Shalaway primed for big finish with Wake
Elijah Shalaway is one of the top javelin throwers in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Wake Forest graduate student is hoping to live up to his billing this season.
Shalaway, from Barto and a Boyertown Area graduate, kicked off the outdoor season by finishing first in the Parry Palooza Early Bird Classic on Feb. 27 in High Point, N.C. His heave of 201 feet, 7 inches is the best in the ACC thus far and is 18th in the East Region. His career best effort, 217 feet, 10 inches, came at the Penn
Relays in April of 2018.
“I was not the coach who recruited Elijah to Wake or his coach the first two season, but from the moment I got on campus he has been my goto guy,” throws coach Collin Post said. “He is our team captain and our SAAC (Student Athletic Advisory Committee) representative. He’s the person that our underclassmen look to for guidance.”
One of those underclassmen, freshman Jason Wagner (Perkiomen Valley), finished second in the shot put at the Parry Palooza meet with a toss of 42 feet, 1 ½ inches.
Wake Forest returns to the track
this weekend at the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C. It should give Shalaway a good indication about the rest of the season. He finished eighth (200 feet, 6 inches) in 2019, second (211 feet, 3 inches) in 2018 and 12th (186 feet, 10 inches) in 2017. He has a few remaining meets scheduled before the ACC Championship on May 13-15 in Raleigh and the NCAA East Regionals May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla.
“I’m looking for Elijah having a great season and our goal is to place at the top end of the ACC meet, then be top 12 in the region and give him a spot in the national meet,” Post said. SELWYN SIMPSON (SPRINGFORD) >> The 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior running back went over the 1,000yard mark in career rushing after helping the Lafayette football team open its season with a 24-10 victory over Colgate on March 13 in Easton. Last weekend’s game with Bucknell was postponed. Simpson carried the ball 19 times for 66 yards against the Raiders. He now has 1,016 yards in 32 career games. He was a second team All-Patriot League pick last season and was named to the preseason All-Patriot team. JULIA MCLAUGHLIN (POPE JOHN PAUL II), LILLY KULL (OWEN J. ROBERTS) >> The freshman McLaughlin and sophomore Kull helped the Jefferson women’s lacrosse team open the season with a 2-0 record. The Rams’ game against Molloy last Sunday was postponed. McLaughlin has two goals, both coming in a 20-2 victory over Chestnut Hill on March 9, four ground balls and two draw controls. Kull scored her first goal of the season in the Chestnut Hill game. The defensive midfielder has three ground balls and two draw controls.
KEVIN TODD (SPRING-FORD) >> The 5-foot-9, 175-pound grad student is scoring points for the Richmond men’s lacrosse team, the Spiders 3-3 after a 17-5 victory over Bellarmine last Saturday in Louisville, KY. Todd has three goals and two assists to date and the scores came in two games. He had two goals in an 1110 victory over Towson on Feb. 27 and a goal and two assists in a 23-6 triumph over Virginia Military on March 13. Todd entered this season having scored six goals with six assists in 31 games.
ANDY BLUM (OWEN J. ROBERTS) >> The junior is hitting .414 for the Kutztown baseball team, the Golden Bears 9-2 after splitting a doubleheader against No. 25 Bloomsburg last Saturday in Bloomsburg. Blum has 12 hits in 19 at-bats with three doubles, a triple and a home run. He has eight runs batted in and a team-high 12 runs scored. Junior Mitchell Peers (Boyertown) has started all 11 games and is hitting .233 (7-for-30). Freshman Zach Male is 2-0 and sophomore Jake Skrocki is 1-1. Both are right-handers and SpringFord graduates.
PAT O’NEILL (METHACTON) >> The senior with junior eligibility leads the Villanova baseball team in hitting. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound switch-hitter has started all seven games for the 5-2 Wildcats and is hitting .417. He has 10 hits in 24 at-bats with a double and triple. O’Neill was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI in an 11-10 victory over Delaware on March 14. Sophomore AJ Hansen (Perkiomen Valley) had three hits, a run scored and an RBI in the game. He’s played in just three games but is hitting .600.
SAM BARLETTA (SPRINGFORD) >> The junior is off to a big start with the Chestnut Hills baseball team, the Griffins 3-3 after an 8-4 loss to Kutztown on March 17. The team’s weekend games were postponed. Barletta is hitting .421 (8for-19) with four doubles, a home run, four runs batted in and a team-high nine runs scored. His homer came in a 15-6 victory over Gannon on March 14. Sophomore left-hander Thomas Hughes (Spring-Ford) has pitched in three games with two starts and is 0-1. JEFF WOODWARD (METHACTON) >> The 6-foot-11, 265-pound freshman center got into foul trouble early but scored 11 points in 12 minutes as the 14th seed Colgate men’s basketball team dropped an 8568 decision to No. 3 seed and 10th ranked Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA South Regionals last Friday in Indianapolis, Ind. Woodward, who earned Patriot League All-Freshman honors, finished his season averaging 8.0 points and 4.3 rebounds. He led the 14-2 Raiders in blocked shots with 17.
KATIE WUERSTLE (PERKIOMEN VALLEY) >> The freshman had a big weekend for the Kent State field hockey team. The midfielder/attack came off the bench and scored her first collegiate points when she had two goals in an 8-0 nonleague victory over Bellarmine last Friday in Louisville, KY. Wuerstle came back with another goal in a 7-0 triumph over Bellarmine last Saturday, also in Louisville. The victories gave the Golden Flashes a 3-1 overall record with a 1-1 mark in the Mid-Atlantic Conference.
MADELYN GREEN (HILL SCHOOL) >> The freshman from Gilbertsville and the St. Bonaventure women’s swim team opened their season with a 132-97 loss to Niagara on March 7 in St. Bonaventure, N.Y. and the versatile Green had a solid debut for the Bonnies. She finished second in the 1,000 freestyle in 12:06.19, second in the 200 butterfly in 2:31.06 and fourth in the 200 IM in 2:32.03. She also swam a leg on the 200 medley relay which finished second in 1:53.10.