North Penn finishes No. 2 at track finals

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Justin Bookheimer said it would hit him on the bus ride home. Somewhere near Harrisburg or Reading, the North Penn senior would realize his high school career was over.

"It is going to be sad," Bookheimer said yesterday.

All he needed to do to cheer up was think back to his effort and the performance of his teammates in this weekend's PIAA state track and field championships.

The Knights scored 34 points to finish as the Class AAA boys' runner-up for the second consecutive season. Altoona (43.20 points) was the winner. Harrisburg (28 points) finished third, followed by Norristown (26), Simon Gratz (23), and Central Bucks South (21.20).

"We didn't have the depth as far as the multiple events," North Penn coach Jay Jones said. "But we are asking six guys, who actually scored, to do an awful lot. They did a great job."

It could be argued that despite finishing second, the Knights were the dominant team of the meet. It also could be argued that Bookheimer was his team's MVP.

Yesterday, the Wake Forest recruit had a hand in 26 of North Penn's points.

He ran on the Knights' victorious and school-record-breaking 4x400- and 4x800-meter relay teams. He was third in the 300 hurdles in 38.55 seconds.

"Ah, J. Book," North Penn senior Zack Montijo said. "That was J. Book coming up when we needed him. He did want we had to do. He got the job done."

The same can be said about Imhotep Charter's Herman Kirkland, Wissahickon's Nick Crits, Engineering & Science's Terence Lee, Simon Gratz's Khaliff Featherstone, and Neshaminy's Kevin Steinberg.

But none of those teens had the luxury of running on two winning relay squads.

Brian Quintrell, Steve Franks, Bookheimer and Montijo teamed up to win their consecutive Class AAA 4x800 in the nation's fastest time of the season (7 minutes, 38.79 seconds). The North Penn quartet bettered its school-record time of 7:41.04 that it set in 2005 by more than two seconds.

The Knights had hoped to break the National Federation and state meet record (7:36.24) established by Wissahickon in 1982.

Were they disappointed?

"Not at all," Montijo said. "That's a great time. We are all with the school record. All of our guys ran well."

Norristown (7:45.44) placed second, followed by Central Bucks West (7:45.81) and Central Bucks South (7:46.32). Upper Dublin (7:48.50) finished sixth, and Methacton (7:48.66) was eighth.

Bookheimer and Montijo later joined Alex Hill and Brandon Rothenberger to win the 4x400 in a school-record time of 3:15.54. The foursome set the previous school record (3:17.94 ) in Friday's trials.

While North Penn swept those relays, Kirkland was the Class AA sprints champion.

The senior won titles in the 100 (10.69) and 200 (22.13). The Shaw recruit finished second in the long jump (22 feet, 81/2 inches).

"I wanted the long jump, too," said Kirkland, who won that event last season. "But you can't have everything. So I'm proud that I won the 100 and 200, because I came in fifth place in both the 100 and 200 last year. So it feels real good to win them this season."

Crits took the Class AAA title in the 1,600 (4:11.69). Lee won the Class AA 1,600 race (4:15.30). Featherstone was victorious in the Class AAA 400 (47.92), while Steinberg won the Class AAA 200 (21.44) and placed second in the 100 (10.58).

The results

CLASS AAA

Team scoring: Altoona 43.2, North Penn 34, Harrisburg 28, Norristown 26, Simon Gratz 23.

100 meters:

1, Pierre Carr, Peabody, 10.57. 2, Kevin Steinberg, Neshaminy, 10.58. 3, Brian Austin, North Allegheny, 10.78. 4, Kevin Wilbank, Ridley, 10.80. 5, Alex Kenney, State College, 10.82. 6, Evan Emery, Central, 10.92.

200:

1, Kevin Steinberg, Neshaminy, 21.44. 2, Aaron Nadolsky, Altoona, 21.75. 3, Alex Kenney, State College, 21.75. 4, Kyle Fisher, Cocalico, 21.95. 5, Evan Emery, Central, 22.11. 6, Tristan Stagger, Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 22.24.

400:

1, Khaliff Featherstone, Gratz, 47.92. 2, Lamont Fowler, Conrad Weiser, 48.37. 3, Chris Morrales, Abington, 48.65. 4, Anthony Batch, Penncrest, 48.74. 5, Steve Roberts, Quakertown, 49.20. 6, Alex Hill, North Penn, 49.34.

800:

1, Tom Mallon, Central Bucks South, 1:52.35. 2, Joe Capecci, Council Rock North, 1:53.48. 3, Michael Palmisano, Upper Dublin, 1:53.65. 4, Chris Pregler, Central Bucks West, 1:53.73. 5, Dave Farina, Norwin, 1:53.82. 6, Steve Franks, North Penn, 1:53.93.

