The members of the Baldwin boys 4×100 relay team are happy with their season and the work of the track and field team as a whole.

“Overall, we did very well in the season, ending up 13th in the WPIAL,” senior Kurt Maiden said of the boys relay team. “We ended seventh at the Baldwin Invitational and sixth at the Butler Invitational.”

That boys relay team consisted of seniors Marcus Toto, Jonus Ruvolo, and Maiden, as well as junior Anthony DiCesaro. This was Maiden’s first year doing track and he was happy with how he did.

“For a first year, I feel like I kept the team in a place to succeed, but I didn’t really do anything that special,” he said. “My job as the first leg was to basically maintain positioning.”

Ruvolo and DiCesaro thought that despite the team having many things go wrong before the WPIAL meet, the team battled hard.

“We had a lot of problems we overcame with sicknesses and other things, but we battled and persevered,” Ruvolo said.

DiCesaro agreed.

“I missed a lot early in the year and had to really lock it in to make my way back onto the 4×100 team. I spent a lot of time with the coaches to recover,” DiCesaro said. “I think we did well with the position we were in.”

Overall, the Baldwin track and field team sent 24 members to the WPIAL track and field championships at Slippery Rock last week, looking for a chance to advance to the PIAA state championships this week at Shippensburg University.

The highlight for Baldwin at WPIALs was Toto making states for a second-place finish in the triple jump. Toto is excited about the opportunity to participate in states.

“It will be nice to compete at the highest level and have a chance to make a name for myself and the Baldwin track and field team,” Toto said.“

Elsewhere at WPIALs, senior Jake Kunzman placed seventh in the discus and javelin events and senior Brooklyn Lucas also placed seventh in shot put. Senior Kenzie Hirt, sophomore Olivia Shellman and freshman Becca Gruntz also did well in their own events.

Senior javelin thrower Brady Lavelle, who is also a first-year competitor, was impressed by the team’s performance.

“It was great to see so many people make it that far and to see the people I’ve been working with all year succeed,” Lavelle said. “It was especially nice to see Kunzman do so well. He has been great to practice with and compete with all year.” 

Maiden thought it was a great experience being able to run the relay at WPIALs.

“It was pretty awesome running with some of the best people in the state and in a crowd of about 1,000 people,” he said. “The event being the 4×100, everyone was cheering and it was pretty loud at the stadium.”