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Schuylkill Valley, Berks Catholic's Mider and Hamburg's Witman shine at Panther Invitational track and field meet

andrew heller, reading eagle, pa.
·4 min read

Apr. 27—Schuylkill Valley won the boys team title at the Panther Invitational track and field meet on Saturday at Schuylkill Valley in Leesport.

The Panthers won with 112 points. Berks Catholic took second with 95.5 points.

Leading the way for Schuylkill Valley was senior Aiden Konetsky who won the 1600 in 4:33.34 and the 3200 in 10:05.40. Konetsky finished third in last year's 1600 at the Panther Invitational and did not race in the 3200.

"I'm very honored to come out here, and it's a great group of guys we were racing with today," Konetsky said. "Everyone raced really well and I'm just glad that we got good races in there today. It was great weather for distance running."

The Panthers' team of Matthew Macjejewski, Simon Faust, Galen Borkey and Brady Ruth won the 3200 relay in 8:42.61, and rounding out the winners for Schuylkill Valley was senior Luke Martinez who won the pole vault at 12-7.

Martinez, the Berks and District 3 Class 2A champion in the pole vault last season, said he is looking forward to another strong postseason after reaching new heights in this year's regular season.

During the Panthers' 86-64 loss against Twin Valley on Tuesday, Martinez reached a personal best at 14-3 in the pole vault and also had personal best victories in the long jump (22-2.5) and triple jump (42-5.5).

"For pole vault, I want to get 15 this year — that's my goal," Martinez said. "Get over 15, and then hopefully placing at counties, districts and states. I've definitely gotten a lot stronger and faster, and (I) am working on my form a lot. And I've been getting better places."

Also reaching the top of the podium twice on Saturday, Berks Catholic senior Brady Mider won the shot put with a throw of 59-10 and the discus with a 160-6.

On Friday at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Mider, who was seeded fourth, finished seventh with a throw of 57-9 1/2 .

"I bounced back really well today," Mider said. "Yesterday, I didn't really do my best. So today hitting consistently around 60 feet is big. It's about consistency.

"Yesterday I just didn't hit my cues and I think I was a little in my head. When I'm in my head, it's hard for me to focus and I didn't have a good throw. I had one good throw but I fouled and that was like the icing on the cake.

"I just had prom last night too as well. So I came into this meet like, 'Hey, I'll see what I can do,' but I can definitely say it was a successful meet."

In addition to bringing home state gold in the shot put last year, Mider also won the shot put at the 2023 Berks championships and the District 3 Class 3A championships. He also earned first in the discus at the county level, second at the district championships and ninth at the state championships.

Hopeful for more victories in both events, Mider said he has been focused on improving his showing in the discus this season.

"We're really starting to train a little bit more on discus and it's definitely shown," Mider said. "I've hit 160 multiple times this year, and it's just feeling really good.

"(In the postseason), I'm just gonna go in there and take what's mine."

Hamburg's Jaydon Witman won both the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles Saturday. The senior finished the 110 with a personal-best time of 14.55 and the 300 in 42.00.

It was the first time Witman has won both events at the same Panther Invitational.

"It feels pretty good that the work I've been putting in for the past two years is finally starting to pay off," Witman said. "I'm hoping that at counties I can continue to do that. At districts, I know there's some good kids for the 300, but I'm hoping to stay with them, PR and beat them."

For Witman, the key to his recent success has been the offseason conditioning and extra workouts he has performed at Garage Strength in Fleetwood.

"I've been training at Garage Strength with (speed coach and) legend Boyson Hayes," Witman said. "So I train there at least three times a week, and I trained over the offseason with him five times a week. I've just been working hard and trying to run my race."

Other event winners from Berks: 100: Dylan Sutton, Berks Catholic, 11.20. 400: Elijah Komoro, Berks Catholic, 53.29. 800: Asher Madison, Conrad Weiser, 2:01.34. 1600 relay: Conrad Weiser, (Owen Miller, Elijah Madison, Luke Callahan, Asher Madison), 3:41.36. Long jump: Connor Loeb, Kutztown, 21-8.25. Triple jump: James Undercuffler, Kutztown, 42-6.75. High jump: Kyle Archie, Muhlenberg, 6-3. Javelin: Matthew Kerchner, Berks Catholic, 148-3.