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Coatesville boys are fifth - but first American team - in 4x100 Championship of America at the Penn Relays

The Red Raiders clocked in at 41.82, just a bit slower that their impressive 41.55 from Friday's qualifiers.

Coatesville's Dapree Bryant runs the first leg of the high school boys' 4x100 championship. The Red Raiders finished fifth but were the first American team to finish.
Coatesville's Dapree Bryant runs the first leg of the high school boys' 4x100 championship. The Red Raiders finished fifth but were the first American team to finish.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer

Aaron Young has grown accustomed to running away from folks on the football field. Eric Kirk is used to tracking them down.

Saturday afternoon at the Penn Relays, the Coatesville seniors helped the Red Raiders earn medals as the top American finishers in the boys’ 4x100-meter Championship of America.

”Competing in front of this crowd was incredible,” said Young, who will play football at Rutgers next season. “It’s a great event. Can’t complain. I’m excited about how we did, so it’s a great feeling.”

St. Jago (Jamaica) won the race in 40.83 seconds, and Kingston College (Jamaica) was second in 40.86. Calabar (Jamaica), which Coatesville defeated in head-to-head competition during Friday’s 4x100 heat, finished third in 41.05.

Ruseas (Jamaica) was fourth in 41.76, and Coatesville finished fifth in 41.82, just a bit slower that its impressive 41.55 it ran on Friday, which was the third-fastest time that day.

Junior Dapree Bryant, a 5-foot-9, 183-pound wide receiver with 11 scholarship offers for football, led off on Saturday.

via GIPHY

Kirk, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound defensive end and linebacker who will play at Shippensburg next season, ran second.

Young, the Inquirer’s Southeastern Pennsylvania football player of the year as a senior, was third.

Dymere Miller, a senior wide receiver, ran the anchor leg.

“Coming in,” Kirk said, “we wanted to beat our time from yesterday, but overall we’re happy with the day. First American team is a great way to represent. And we had fun, and that was the main thing.”

Kirk and Young were sophomores on the Coatesville relay team that set a school record of 41:53 in the 4x100 back in 2017, along with Terrance Laird and Jalen Washington.

Coatesville track coach Damien Henry, now in his 10th season, joined his quartet for photos on the Penn Relays infield podium on Saturday and expressed pride in them.

“Talent always makes a better coach, in my opinion,” Henry said, adding that Bryant joined the team just this year and was busy until March 19, when the Red Raiders’ PIAA semifinal basketball run ended.

“I’m very proud of them,” Henry said. “They’re close friends, and it was an unbelievable experience for them. They’re talented, and they give everything they have to the program, and that showed today.”

In the boys’ pole vault, Dan Dean of Neshaminy was sixth at 14 feet, 5¼ inches. Brothers Nico and Marco Morales of Delsea, 10th and 11th, respectively, both jumped to 13-11¼.

In the boys’ 4x400 relays, Episcopal won the Inter-Ac race in 3 minutes, 22.66 seconds, and St. Joseph’s Prep won the Catholic League race in 3:23.34.

Upper Darby won the Central League race in 3:25.6. Penn Wood won the Suburban A race in 3:25.75, and Lower Moreland won the Suburban B in 3:28.35.

Coatesville won the ChesMont race in 3:22.71. Neshaminy (3:23.94) won the Suburban National race, and Bensalem (3:26.21) won the Suburban American.

Haddonfield (3:22.13) won the South Jersey small-school race, and Rancocas Valley (3:26.74) won the South Jersey large-school race. Overbrook won the Public League race in 3:27.93.

Harry S Truman won the girls’ 4x100 Tri-State race in 48 seconds, and Central Bucks West (7:52.40) was seventh in the boys’ 4x800 Championship of America.

    Aaron Carter
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    I cover high school sports, focusing primarily on how the lives of young athletes intersect with life in and around Philadelphia.
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