May 15, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Germantown Friends boys’ track dominate Cougars
by Justin Goldman

It’s always interesting how the Germantown Friends men’s track team gets motivated for Friends League meets. On Friday afternoon the Tigers took on a very shorthanded George School team and cruised to a 94.5-42 victory. GFS came in first in 13 of 20 events and really showed a dominating performance. The only real negative on the whole day was the 4x100 relay team getting disqualified and freshman sprinter Ibrahim Kamara getting disqualified for running out of his lane in the 200 meter race.

“A meet like this is good for us because it gives everyone an opportunity,” said head coach Tom Myran. “Our sprinters and jumpers were challenged, which was nice. Also, our great distance runners had a chance to help pace some of the younger guys which is great.”

From the opening events, it was clear that the Tigers were going to be in no jeopardy. Max Kaulbach won the mile while pacing himself at 4:32.5 while Edie Einbender-Luks came in second with a time of 4:35.8 and Jake McKenzie finished third at 4:46.2.

Kaulbach earned another victory in the 800 with a time of 1:58.7. This all came while he paced sophomore Gus McKenzie for the first lap of the race.

“All of these guys (the distance runners) are just so selfless,” Myran said. “They understand that in meets like this, it is important for the younger runners to gain experience. They really don’t care about who comes in first.”

That sentiment could not have been clearer in the two-mile race. Isaac Ortiz ran with Tom Waterman for the first five laps, then dropped back in the race to pace freshman Evan Caldwell. The starters of the race were astonished that someone would completely throw out his individual chances just to help work with two runners during a race.

“What Isaac did was great, but it is what this team has done all season.”

GFS also swept all the jump events, with Matt Berson winning the long, triple and high jumps with distances of 18’7”, 38’9” and 5’9” respectively. The Tigers also fared well in the throws, with Jake Sand winning the shot and discus.

“It really was a nice team effort today,” Myran said. “It was nice to get contributions from everyone and for so many people to get an opportunity.”

On the girls’ side, there wasn’t quite the domination that there was for the boys, but there was a convincing 85-58 victory. After dropping the 4x100 relay, GFS got three straight wins in the mile, by Maddy Hawes, the 100 hurdles, by Jasmine West, and the 100 meters, by Bridget Feeley to really set the tone for the meet.

The Cougars were much more shorthanded on the girls’ end and had to forfeit several races because they just didn’t have runners. After dropping the 300 hurldes, 200 meter and 400 meter races, GFS responded with wins in the 800 and 3200. They also got key wins in high jump, pole vault, and triple jump to really secure the win.