Upper Dublin pulls off medley upset

Once the Penn Relays seedings were released, West Windsor-Plainsboro North (N.J.) became a topic of conversation.

The Northern Knights were anointed the favorite to win the Championship of America in the high school boys' distance medley.

Now, the Middlesex County team is an afterthought after Upper Dublin took away its shining moment. The Cardinals' quartet of Matt Lorenzo, Chris Melton, Paul Reilly and Mike Palmisano won the final in 10 minutes, 8.48 seconds.

"This is the race we wanted to win since the beginning of the season," said Reilly, who ran an 800-meter third leg. "It feels good just to do it. It feels like a dream. It's unbelievable."

The favorites were second in 10:11.28, while Manalapan (N.J.) rounded out the top three in 10:12.78.

St. Joseph's Prep finished ninth in 10:25.74, while Haddonfield was 15th in 10:30.80. Cardinal O'Hara and Hatboro-Horsham finished 18th and 19th, respectively, in 10:34.94 and 10:36.88.

Reilly gave Palmisano the baton in second place, behind the Northern Knights.

At that point, one would have assumed the favorites had the race locked up. The Northern Knights had the nation's top indoor time in the event. Moreover, the final leg of the race covered 1,600 meters, anchor Jim Rosa's specialty.

The sophomore's indoor time of 4:13.12 ranked 13th nationally, according to Dyestat.com. Palmisano, on the other hand, specialized in the 800.

But that was hard to tell yesterday.

Palmisano, who ran a 4:14.6 split, pulled even with Rosa with 200 meters remaining. Then the senior pulled away on the final turn.

"I didn't know what I was going to be able to do," the Princeton recruit said. "But the pace went out slow for three laps. And I'm an 800 runner. So I knew I could get him."

Lower Merion's Brian Furcht, Central Bucks East's Brett Millar, and Methacton's Wesley Lavong didn't duplicate Upper Dublin's success. They did, however, receive second-place consolation prizes.

Furcht just missed out in the boys' 3,000, finishing in 8:24.72. Robert Micikas of Crestwood in Mountain Top, Pa., won in 8:23.84.

Millar finished second in the boys' javelin with a personal best of 209 feet, 5 inches. Central Dauphin's Justin Shirk won at 220-3. Central Bucks West's Matt McMurdo rounded out the top three at 206-1.

Shortly afterward, Lavong was the boys' shot-put runner-up at 61-11¾. The senior wasn't pleased with his performance.

"I actually take a second as last place," he said. "If you are not first, then you are not remembered."

If so, he was forgotten from the start of the competition.

That's because Nick Vena of Morristown (N.J.) bettered the previous Penn Relays record on his first attempt of the first flight. Then he produced a winning effort of 72-2½ that shattered the previous record of 67-3, by J.J. Grant of Liverpool (N.Y.) in 1985.

The winning throw was also the nation's best of the season.