April 22, 2004
by Jeff Toquinto
Editor of The Bridgeport News

Although the Bridgeport boys team didn’t win SaturdayÕs third annual Harry Green Invitational, they did do the next best thing. The Tribe managed to finish as runner-up in the 18-team field, dropping the decision to Class AAA top-ranked Preston.
The Knights won the meet with 135 points, which was well ahead of Bridgeport’s total of 92. The Indians had just enough to hold off Parkersburg, which came in third with 89 points.
So how did the Tribe do it?
BHS did manage to win three events, but it was the consistency in getting points in just about every event that proved to be the difference. Most notable during the day-long meet was a solid showing in the relay events. Along with winning the shuttle hurdles relay, the Indians placed high in every other relay.
”We had some outstanding individual and relay performances,” said coach Jon Griffith. The big key for us is always the same - improvement."
The shuttles team won with a time of 1 minute, .73 seconds. Doing the honors was the group of Grant Burton, Phillip McElfresh, Matt Fischer and Matt Wilson.
The 4x100 team of Shawn Adkins, Steven Lewis, P. McElfresh and Josh Goad was third (45.65 seconds); while the same group was second in the 4x200 (1 minute, 35.76 seconds). In the 4x400, the team of Kyle Sappington, Grant Burton, Justin Findley and Daniel Fischer was fourth (3 minutes, 46.05 seconds); while the 4x800 team of Sappington, Ben Booth, Patsy Sabatelli and David Haws was seconds (8 minutes, 44.45 seconds).
The other individual wins came from Fischer and Raymond Powers. Fischer won the high jump by clearing 6 feet, 4 inches, while Powers won the pole vault easily by clearing 13 feet. Fischer's jump was pushed by teammate Matt Wilson, who also cleared the same mark, but lost on jumps. The two have pushed each for two years now.
"Matt and Matt really feed off of each other,” said Griffith. "They may not admit it, but there is a motivating friendly competition between them that helps make them both better."
As for Powers, Griffith said the pole vault jump left him second in the state. Griffith said his several years of work are paying off.
Several other youngsters scored points for BHS and placed in the top six. Among that group was P. McElfresh with a fifth place (11.74 seconds) in the 100 meter dash; Lewis with a fourth place (23.95 seconds) in the 200 meters; Haws with a fifth place (2 minutes, 8.61 seconds) in the 800 meter run; Wilson came in fourth (15.89 seconds) in the 110 meter hurdles. Also placing in the field events were Haws with a fourth place in pole vault (11 feet); Wilson in the long jump (20 feet, 1.5 inches); and Sam Romano taking a pair of fifth place finishes. Romano placed in the shot put (43 feet, 4 inches) and the discus (120 feet and one-half inch).
Missing from the meet was speedster Jeff Weimer. Weimer, who was battling a pulled quad and unable to compete, was about ready to return to action for upcoming meets. However, he fell after a collision during practice and broke his wrist. Griffith said Weimer should be back in a week once the swelling and pain subsides and a cast is put in place.
Also, the Bridgeport boys' junior varsity squad was one of the 18 teams participating. The jayvees finished 12th in the field.
"That's quite an accomplishment in my book," added Griffith.