […]