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Chartiers Valley thrower wins WPIAL javelin title

6 min read
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Photos: Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Derek Armfield

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Roman Galioto, Alaa-Eddine Guetari and Tim Danziger congratulate Jake Borgesi after he anchored South Fayette’s 4x800-meter relay team to victory in 7:57.22 during the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Jake Borgesi begins his sprint after taking the baton from Tim Danzinger during the 4x800 relay during the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships. South Fayette, also thanks to Roman Galioto and Alaa-Eddine Guetari, combined for the win in the event with a time of 7:57.22.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Connor Rychcik reaches back for the baton handoff from Matt Nguyen before anchoring the final 100 yards in the sprint relay. Rychcik and Nguyen combined with Tim Calvetti and Rocky Fennell for the victory with a new Mt. Lebanon school record time of 41.14

Derek Armfield is a problem solver. Perhaps that’s the reason why the Chartiers Valley High School senior ranks at the head of his class with a 5.1 GPA and at the top of the WPIAL in the javelin.

“I just try to focus on the problem at hand and figure it out,” he said.

Athletically, Armfield figured out he was neither a catcher for the baseball team nor a singles player for the tennis team, although he competed in those sports as an underclassman. While competing in indoor track this winter, he decided to stick with the sport but as a thrower.

“I always played a spring sport. Since I was planning to play baseball and not tennis this year, I switched to track. I was running the 400 meters in order to get quicker for baseball,” Armfield said.

When his diamond hopes did not work out, Armfield stuck with track but switched to the javelin.

“I was running mostly for exercise so I decided then that I wanted to win a medal at WPIALs. So I said, ‘What event can I win WPIALs in?’ and it came down to shot or javelin. I picked javelin.

“Going into it, that was my goal,” he said. “I wanted to win and that is what happened.”

Within three months, Armfield was a champion. He captured the gold medal in the javelin during the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships held May 17 at Slippery Rock University.

“This is my 90th day of javelin,” he said. “I have been working every day, thinking about it every day. I’d try to watch different Olympians to refine my technique and did a lot of repetitions.”

Armfield added that since he was a catcher, he had to refine his throwing motion.

“There is no correlation, between them,” he said. “If anything being a catcher was a hindrance since the throwing technique is different.”

Armfield also discovered there is a difference in javelins. Most spears are designed for headwinds. In the WPIAL championships, though, competitors confronted strong tailwinds.

“Wind isn’t necessarily good or bad for the javelin,” Armfield said. “You just have to place your shot differently.”

On his fourth throw of the competition, Armfield switched out his javelin to account for the conditions. Though not as “comfortable” with the spear, Armfield prevailed. He threw a personal record 178 feet, 8 inches to win the competition.

“Because we had a tailwind, I switched javelins. It did the job.”

Now Armfield is headed for the PIAA championships, to be held May 26-27 at Shippensburg University.

“I’m very excited,” Armfield said. “I’d like to place and get the school record.

Armfield’s WPIAL throw was 14 inches shy of the mark of 180 feet.

“It’s going to take a bigger, better throw with a little more through the tip to get that extra foot and two inches, but that’s the goal for states,” he said. “I’m not sure what the current standings are but right now my goals were WPIALs and the school record. I still have that to do and work to do. All I can change or do is what I can control.”

By excelling in the classroom, Armfield controlled his collegiate destination. He will matriculate to Carnegie Mellon University in the fall. He plans to study artificial intelligence.

“It’s a really powerful field. Powerful technology,” he added. “It has the potential to impact humanity hopefully for the good.”

Relays ruleSouth Fayette’s boys 3,200 relay team of Roman Galioto, Alaa-Eddine Guetari, Tim Danziger and Jake Borgesi set a blistering pace in winning the Class 3A title in 7:57.22.

Galioto, who ran the opening leg of the race, took the lead with about 150 meters to go before handing off to Guetari.

“I have always been leadoff for this team, and it is just a comfortable position for me,” Galioto said. “I wanted to go with 300 to go, but I just thought in my mind what Coach (Joe) Winans told me before, ‘To try and be as patient as possible,’ so I would definitely give some of my success to his advice.”

Danziger said he was confident the Lions would cross the finish line first if he maintained the lead as the third leg.

“I knew if I handed it off to Jake (Borgesi) in first, he would be able to get the win,” Danziger said. “I was hurting in the last 200 meters, but I knew if I got it to him, he would be able to bring it home for us.”

Borgesi, a senior, ran his first lap (400 meters) in 53 seconds and ran a split of 1:56.

“I kept thinking about my teammates the whole team during the race,” Borgesi said. “I would have never forgiven myself if I didn’t close it for them.”

Galiato was sixth in the 800. His time of 1:56.90 met the qualifying standards and will compete in the event at states.

Mt. Lebanon also submitted a swift victory in the 4×100 relay. Tim Calvetti, Rocky Fennel, Matt Nyugen and Connor Rychcik breezed through the race in 42.14, which is a new school record.

Lebo’s 4×400 relay added a silver medal. Rychcik Michale Malone, Jacob Lehman and Nicholas Hendrick comprised the unit.

Lebo’s 4×800 relay finished fifth. Hendrick, Lehman, Isaiah Irwin Evans and Paul O’Matz made up the foursome.

Individually, Calvetti and Rychcik took second and third in the 200. Calvetti added fourth in the 100.

Other top individual finishers for the Blue Devils included: Luke Cramer, second in the triple jump and sixth place in the high hurdles; Andrew Freedy, third in the discus; Kush Criswell and Patrick Smith, fourth and seventh in the javelin.

Kroboth qualifiesBrett Kroboth earned a berth in the PIAA championships. The Peters Township senior finished fourth in the 3,200 and seventh in the 1,600 runs. He anchored the 4×800 relay team of Caleb Arabia, Matt Milliken and AJ Wagstaff to an eighth-place showing.

Individually, Reston Lehman finished sixth in the javelin while Zach Griffith was seventh in the pole vault.

Top finishers for Upper St. Clair included: Sawyer Weinmann, fifth in the 3,200, and Evan Sarkett, seventh in the 800 run.

Finally, Jeremiah Hamilton from Bethel Park finished eighth in the triple jump.

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