The Bensalem boys track team – on the heels of capturing an indoor state title - capped a memorable season by winning both the district and state titles this spring. Check the Photo Gallery for photos of the entire state meet.
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” --Michelangelo
The Bensalem Owls dared to aim high and then went out and achieved their goals, winning both the district and state track titles this spring. Team members will be quick to tell you that championships don’t just happen. They are the result of dedication and a whole lot of hard work.
“We put in years of hard work, spending five days at the track and putting in extra hours on weekends,” junior Kyle Francis said. “Staying in Friday nights because of meets on Saturdays – all of our sacrifices and all of our hard work really paid off.
“It’s definitely worth it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Francis along with Brad Rivera, Qhyle Elijah and Kerron Holley were part of the Owls’ first place 4x400 relay. Anything less than gold would not have been enough in the final event of the day that saw the Owls edge second place Pennridge 3:19.73 to 3:19.80.
For Holley, just being able to compete was a victory in itself.
“I came off an injury – pulling my Achilles, and I didn’t think I would be able to run,” he said. “The week of districts for the 4x400, I actually went out there and ran a 47 split, and that’s probably going to be the biggest memory because I had no hope of coming back to track and running until the following year.”
This spring’s state title came on the heels of capturing the indoor title this past winter.
“Just to watch this take shape and mold over my last four years was just a great experience and a memory I’ll never forget, both indoor and outdoor,” said Rivera, who captured a silver medal in the 800 meters. “I have a bond with these guys that is unexplainable. We all have a bond together, and I’m sure we’ll stay close the rest of our lives.
“It’s just a great accomplishment. To see everything take place – I always knew we could do it. I think we all knew we could do it. We just had to really work hard and just go out there and win it.”
“We came in knowing we had big goals,” Holley added. “We went out, did our thing and everything went well. Coming in as a freshman, I didn’t know we would turn out to be as successful as we are this year.”
The Owls’ state indoor title was their first since 2004 and their outdoor crown is their first since 1987 when they were co-champions.
“I just think it’s crazy that four years ago when I first started running track in spring, I would never have imagined becoming an indoor state champ and an outdoor state champ my senior year,” said senior Matt French, who was part of the 4x800 relay that captured gold and also included Rivera, Armand Cox-Finn and Francis. “It’s just truly incredible. The feeling is something I probably won’t feel right away – it’s probably something I’ll look back on next year and be like, ‘Wow, that was the best experience of my life.’
“I just love these guys on my team. They gave me a great bond. I can’t complain about my senior year – no injuries and everything was perfect. I just want to give a shout out to my coach, coach (Mary Ellen) Molloy – the best coach anyone could ask for.”
And while the players sacrificed their time and energy, so did Molloy and the rest of the Owls’ coaches.
“I’m going to miss the coaches because they put time into us,” senior Pratik Patel said. “They spent their days at the track with us when they could have been doing something else – sleeping, spending time with their kids. They take off work just to be there with us.
“I’m also going to miss these guys next year. I’m not going to have the same team, I’m not going to have the same bond.”
Patel joined the team when he was a sophomore.
“I started running just to run because I didn’t have any other sport to play,” he said. “Then my junior year came around, and we won leagues. I realized I could run competitively with them.
“That’s not just when my confidence but the whole team’s confidence went up, and we’re like, ‘We can win districts, we can win states. Let’s try and make it happen,’ and it happened this year.”
The Owls, who did not win a conference championship this year, served notice that they were a force to be reckoned with when they won the conference title in 2012 after a 4-3 season the year before.
“In my sophomore year, I knew we were going to be good, and I was hoping we could win a state championship,” said Cox-Finn, who is affectionately known as Man-Man to his teammates. “I didn’t think we were actually going to do it until our junior year when we won leagues, and our confidence started to get higher and higher.
“Our senior year, we had a good shot at it, so why not take it. We all just came together, and we got the (indoor) title as planned. When SOLs came, we didn’t win the league, but when districts came, we tried to put ourselves back on the map because we didn’t win leagues, so why not go for districts and win that?
“States came, my last year with these guys, and we came all together again. We got another title. Two state titles in one year is a blessing. We can’t ask for much more. It can’t get much better than that.”
Freshman Hamzah Massaquoi credited the upperclassmen for serving as positive role models.
“I ran track with coach Malloy in the summer, and coming in with these guys, they were all juniors and seniors, and they were a really big impact on me because they work extra hard,” Massaquoi said. “I knew if I wanted to be half as good as them or even near them, I had to work extra hard too.
“I came to practice every day, worked hard, listened to my coach, went to meets and did what I was told. We ran good together, and we accomplished so many things. We deserved what we got because we worked extra hard for it – going to meets on weekends, staying in and not going to any parties. It was a great season with this team.”
No one appreciated the success of this year’s squad more than the upperclassmen.
“When I was a freshman, Brad, Matt and Man-Man and the rest of this year’s seniors had one year under their belts, so coming in with them as a team, I knew we would have a good team in the future, but I didn’t realize how good until now,” Francis said. “Just to accomplish this after all the hard work we put in – it’s just cool because it didn’t happen overnight.
“It’s definitely a great accomplishment that I’ll look back on with these guys for the rest of my life. I’ll hold these guys close for the rest of my life because we accomplished great things together.”
“It was a great thing to watch us grow as a team,” senior Daquan Bowser-Guerra said. “In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have imagined this happening.
“I remember coming in as a freshman, we were a young team, and our sophomore year everyone was shocked to see that we made districts. Now we’re state champs. This is a great accomplishment.”
An accomplishment that has ensured team members a spot in history.
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