Winter track is indoors, and most of their competitive events are what one might see at an Olympic Games: sprints, long-distance runs, throwing, and jumping. Since there are only a few indoor track facilities in the state, oftentimes the competition is really strong at the events as these events are highly concentrated with the top teams in the state. Malvern primarily competes at Lehigh University and the University of Pennsylvania. This season, Malvern has been exceptional, with multiple students setting school records.
A few athletes have stood out above the rest as some of the best Malvern has ever seen. With this comes one of the best overall seasons for Head Coach Mike Koenig.
“It’s definitely one of our best ones. First of all, we had a bigger than normal team, so lots of new guys who would be some of our best runners in past years, but we had some spectacular performances in various areas: distance, sprinting, jumping, and throwing. We had four school records this year; in a normal season, you might get one school record, and we had four,” Koenig said.
The kids that have set these school records include senior Will Cipollone, junior Ryan Woerner, and sophomores Jalen Bowman and Brock Yoder. These athletes have set records in both the track and field aspects.
“Ryan Woerner set a record in the triple jump; he jumped 46 feet. Jalen Bowman tied a school record in the 60-meter dash, and the record he tied was good for All-American status that year. Will Cipollone broke his own school record from last year, and Brock Yoder broke the record in the 3000 meter twice. He is also very close to our school record in the mile,” Koenig said.
Sophomore Brock Yoder talked about what this season has been like for him.
“I think this season was really strong for the whole team. We had a lot of good guys in their sprint events and distance events; the coaches really helped us too. We also had a lot of new guys who did really well,” Yoder said.
There are a few reasons for the success of the team this year, obviously these four friars who have excelled, but there is also a lot of depth on the team. The team was bigger than usual, causing a strong second group of guys. A lot of kids just started running this year for their spring sport, but they just so happened to be pretty speedy too.
“There’s plenty of good guys on the team; obviously, the success starts at the top, but then everyone else sort of falls in behind them. We’ve got a lot of guys that are competitive, not at the school record level, but in the future might be very competitive. A lot of them are baseball and lacrosse guys that join to get in shape, but then I make them compete, and they actually do pretty well and enjoy it,” Koenig said.
The guys seemed to be more committed this year too. It is important in track for everyone to show up and be consistent with their training in order to maintain shape. The increase in consistency was definitely one of the reasons the teams excelled this season. Sophomore Jalen Bowman talked about why he thought the team was performing so well this year.
“Just consistency; more people have been coming to practice, and I think it has made us better as a team. Everybody is just bonded, and it makes us a better team in general.” Bowman said.
Like Bowman mentioned, another noticeable improvement from last year is the team chemistry. The team seems to be bonding well together, and it has helped the others perform better. Senior captain Will Cipollone talked about what he has noticed with the team unity this season.
“For sure, guys are taking more ownership of the team; people are working for themselves but also for the team. The team vibe is great. It was special to see Ryan [Woerner] break the school record coming off an injury; he was working his butt off, and everyone was supporting him and so happy to see him break the record. I also noticed it when we got third at PAISAAs, and we haven’t gotten inside the top 8 the rest of my high school career.” Cipollone said.
The team is set up nicely for the future too with a lot of young talent. Junior Ryan Woerner spoke on this season and the future.
“I think the team did quite well across the board, and I think our performance improved a lot over the season. There are a ton of new kids on the team, so I think we have a very promising future,” Woerner said.
To finish off the season strong, the team competed in the PTFCA State Championship meet, where they performed terrifically. All four of the aforementioned exemplary competitors placed in the top 10 at this meet. Will Cipollone placed 8th in the shot put, Ryan Woerner got 5th in the triple jump, Brock Yoder set a new school record in the 3000 meter and placed 6th overall, and lastly, Jalen Bowman set a new record in the 60 meter dash, placing 4th overall. This season has been a great year for these four guys and the rest of the team and will go down as one of Malvern’s best of all time.
