Hopewell’s Indoor 2024 Track Debut at Youngstown State

3 sophomores, 1 junior, and 2 seniors traveled to Youngstown State University for the first indoor track meet of the year. For 5 of the 6, it was their first time competing in the indoor version of the sport, but they all had performances that reflected how hard they’ve been working all winter and showed promise for big things to come this spring.

Sophomore Julian Baldwin – the indoor veteran of the group, having competed as a freshman last year – kicked off the year with a big personal best in the 60m dash of 7.76, a .17 second improvement from his PB last year. Another sophomore, Josh Brunton, posted an impressive 7.46 in his first 60m race ever. His brother Jacob Brunton, a senior, debuted at 7.89.

Senior Matthias Goth qualified for the finals in the 60m hurdles with a very good 9.70 second run in the preliminary heats. Goth picked up the hurdles as a new event halfway through last spring’s season and has improved quickly by tirelessly honing his technique.

Sophomore runner Antony Flitcraft won his heat of the 1600m with a very solid season opening time of 5:12.88. Antony has big ambitions for this season, and you can expect to see him running the streets of Hopewell shaving seconds off of that time.

The biggest performance of the day came from junior Emma Palmieri. Though she was a WPIAL silver medalist in the 400m and member of the school record setting 4×100 relay team last spring, and a cross country state qualifier last fall, this was her first time competing indoors in the winter. She qualified for the final in the 60m dash with an 8.44 run in the prelims and finished 10th overall. Then in the 400m, she smashed the previous indoor school record by 3 seconds, completing the quarter mile sprint in 1:01.31, and a 3rd overall finish. She followed that up with another indoor school record in the 200m with a time of 27.79, finishing 8th overall.

Indoor track and field season is a great opportunity for athletes to compete and show the hard work they have been putting in during the winter. It also gives the coaches a good look at the progress being made and which elements need work that might not show up in practice. It’s only January, so it’s exciting to see what is in store for Hopewell Track and Field.