Published: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 and May 19, 2013
The Fox Chapel varsity track teams had a successful night at the WPIAL qualifiers meet on May 7. For the girls, Tricia Panos (100 meter), Emma Slevin (800 and 1,600) and Maura Whelan (3,200) qualified for the WPIAL championships, along with the 4×8 relay team — Whelan, Isabella Verardi, Great Altmeyer and Sanders Bennett. On the boys side, Brian Papich (long jump, high jump), Elias Graca (400,800), Brandon Mitchell (110 and 300 hurdles), Ethan Martin (1,600 and 3,200), Colin Martin (1,600 and 3,200), Nigel Garnett (100 and 200),Mike Mawhinney (400), the 4×8 relay team (Travis Eckman, Andrew Golio, Jacob Halasowski, Akhil Ramgopal) and the 4×4 relay team (Graca, Mitchell, Papich, Mawhinney) all advanced.
Brian Papich had a very successful year after two years away from track. In a story in the Valley News Dispatch, written by Bill West,
As evidenced by Thursday’s WPIAL meet, Papich has returned with authority. He qualified for the PIAA Class AAA championships in the long jump and high jump, as he placed second in the former with a distance of 23-3 and tied for fourth in the latter with a height of 6-1. His long jump mark broke the school record (22-6), an achievement Papich said was his main goal at the meet. A spot in the state meet just sweetened the deal. “I thought I could sneak up in the top four; I wasn’t expecting second, though,” Papich said. Papich places basketball above all his other athletic activities. He hardly considers himself among the “bigname” jumpers who also earned trips to Shippensburg. “I’m just trying to rely on natural hops,” he said.
The Fox Chapel Area High School track team has had some impressive performances over the past few years.
Last year, the boys made the team playoffs for the first time since Tom Moul has been the coach. The boys also won the Butler Invitational this year and finished second last year as well as winning the Mars Invitational last season.