1,600:

1, Nick Crits, Wissahickon, 4:11.69. 2, T.J. Hobart, Baldwin, 4:12.09. 3, Greg Kareis, Red Lion, 4:12.94. 4, Vince McNally, Conestoga Valley, 4:13.37. 5, Dave Adley, Baldwin, 4:17.09. 6, Chris Bodary, Bishop Shanahan, 4:19.55.

3,200:

1, Mark Dennin, Boyertown, 9:03.63. 2, Chris Aldrich, West Chester Henderson, 9:07.53. 3, Jimmy Tarsnane, Perkiomen Valley, 9:15.26. 4, Ben Furcht, Lower Merion, 9:23.04. 5, Kyle Gibson, Canon-McMillan, 9:24.75. 6, Matt Gillette, Parkland, 9:26.05.

110 hurdles:

1, Michael Brown, Lower Dauphin, 14.16. 2, Stu Fram, Council Rock North, 14.30. 3, Leon Bullock, Harrisburg, 14.53. 4, Steve Topper, Hatboro-Horsham, 14.70. 5, Jerome Duncan, Sun Valley, 14.74. 6, Trey Cox, Wilson, 14.94.

300 hurdles:

1, Michael Brown, Lower Dauphin, 37.77. 2, Frank Wainwright, Gratz, 37.99. 3, Justin Bookheimer, North Penn, 38.55. 4, Kori Meshaw, Hempfield, 39.00. 5, Eric Kasunich, Upper St. Clair, 39.20. 6, Chad Drzewiecki, Selinsgrove, 39.28.

4x100 relay:

1, Harrisburg, 42.03. 2, Norristown, 42.20. 3, Erie Cathedral Prep, 42.48. 4, Altoona, 42.70. 5, J.P. McCaskey, 42.70. 6, Cumberland Valley, 42.74.

4x400 relay:

1, North Penn (Alex Hill, Zack Montijo, Brandon Rothenberger, Justin Bookheimer), 3:15.54. 2, Norristown, 3:17.49. 3, Cedar Crest, 3:18.11. 4, Gratz, 3:19.57. 5, Harrisburg, 3:20.12. 6, Altoona, 3:21.63.

4x800 relay:

1, North Penn (Brian Quintrell, Steve Franks, Justin Bookheimer, Zach Montijo), 7:38.79. 2, Norristown, 7:45.44. 3, Central Bucks West, 7:45.81. 4, Central Bucks South, 7:46.32. 5, Cedar Crest, 7:48.27. 6, Upper Dublin, 7:48.50.

High jump:

1, Terell Rickard, Waynesboro, 6-10. 2, Purnell Richardson, Spring Grove, 6-9. 3, Connor Barrett, Seneca Valley, 6-9. 4, Tyrell Ellison, Muhlenberg, 6-9. 5, Raymond Quill, Pottstown, 6-8. 6, Sheriff Jabin, Reading, 6-6.

Long jump:

1, Johnny Jenkins, Glen Mills, 23-71/4. 2, Tyrell Ellison, Muhlenberg, 23-51/2. 3, Erik Harris, New Oxford, 23-3. 4, John Clark, Penncrest, 23-11/4. 5, Carlton Lavong, Methacton, 22-111/2. 6, Shane Witmyer, Wilson, 22-9.

Shot put:

1, Dan Kwiatkowski, Erie McDowell, 64-1. 2, Rodney Richter, Connellsville, 59-71/4. 3, C.J. Clegg, Hempfield, 56-8. 4, Kenneth Bell, Glen Mills, 56-51/2. 5, Wesley Lavong, Methacton, 55-0. 6, Aaron McKenzie, Waynesboro, 54-61/2.

Javelin:

1, Justiin Shirk, Central Dauphin, 221-3. 2, Josh Vick, Kiski, 203-7. 3, Neal Huynh, Altoona, 198-11. 4, Michael Brode, Indian Valley, 195-5. 5, Zane Zebrasky, Canon-McMillan, 194-10. 6, Jack Iosue, Manheim Central, 193-9.

Pole vault:

1, Jared George, Altoona, 15-6. 2, Tony Shirk, Phoenixville, 15-0. 3, Travis Hammaker, Altoona, 15-0. 4, Chris Dodds, Wilson, 15-0. 5, Jerry Thompson, Penncrest, 15-0. 6, Derek Hynes, Central Bucks South, 15-0.

CLASS AA

Team scoring: Wilmington 45, Bishop McDevitt 37, Montoursville 33, Trinity 29, Imhotep Charter 28.

100 meters:

1, Herman Kirkland, Imhotop Charter, 10.69. 2, Chris Houston, Bishop McDevitt, 10.84. 3, Rashad Kenney, Aliquippa, 10.97. 4, Idris Kasumu, Springfield (M), 10.99. 5, Jonathan Baldwin, Aliquippa. 11.00. 6, Travis Pitts, Tamaqua, 11.05.

