Freedom finishes as a runner-up, and Beaver girls finish third in their side of 2A team championship
BALDWIN — For the 13th time in 14 years, the Riverside boys track team made their way to the WPIAL Class 2A track team championships Monday at Baldwin High School, and for the second straight year, head coach Chuck Kotuby and the Panthers captured the team championship, holding off Freedom, South Park and Mohawk.
In addition to capturing their fifth WPIAL team championship since 2005, the Panthers swept their section once again and are currently owners of 98 straight wins in the section. But, Monday evening was all about winning their second straight WPIAL title.
“It’s a redemption of all the work,” Kotuby said. “This isn’t won here, this is won in January and February. Our kids have worked hard all year long, and this is like the redemption, this is what we get. Back-to-backs are pretty nice.”
Freedom placed second at the meet. Riverside edged the Bulldogs 89-61, while Freedom bested Mohawk (80-70) and South Park (89-71). The Panthers posted wins of 96-54 over South Park and 106-44 over Mohawk.
Like it has all season, Riverside received key contributions from its strongest athletes. They won every relay race, which Kotuby said signifies the amount of strength they have across the board and the depth of their team.
“When you do that, you have distance runners, sprinters, mid-distance runners, you have it all,” Kotuby said.
Junior Calvin Wetzel may have had the strongest day of all the Panthers, as he followed up a stellar sophomore season by capturing the 100-meter dash, 300-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash. He also ran the anchor leg on the winning 4 x 100-meter relay that clocked a 45.31 seconds.
Jackson Coyne was another big contributor, taking first in the 400 with a time of 50.79, and he also contributed to the winning 4 x 800-meter relay team, that finished in 8 minutes, 29 seconds, and he also was a part of the winning 4 x 400-meter relay team, as they clocked a 3:27 time.
“I mean I can’t say enough about Calvin and Jackson, these guys are like machines, it’s unbelievable,” Kotuby said of his two standout performers.
Plenty of athletes stuck out to Kotuby, but overall, he was just happy with the performance of the entire team.
“I think everybody just did their job, we just had one motto each and every week,” Kotuby said. “And that was to just get better, and I think we did that.”
Heading into the WPIAL team championships, Kotuby and Riverside, based on their performances throughout the season, thought they were poised for a second straight title, but they knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Freedom boasted a deep roster full of talented athletes.
The Bulldogs showed their depth in the jumping events. They swept in the triple jump and claimed podium spots in several events throughout the day, but the depth of Riverside was too much for Freedom to overcome in the long run as they finished second, outscoring Mohawk and South Park.
After a second straight championship, it doesn’t look like the winning tradition at Riverside will stop anytime soon either as several of Kotuby’s key point scorers will be returning next season as well to continue the reign of WPIAL Championships.
“It’s been an incredible season, it was just an overall great season.”
In the girls' meet, Beaver placed third in the WPIAL Class 2A event. They beat Mohawk, but lost to Burrell and Shenango. Shenango finished first.