O'Hara boys bounce back, and the girls complete sweep

Last year's Catholic League championship meet was a disaster for Cardinal O'Hara's boys as the Lions, a perennial powerhouse, placed a mere fourth.

That made yesterday's performance even sweeter.

Relying on depth and balance, O'Hara breezed to the team title at Widener University with 125 points to outdistance La Salle (91). The Cardinal O'Hara girls made it a sweep, coasting to the team championship with 156.5 points.

One of O'Hara's senior leaders, Mickey Liszewski, missed last year's championship meet with a stress fracture in his foot and a broken toe. He said the team never forgot the disappointing performance.

"It was rough," said Liszewski, who finished third in the 400 meters in 50.94 seconds. ". . . It was always in the back of your mind and it gave us motivation."

One of the individual standouts for the Lions was sophomore Jason Johnson, who won the triple jump (46 feet, 1/2 inch), placed fourth in the long jump (20-3/4) and was fifth in the high jump (5-8) while adding a leg on the second-place 4x100 relay team. Liszewski ran a leg on that foursome.

The Lions also got a 1-2 finish in the long jump from Steve Werner (21-4) and Kevin Ward (20-71/2). The other firsts came from Ian Clyburn in the discus (144-9) and Ed Buck in the mile (4 minutes, 22.97 seconds).

"I think everything went well today," Liszewski said. "I could have done better than third place, but we won. How can you complain?"

La Salle's Ian Moore was named the outstanding field performer. He won the javelin at 206-10 and added a second in the discus (144-5). Cardinal Dougherty's Charles Gladman took the track honors by winning the 100 (11.02) and the 200 (21.97).

The O'Hara girls were paced by junior Sarah Houtmann, who was named outstanding track performer after sweeping the 100 (12.50), 200 (25.78) and 400 (58.34). She also was second in the long jump (16-53/4) to teammate Alysha Womack (16-8¼).

"I wasn't thinking [about winning all four]," Houtmann said. "I just wanted us as a team to get 1-2 in the jumps and sprints so we could just rack up the points."

The Lions, who placed second to West Catholic last year, did just that. Dawn Gallo had a second in the 100 and a third in the 200 while Caroline Grant (11:37.50) and Beth Kelly (11.42.60) went 1-2 in the 3,200.

Robyn Oakley added a gold in the 400 hurdles (1:04.42) and had a leg on the winning 4x400 relay team. Kelly Unger had legs on that team and the winning 4x800 relay team.

Archbishop Carroll's Margaret Merlie was named outstanding field performer, winning the shot put (36-8) and discus (106-7) while taking second in the javelin (106-8).

Catholic League Championships

BOYS

Team scoring: 1, Cardinal O'Hara 125 points. 2, La Salle 91. 3, Father Judge 71. 4, Archbishop Ryan 69. 5, West Catholic 44. 6, Archbishop Carroll 36. 7, Monsignor Bonner 33. 8, Neumann-Goretti 26. 9, Cardinal Dougherty 22. 10, St. Joseph's Prep 18. 11, Archbishop Wood 12. 12, Conwell-Egan 9. 13 (tie), Kennedy-Kenrick & Bishop McDevitt 1.

100 meters: 1, Charles Gladman, Dougherty, 11.02 seconds. 2, Steve Werner, O'Hara, 11.08. 3, Hakeem Johnson, Neumann-Goretti. 11.16.

200: 1, Charles Gladman, Dougherty, 21.97. 2, Kyle Tucker, Neumann-Goretti, 22.02. 3, Steve Werner, O'Hara, 22.33.

400: 1, Jerome Lowery, West Catholic, 49.81. 2, Rashad Little, Conwell-Egan, 50.37. 3, Mickey Liszewski, O'Hara, 50.94.

800: 1, Sean Mallon, Ryan, 1:58.39. 2, Colin Barrett, La Salle, 1:58.79. 3, Dan Lowry, La Salle, 2:00.37.

Mile: 1, Ed Buck, O'Hara, 4:22.97. 2. Dan Lowry, La Salle, 4:24.05. 3, Andrew Golato, Bonner, 4:27.33.

3,200: 1, Steve Dorsey, La Salle, 9:52.43. 2, Andrew Buemi, O'Hara, 9:53.0. 3, Mark Springel, St. Joseph's Prep, 9:55.04.

110 hurdles: 1, Jermaine Lowery, West Catholic, 14.74. 2, Kashif Thompson, Ryan, 15.33. 3, Steve Werner, O'Hara, 15.50.

400 hurdles: 1, Jermaine Lowery, West Catholic, 53.58. 2, Jerome Lowery, West Catholic, 53.69. 3, Pete Moreni, Ryan, 56.74.

4x100: 1. Neumann-Goretti (Kyle Tucker, Mark McPherson, Kenyetta Peterson, Hakeem Johnson) 43.09. 2, O'Hara, 43.70. 3, Father Judge, 43.74.

4x400: 1. Father Judge (Maseem Sasso, Mike Harrington, Mike Zampirri, Gerard Smith) 3:28.35. 2, Ryan, 3:29.63. 3. Wood, 3:31.79.

4x800: 1. La Salle (Brian ledder, Tom Heck, Tom O'Kane, Colin Barrett) 8:10.54. 2. Ryan 8:12.20. 3, St. Joseph's Prep, 8:15.08.

