Published June 02. 2024 03:20PM
by Mike Haines<br>mhaines@tnonline.com
With Parkland’s win over Emmaus in its final dual meet of the season back on April 30, the senior class of Trojan track and field athletes wrapped up a fourth unbeaten season. Four-year members of the team have gone 27-0 in dual meets during their high school careers, which began with a pandemic-shortened 5-0 season. Following that were a pair of 7-0 records the past two years for both the boys and girls teams, and this year’s 8-0 mark for both teams. “It’s pretty cool,” said senior hurdler Andrew Beers, a league champ and returning state medalist. “Sophomore year we didn’t win the league meet but junior year we did.” Both Parkland teams repeated as league meet champs this year. “I came out and wanted to win it this time,” said Beers, who earned three individual gold medals at this year’s league meet. “I wanted to make sure we came out and not only finished as regular season champions, but also got the trophy at the end for the EPC meet.” The Trojans cruised to the league meet titles this year. The Parkland boys team put up 152.33 points with Stroudsburg, which went unbeaten in the EPC North Division, scoring 73.5. The PHS girls team won by 35 points, scoring 129.28 with Emmaus in second place at 93.78. “It’s been really special. We never lost,” said Ethan Willard, a league champ in the 3200-meter run and one of several Trojans who will run in college. “That’s something very uncommon. It took a couple years to realize that.” “Coach [Stephen] Ott really pushes us to work as a team,” said discus champ Julius Reyes. “He wants us to connect as a family even with our different events. I think that really helps us.”