Unionville's Springer aims for 2-mile mark

There is a big buzz surrounding tomorrow's second annual Henderson Track and Field Invitational, in particular the two-mile race that will feature two of the country's premier distance runners.

Paul Springer, of Unionville, and Craig Forys, of Colts Neck (N.J.), will square off in the two-mile final, scheduled to start around 8:30 p.m. With the cool night air and a fast track at J. Oscar Dicks Stadium, both are expected to eclipse the nine-minute mark and possibly set state records.

At the PIAA Class AAA state championships last year at Shippensburg, Springer won the 3,200-meter race in 9 minutes, 1.72 seconds.

The 5-foot-11, 145-pound Springer said his goal is to break 8:50 in tomorrow night's two miles. "There's going to be an energized and noisy crowd, so I am going to try to feed off that," he said. "I think there's a good chance I can do it."

At the Penn Relays last week, Springer, who is headed to Notre Dame, was runner-up in the mile with a clocking of 4:10.98.

Forys, a Michigan recruit, was part of the Colts Neck distance medley relay team at the Penn Relays. As the anchor, he ran a torrid 4:04 split as the Cougars (10:09.11) came from way behind and nearly beat first-place Coatesville (10:08.51).

For tomorrow's highly anticipated two-mile, Kevin Kelly, Henderson's coach, said automatic timers will be set up at both the 3,200 and two-mile marks.

Others expected to compete in the event are Boyertown's Jason Weller, Henderson's Chris Aldrich, Germantown Friends' Max Kaulbach, Pennridge's Isaac Bryan and Gettysburg's Bryan Beegle.

In the 800-meter race, Germantown Academy's Elliott Rhodes and West Chester East's Andrew Lobb are among the headliners.

At Sunday's Catholic League crew championships on the Schuylkill, Monsignor Bonner captured the varsity eight title for the second straight year. With a time of 4:13.05, the Friars held off La Salle (4:16.23) and St. Joseph's Prep (4:17.42).

Bonner's varsity eight was made up of Steve Betzler, Jim McLaughlin, Chris Goetz, Vince Berry, Bob Bigelow, Kenny Marfilius, Rich Caimaichelo and Justin Gentile.

Germantown Academy's Thomas Henninger performed well at the Junior East National Diving Championships last weekend in Coral Springs, Fla.

With a score of 415.40, Henninger placed fourth in the 16- to 18-year-old one-meter springboard event. He took ninth, with 401.55 points, in the three-meter spring board.

Henninger, of Glenside, competes for Centennial Diving in Warminster.

Jeff Merrill (49 goals, 20 assists) leads Great Valley in scoring. Brett Merrill (60 points), Tim Dodds (37), David Burbank (31) and Tyler Morgan (25) have also sparked the Patriots on offense. Goalie Robert Moccia has stopped 186 of 271 shots. . . . Conestoga's Max Hjelm has 30 goals and 19 assists. Brandon Dunn, a midfielder for the Pioneers, has scooped up nearly 100 ground balls. . . . A young Lower Merion squad has been led by freshman Jordan Wolf (20 goals, 13 assists), juniors George David (20, 4) and Dylan Chou (19, 11), and sophomore Matt Dilks (18, 4). . . . St. Joseph's Prep's Brian Brinkmann will play lacrosse at Navy. He was a standout wide receiver in football. . . . Victoria Roebuck, a junior goalie for Springside, is averaging 16 saves per game. She had 15 stops in Tuesday's 17-11 win over Notre Dame.