Jesuit High School Throwers captured first place in all four throwing events at the Glenn Poole Invitational Track Meet last Saturday at Oakmont High School, foreshadowing a Marauder 2023 Track and Field Season likely to be filled with many wins for this strong throws team.

Competing with the region’s best high school throwers from 28 local high schools, Jesuit's Matthew Palchak ’23 won the varsity Shot Put contest over 65 competitors with a throw of 47’ 4”. Another JHS Marauder, Charles Sander ‘23 took second place with a throw of 44’ 10”, also with the varsity 12lb shot.

In varsity Discus, Matthew threw for 149’ 9” to win first place again for Jesuit, with Sander also in close contention.

In the Junior Varsity competition, and not to be outdone, Sophomore Christopher Palchak ‘25 won both JV Shot Put and Discus competitions just like his older brother with throws of 44’ with a 10lb shot, and 126’ 2” respectively. Jesuit’s Alexander Ridell ’25 took third place in shot with a throw of 40’ 1.75”.

Jesuit High school won Gold in all four men's throwing events (Var/JV, Shot Put/Discus), in addition to taking Silver and Bronze awards in two of the events.

Charles Sander said, “Of the top 12 throwing medals, our Marauders took 6! It’s great to be on this Jesuit team, working with over 20 JHS brothers with different talents, all of us pushing and helping each other to be our best. And of course, having the Palchaks is a nice bonus for our team!"

This was a limited invitational meet, with only three athletes from each participating school allowed per event. That made selecting those athlete participants challenging for coaches, even as some athletes were out of town enjoying Jesuit’s mid-semester "ski week” break.

According to JHS Asst. Track Coach David Sander, there are more remarkable performances expected this year, "We have an amazing group of throwers at Jesuit, upholding our proud throwing tradition - this looks to be a landmark year for our squad. These kids are smart and determined, and they work very hard to improve their skills, and that’s going to show this year."

The overall Jesuit Track & Field Team won first place for men's Varsity at the Glenn Poole Meet, with a huge boost from their throwers!