Members of the La Salle Academy distance medley relay proudly hold up the hardware as winners of the Championship of America event at the Penn Relays Carnival.
It's all about the wheel.
While competing at Franklin Field for the Penn Relays Carnival, the oldest and most prestigious track & field meet in the country, is a thrill for any high school athlete, there is no better feeling than winning the coveted wheel that's awarded to the winners of the Championship of America relay events. It's an honor that goes to some of the best athletes in the country, and under the electrifying atmosphere that's created at the Penn, not much compares to holding that three-foot circular plaque on the infield podium.
For the four members of the La Salle Academy distance medley relay -- junior Matt Bouthillette, junior Cam Morenzi, senior Dan Paiva and junior Jack Salisbury - that feeling was experienced on Friday night.
Matt Bouthillette hangs with the lead pack on his opening leg.
In a race where less than two seconds separated the top five finishers, it was the quartet from a small private school in Rhode Island that came away with the win with a time of 10 minutes, 12.10 seconds, a mere stride ahead of second-place McDonogh (MD), timed in 10:12.19.
Salisbury did his part with a brilliant anchor where he edged the Maryland school's Mikey Singer with a 4:14.52 for his 1,600m leg. But the junior was given that opportunity to excel thanks to some strong legs by his teammates, including a 1,200m split of 3:09.44 from Bouthillette at the leadoff position and PR performances from Paiva (1:57.20, 800m) and Morenzi (50.96, 400m) on their respective legs.
Just last month, all but Morenzi were on the 4xMile relay squad that captured the indoor title at the New Balance Nationals. Head coach Vin McGinn put his squad's victory in Philly at the top of the list.
Cam Morenzi blazing the backstretch en route to a PB of 50.96 for his 400m leg.
"From my perspective, this is even bigger than the national championship," McGinn said. "This is the most prestigious event in track and field. This is just an unbelievably, special team, not only with Cam coming up big in the 400 and the masters of disaster Matt and Jack, but Dan Paiva, our senior captain, coming up big with a PR and delivering. All week long (distance coach Bill Myers) and I have been talking how crucial the 800-meter leg was going to be with Dan and he delivered. We have Jack, we have Matt and we have Cam all doing their jobs. It was just absolutely amazing. This is the highlight of my coaching career."
"It's great," Myers added. "That was the goal to come down here and just do our best. These guys put Jack in position for the win."
Speaking of Salisbury, like he's done so many times during his career, the junior gutted out a huge leg for his teammates to secure the victory. But he was certainly set up greatly by Paiva's 800m leg where the lone senior on the relay team had a two-second best.
Dan Paiva put anchor Jack Salisbury in prime position with his 800m leg.
Paiva admitted the thousands of spectators that showed up for Distance Night at Penn proved to be a big motivator.
"I was just trying to get out there and get Jack in a good position," he said. "The fans definitely got me pumped up. I don't know. It's just crazy."
The win by La Salle was the first for the school since 1942. It was also only the third time that a R.I. school captured a Championship of America event at the Penn Relays. In 1988, St. Raphael Academy, under current Bishop Hendricken coach Jim Doyle, accomplished the feat.
"We are just really, really excited," Salisbury said. "The goal was to come here and win. They put me in a good position. It was either win or fail."
On this particular night, failure was never an option for this foursome.
Jack Salisbury pushes the pace with the leaders before breaking the tape at the end.
PL SCHOOL/AFFILIATION MARK ATHLETES ID 1 La Salle Academy (Providence, RI) 10:12.10 Matthew Bouthillette (3:09.44), Cameron Morenzi (50.96), Daniel Paiva (1:57.20), Jack Salisbury (4:14.52) H 2 McDonogh School (Owings Mills, MD) 10:12.19 Dalton Hengst (3:08.88), Nihgel Scott (49.58), Andrew Michelson (1:59.26), Mikey Singer (4:14.49) F 3 Christian Brothers (NJ) (Lincroft, NJ) 10:12.78 Drake Anzano (3:08.93), Mike Zupko (48.55), Christian McLaughlin (1:59.71), Blaise Ferro (4:15.60) C 4 Fordham Prep (Bronx, NY) 10:13.36 Joseph Prunty (3:08.07), Conor Hughes (53.07), Kyle Guzman (1:58.11), Conor Lundy (4:14.12) A 5 Lake Braddock (Burke, VA) 10:13.41 Colin Schaefer (3:10.5), Edgar Pereira (50.0), Ben Fogg (1:56.6), Alex Corbett (4:16.3) B 6 Haddon Township (Westmont, NJ) 10:19.67 Owen Long (3:09.50), Jake Dinerman (53.24), Randy Ladd (2:01.97), Luke Petela (4:14.98) L 7 Collegiate (New York, NY) 10:25.65 Andrew Berger (3:13.6), Jonathan Ascher (53.6), Will Ziebold (2:00.9), Marco Pompilj (4:17.6) G 8 W.W. Plainsboro South (Princeton Junction, NJ) 10:25.66 Tim Bason (3:07.25), Raoul Dhulekar (54.33), Zabih Kotecha (1:59.70), Nikhil Pulimood (4:24.40) I 9 St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia, PA) 10:25.93 Isaiah Fisher (3:16.57), Miles Green (51.78), Stephen Mc Clellen (1:59.16), Jack Daly (4:18.42) K 10 Summit (Summit, NJ) 10:26.60 Mitchell Booth (3:12.90), Conner Tomasello (53.69), Matt Sinunu (2:01.12), Leland Jones (4:18.90) J 11 Haddonfield Memorial (Haddonfield, NJ) 10:27.23 Austin Stoner (3:13.74), Jack Wood (53.33), Danny Brennan (2:00.26), Greg Pelose (4:19.92) N 12 Xavier (New York, NY) 10:27.66 Christian Raslowky (3:11.84), Oliver Moe (50.83), Henry Camacho (2:02.98), John Rice (4:22.03) E 13 Malvern Prep (Malvern, PA) 10:31.99 Colin Wills (3:08.80), James Keating (53.46), Ryan Doane (2:05.13), Billy McDevitt (4:24.62) O 14 Germantown Friends (Philadelphia, PA) 10:35.16 Grayson Hepp (3:15.31), Eli Schwemler (54.52), Gordon Goldstein (2:03.29), Nick Dahl (4:22.04) Q 15 Conestoga (Berwyn, PA) 10:38.02 PJ Murray (3:16.90), Jimmy Cooper (54.19), Kilian Nelson (2:00.81), Andrew Marston (4:26.13) P 16 Liverpool (Liverpool, NY) 10:46.04 Dylan Mccarthy (3:17.45), Daniel Muldoon (52.30), Nicholas Leclair (1:59.16), Connor Buck (4:37.14) D