Mike Vukovcan RIVERSIDE– The Hopewell Track and Field teams got their first big competition of the season Saturday when they traveled to Riverside High School to take on the county at the Beaver County Championship meet.
At its conclusion, they returned home with 7 gold medals, the girls team championship trophy, and the meet’s Most Valuable Performer.
The first champion of the day was Tessa Burgess in the 100m hurdles. She entered the meet as the favorite, but after hitting a few of the first few hurdles, found herself struggling in 3rd place. But Burgess regained her rhythm, fought back over the last 5 barriers, and won by .08 seconds at the line. A hard-fought win for sure, but also an experience that will make her even harder to beat going forward.
A&S Federal Credit Union are proud sponsors of Hopewell Boys and Girls High School, Junior High and Youth Sports.
Hopewell’s Tessa Burgess
Luke McGrail followed Tessa to the top of the podium in the very next event – the 110 m hurdles. McGrail also entered the meet as the heavy favorite and delivered a flawless race, winning easily in a personal best time of 15.35 seconds. Luke continues a long line of Hopewell hurdles champions, being the 6th boy since 2015 to win a County gold in the 110s. A Viking as won the event in 7 of the last 11 years. McGrail returned to the podium shortly afterwards with a 5th place finish and a huge PB in the 100m dash of 11.30.
The next gold medal came from the girls 4x100m relay team of Tessa Burgess, Harley Hample, Avery Boyd, and Maya Richburg. They won in a season best time of 51.37. The Hopewell girls have won 3 of the last 4 County Titles in the 4×100 and take a lot of pride in continuing that trend.
Richburg also contributed a 3rd place finish in the 100m dash. Boyd earned a silver in the triple jump, and a bronze in the 200m with a PB of 28.12. Both were season best performances for the girls as they continue to build into shape to the States for the 4th straight year.
For Harley Hample, the 4×100 was just the start of a historic day.
Hopewell’s Harley Hample
The sophomore sprinter followed up that gold with another in the very next event – the 400m dash. Hample took down the defending champion Annabella Marino of Beaver with a thrilling come-from-behind effort in the homestretch to win by .01 seconds and a personal best time of 1:01.54. Hample also won the 200m dash with a PB time of 26.97. To finish it off, she anchored the girls 4x400m relay – with Caylee Sundy, Madi Inderlest, and Tessa Burgess– to a 2nd place finish and a season best time of 4:24.78. For her efforts, Hample was named the girls Most Valuable Performer for both the track events, and overall.
Hopewell’s Harley Hample
Hopewell took two more golds on the field side of the meet. Senior Bryce Ray won the long jump in a battle with Freedom’s Augustin Hickenboth that came down to a quarter of an inch. He was joined on the podium by sophomore Avery Bokor, who took third in the event, and later also earned fourth in the high jump.
Hopewell’s Bryce Ray
Junior Marlee Page was the final individual champion on the day. She won the javelin throw with a season best 95’1″. Page was 10th at WPIAL last year and has been working hard to get to that next level.
Hopewell’s Marlee Page
The girls 4x800m team of Madi Inderelst, Skylar Elias, Keira Mann, and Caylee Sundy earned silver. Madi also took 3rd in the 800m race with a season best 2:36.50, Sundy earned a 5th place in the 400m with a PB of 1:05.51. Skylar earned a 5th place in the 1600m run and ran a huge personal best time of 12:51 in the 3200m for 4th place.
Senior Emily Bauknight also took silver in the girls’ pole vault with a season best 8’7″ jump. She has big goals for this year and has been an incredible mentor to the young pole vault crew this season.
Hopewell’s Emily Bauknight
Senior Nick Adams rounded out the silver medals with his 2nd place finish in the triple jump. His 41’1″ jump was a season best effort on a runway that is notoriously hard on jumpers, so big jumps are coming for him.
Hopewell’s Nick Adams
Sophomore Jack Biega took 3rd in the boys 400m dash, running a PB of 51.98, and followed that up with a 4th in the 800m with a season best of 2:10.13.
Hopewell’s Jack Biega
Senior Antony Flitcraft took two sixth place finishes with two huge personal bests in the 1600m and 3200m runs. He broke the 5:00 and 11:00 barriers for the first time with 4:57 and 10:54 – two huge benchmarks that he has been working endlessly for.
Hopewell’s Antony Flitcraft
Sophomore Brody Rock and junior Emma DiCicco both made the podium for the discus throw. Rock was 3rd with a 122’1″ and DiCicco was 4th for the girls with 73’3″.
Hopewell’s Emma DiCicco
Hopewell’s Brody Rock
When all the points were tallied, the Hopewell girls were crowned Beaver County Champions with 112 points!
The boys finished 3rd, and combined, the teams were second overall. This is the girls’ 3rd County Championship since 2019. Hopewell returns to action on Tuesday with a tri-meet at Central Valley with Ambridge and will also compete at the Butler Invitational next weekend.
