SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 30, 2025)
The fact that Central Bucks South senior Devlyn Faber is one of the top triple jumpers in the district, if not the state, is a classic study in fate. Close friend and teammate Erika Dombroski was not available for the triple jump for the North Penn Invitational last year, and Faber was asked to fill in by her coaches. Always a team player, the two-year captain gave it a go. To say the experiment was a success would be an understatement, as she qualified for districts. “They had me do it for the one week she was gone, as a filler, and I ended up being decent at it,” said Faber. “I loved doing it. I tried it for the rest of the season, and I made districts at our first invitational.”
Then, at the damp and dreary District One meet at Coatesville, the sun was again shining on Faber as she qualified for states. “Even going into districts, I was seeded really low,” said Faber. “I had absolutely no expectations. That’s one of the reasons it was so awesome. Even my coaches were, like, ‘What the heck just happened?’ I ended up placing fifth in District One and top 5 gets you into states. That was a really fun
day.”
Faber, who also participates in the high jump and long jump and now runs a leg in the successful 4X100 relay, has been able to parlay her triple jump skills into an opportunity to do it on the collegiate level at Duquesne University. “It was all really unexpected,” she said. “My main event now is the triple jump, and I only really started like a year ago.” While she did not medal at states last year, Faber is determined to come away from states this year with hardware. er head coach, Jason Gable, sees no reason why Faber can’t achieve this lofty goal. “Last year, it was about getting the experience at states,” said the coach. “This year, it’s all about medaling. She is setting herself up for that. She is in that medal contention already across the state.”
In Faber, Gable sees a level of caring that sets her apart as a leader. “She’s a natural leader,” he said. “Nothing is really forced. There’s calm communication and correction from her during meets and in practice. It’s hanging out after practice, sometimes with stretching. She is a leader to the entire team, even with the sprinters, but especially with the jumpers. She is almost like a mother hen.” Faber can only chuckle and agree with the description. “People joke and call me the mom of the group, that’s for sure,” she said. “We are like a little family.” While he will miss Faber next year not only for her track and field talent but also her leadership, Gable says a piece of her spirit will always live on. “When she came on the team, we had some phenomenal leadership – especially in the jumpers on the girls’ side – and Dev very much became attached to those juniors and seniors and learned from them,” said Gable. “It shows now. All that motivation and connection and love for the sport that she saw as an underclasswoman in high school, she is now sharing with those underneath her. I’ve been doing this for 21 years. Where athletes like Dev leave their mark is that it almost becomes like a seamless transition. There will be another girl stepping into that role and making Dev proud by providing the same leadership and the same amount of hard work and level of competing. That means the same level of enthusiasm.”
Though a jumper, Faber’s feet are planted firmly on the ground. Her favorite athlete, Anna Hall, is an Olympian. While she expects to improve in college, she knows that will not quite be her trajectory. That’s why Duquesne, with a strong nursing program, also appealed to her. “As much as I love track, I know I’m not going to be an Olympic athlete,” said Faber. “As much as I love it, I had to keep it in the back of my mind that I had to achieve a balance of what was going to help with track with what was going to have a degree afterward that was going to take me through the rest of my life. Their nursing program is definitely well-known, so that was a factor, too.” Overall, Faber certainly fulfills the balance she seeks at CB South, taking AP and honors classes and boasting a 4.1 weighted GPA. “It’s a natural fit,” said Gable. “Coaches can easily reference her. All the other kids know that all the hard work, and all the responsibility and the care that she puts into her athletics, she also puts into her academics. It’s like good karma. They both work with each other.”
To read Faber’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/devlyn-faber-00118400
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of March 27, 2025)
A “true program kid.” That’s how coach Chris Manero describes Ryan Heincer, and there’s no arguing the Plymouth Whitemarsh senior fits the bill. “He’s done everything with us,” the PW baseball coach said. “He takes advantage of every opportunity we have – every fall workout, every workout in the weight room in the winter. Every time we get to do something out on the field in the winter – he’s just always there. I think it’s part of that – if you want to work your way up through the program and you want to work your way into the lineup, sometimes it’s just putting in as much time as you can and taking advantage of the opportunities we give, which is what he’s done.”
While that’s certainly a tribute to the Colonials’ first baseman, there’s nothing particularly unusual about that. In fact, Heincer’s journey hasn’t been all that unusual. He earned a spot on the JV as a freshman - a
promising start for any ninth grader. The following year he again played JV, and as a junior, he was the first player off the bench for the varsity. This year, Heincer is an everyday player at first base. “He finally had an opportunity to be our starting first baseman, and not only that, he’s now hitting in the middle of our order,” Manero said. “He’s probably one of our top three hitters, and he’s just having a really good senior year.”
Adding an interesting twist to Heincer’s story is the fact that he was elected a captain by his peers. And that is not exactly typical for a first-year varsity player. “If I go back to last year as a junior where it was hard to even get him on the field – to me, that would be a surprise if you had told me a year ago that he’d be hitting third in the order, playing first base, and he’s going to be our captain,” Manero said. “I think he has a lot of respect from the kids around him. He’s a guy that is a good teammate and the younger players respect him, and it’s put him in that position.”
Heincer acknowledged his story does not follow the usual script. “It doesn’t happen all the time, but I always had confidence in my abilities,” he said. “Last year, for varsity my junior year, I had the role of first bat off the bench. I took pride in that role. I wasn’t like – “Oh, I might not get in,’ but I was like, ‘If he needs me at the end of the game, I’ll be there,’ so that always kept my confidence up.”
Heincer considered playing collegiate baseball and participated in showcase tournaments last summer. “But I got accepted at Villanova, so I had to take that,” he said. “I want to get involved with club baseball at Villanova. I have some buddies that have been on the PW team that have graduated over the past few years that have said club ball is the most fun baseball they’ve played, and I want to get in on that. I’ll be playing legion this summer, and I definitely want to keep baseball in my life as long as I can.”
Heincer, who received a conditional acceptance from Villanova, will enroll in the liberal arts school as a freshman. “My goal is eventually to get into the business program,” he said. He is also interested in competing in club baseball “I’ll be playing legion this summer, and I definitely want to keep baseball in my life as long as I can.” “He’s just an outstanding kid, he really is,” Manero said. “He has this old soul kind of personality, and I think that’s helped him. I think that’s part of what keeps him grounded, well-liked, not just by players but by coaches too. As coaches, we want all of our guys to succeed, but you really like to see the guys that do everything right have that success in the end, and he’s definitely one of them. I have never heard a bad thing about him from any of his teachers. He’s a really good student, and he’s a lifer on the baseball field. It’s just good to see that the guys who go about doing things the right way – eventually, they get theirs. He’s just a good kid, he’s a very well-respected kid.”
To read Heincer’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/ryan-heincer-00118401
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