High jump: 1, Leemue Koimene, Father Judge, 6 feet, 2 inches 2 (tie), Anthony Adams, Ryan, & Greg Barksdale, La Salle, 6-2.

Long jump: 1, Steve Werner, O'Hara, 21-4. 2, Kevin Ward, O'Hara, 20-7½. 3, Brian Concio, Carroll, 20-1.

Triple jump: 1, Jason Thompson, O'Hara, 46-½ . 2, Kashif Thompson, Ryan, 42-9¾. 3, Brandon Ford, O'Hara, 42-2.

Pole vault: 1, Chris Boland, Father Judge, 12-6. 2, Jim Bodalski, O'Hara, 12-0. 3, Rich Wroblewski, O'Hara, 12-0.

Discus: 1, Ian Clyburn, O'Hara, 144-9. 2, Brian Moore, La Salle, 144-5. 3, Sean Wilks, Bonner, 135-6.

Javelin: 1, Brian Moore, La Salle, 206-10. 2, Jason Flanagan, Father Judge, 178-9. 3, Rick Verrall, Ryan, 158-7.

Shot put: 1, Tim Cicoli, Carroll, 58-11. 2, Sean Wilks, Bonner, 52-10½. 3, Chris Licci, Bonner, 52-9¾.

GIRLS

Team scoring: 1, Cardinal O'Hara 156.5 points. 2, Archbishop Carroll 101, 3, Archbishop Prendergast 96. 4, Archbishop Ryan 79.5. 5, St. Hubert 56. 6, Archbishop Wood 34. 7, Bishop McDevitt 12.5. 8, Little Flower 9. 9, West Catholic 5. 10, Kennedy-Kenrick & Cardinal Dougherty 4. 12, Conwell-Egan .5.

100 meters: 1, Sarah Houtmann, O'Hara, 12.50 seconds. 2, Dawn Gallo, O'Hara, 12.90. 3, Arielle Fonrose, Prendergast, 13.01.

200: 1, Sarah Houtmann, O'Hara, 25.78. 2, Arielle Fonrose, Prendergast, 26.22. 3, Dawn Gallo, O'Hara, 26.7.

400: 1, Sarah Houtmann, Card. O'Hara, 58.34. 2. Lauren Edger (St. Hubert) 59.33, 3. Emily Paffett (Arch. Carroll) 1:00.39.

800: 1, Caitlin Chambers, Prendergast, 2:23.63. 2, Marissa Dwyer, Ryan, 2:23.85. 3, Emily Paffett, Carroll, 2:24.56.

Mile: 1, Erica Matticola, Prendergast, 5:10.21. 2, Amanda Bascelli, Carroll, 5:10.21. 3, Kathleen Boland, Prendergast, 5:14.98.

3,200: 1, Caroline Grant, O'Hara, 11:37.50. 2, Beth Kelly, O'Hara, 11:42.60. 3, Colleen Boland, Prendergast, 11:45.71.

100 hurdles: 1, Diane Catrino, St. Hubert, 15.58. 2, Maura Simeone, Prendergast, 16.11. 3, Tamisha Thomas, Ryan, 16.26.

400 hurdles: 1, Robyn Oakley, O'Hara, 1:04.42. 2, Lauren Edger, St. Hubert, 1:06.23. 3, Diane Catrino, St. Hubert, 1:06.28.

4x100: 1, Carroll (Ariel Meadows, Brigid Gallagher, Megan DeFruscio, Hilary Manion) 51.06, 2, Ryan, 51.50, 3, Pendergast, 52.07.

4x400: 1. O'Hara (Robyn Oakley, Diane Garrison, Chloe Stretchings, Kelly Unger) 4:03.44. 2, St. Hubert, 4:06.82. 3, Carroll, 4:07.57.

4x800: 1. Cardinal O'Hara (Emily Scanlon, Katie McShay, Mary Rose Gawbill, Kelly Unger) 9:41.75, 2. Archbishop Carroll (Cooie Rettew, Alyssa Biella, Amanda Cosfol, Caitlin Storbeck) 9:42.62, 3. Archbishop Prendergast 10:05.94.

High jump: 1. Brigid Harron, O'Hara, 5 feet. 2, Victoria Middleton, Ryan, 5-0. 3, Alysha Womack, O'Hara, 5-0.

Long jump: 1, Alysha Womack, O'Hara, 16-8¼. 2, Sarah Houtmann,, O'Hara, 16-5¾. 3, Christina Costanzo, Ryan, 16-1¾.

Pole vault: 1, Jackie Dougherty, Wood, 8-0. 2, Allison Dougherty, Carroll, 8-0. 3 (tie), Alyssa Hanley, Ryan, & Kara McPeak, Hubert, 8-0.

Triple jump: 1, Nohjay Nimpson, Ryan, 36-10½ . 2, Katie Kelly, Arch. Wood, 35-1¼. 3, Robyn Oakley, O'Hara, 34-3¼.

Discus: 1, Margaret Merlie, Carroll, 106-7. 2, Tanisha Starkey, McDevitt, 104-4. 3, Natalie McCorriston, O'Hara, 95-10.

Javelin: 1, Nohjay Nimpson, Ryan, 119-3. 2, Margaret Merlie, Carroll, 106-8. 3, Amanda Cosfol, Carroll, 104-0.

Shot put: 1, Margaret Merlie, Carroll, 36-8. 2, Natalie McCorriston, O'Hara, 36-4¾. 3, Chloe Smith, Prendergast, 35-2¾.