200:

1, Herman Kirkland, Imhotop Charter, 22.13. 2, Terrelle Irwin, Monessen, 22.38. 3, Damian Myers, Eastern York, 22.38. 4, Chris Houston, Bishop McDevitt, 22.62. 5, Chad Dixon, Warrior Run, 22.66. 6, Breon Phillips, GAR Memorial, 22.74.

400:

1, Anthony Davidson, Wilson Area, 48.58. 2, Austin Cseh, Palmerton, 48.78. 3, Jordan Donaldson, Tussey Mountain, 48.89. 4, David Smith, Trinity, 49.21. 5, Evan McCready, Wyomissing, 50.52. 6, John Booker, Valley, 50.75.

800:

1, Ben Hatch, Bellwood-Antis, 1:54.62. 2, Jordan Donaldson, Tussey Mountain, 1:55.55. 3, Alex Zubey, Tamaqua, 1:56.13. 4, Carter Denne, North East, 1:56.61. 5, Elliot Rhodes, Engineering & Science, 1:57.04. 6, Cody Engle, Purchase Line, 1:57.58.

1,600:

1, Terence Lee, Engineering & Science, 4:15.30. 2, Sam Havko, Fairview, 4:17.05. 3, Alex Zubey, Tamaqua, 4:17.21. 4, Jim Spisak, Bishop McCort, 4:20.76. 5, Jeremiah Wilt, Shade, 4:22.86. 6, Ben Ingle, Tyrone, 4:23.68.

3,200:

1, Joe Beveridge, Bishop McDevitt, 9:11.89. 2, Jim Spisak, Bishop McCort, 9:18.10. 3, Josh Sadlock, Bishop McDevitt, 9:36.18. 4, Garth Watson, Canton, 9:38.94. 5, Jon McElwain, Riverside, 9:40.39. 6, Tyler Riegel, Tulpehocken, 9:41.34.

110 hurdles:

1, Keenan Michael, Montoursville, 14.00 (meet record, betters 14.04 by Qadry Ismail, E.L. Meyers, 1988). 2, Christian Kuntz, Trinity, 14.82. 3, Richard Smith, Danville, 15.00. 4, Robert Gawlas, Holy Redeemer, 15.10. 5, A.J. Dohanic, Girard, 15.21. 6, Joe Giandalia, Eastern York, 15.32.

300 hurdles:

1, Keenan Michael, Montoursville, 38.17. 2, A.J. Dohanic, Girard, 39.23. 3, Nick Velgos, Susquenita, 39.64. 4, William Altman, Sharon, 39.67. 5, Alex Kerr, Brookville, 39.83. 6, Darian Garman, Wyomissing, 40.38.

4x100 relay:

1, Aliquippa, 42.47. 2, Bishop McDevitt, 42.58. 3, Eastern York, 43.25. 4, Wilmington, 43.57. 5, Bethlehem Catholic, 43.61. 6, New Brighton, 43.66.

4x400 relay:

1, Milton Hershey, 3:20.36. 2, Trinity, 3:20.81. 3, Wyomissing, 3:21.27. 4, Engineering & Science, 3:22.10. 5, Montoursville, 3:23.23. 6, Eastern York, 3:27.00.

4x800 relay:

1, North East, 7:55.06. 2, Trinity, 7:56.41. 3, Quaker Valley, 7:59.12. 4, Lansdale Catholic, 7:59.14. 5, Christopher Dock, 8:05.10. 6, Bethlehem Catholic, 8:06.10.

High jump:

1, Andrew Batula, Annville-Cleona, 6-10. 2, Weston Schaa, Mercer, 6-8. 3, Graham Huber, Lewisburg, 6-6. 4, Zach Dohm, Eastern York, 6-6. 5, Zach Dicks, Susquenita, 6-4. 6, Jordan Ferguson, Towanda, 6-4.

Long jump:

1, Chris Burns, Wilmington, 22-91/2. 2, Herman Kirkland, Imhotep Charter, 22-81/2. 3, Darius Campbell, New Brighton, 22-13/4. 4, Justin Piocquidio, Mars, 21-111/2. 5, Mike Webb, Windber, 21-91/2. 6, David Cobb, Northern Potter, 21-81/2.

Discus:

1, Collin Ray, Middletown, 157-11. 2, Paul Yohman, Wilmington, 153-8. 3, Tim Watson, Bald Eagle Area, 152-11. 4, Jared Brandon, Riverside, 152-4. 5, Bob Saltsgiver, Hickory, 148-4. 6, Miles Smolic, Freeport, 148-2.