THE WARRIORS were well-represented at New Balance Nationals held at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from June 13-16. Pictured from left to right is William Mezikofsky, George Palmer, Joe Patt, Liam Taggart and Oliver Polster. (Courtesy Photo)
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — New Balance Nationals was held in Philadelphia at Penn’s Franklin Field from June 13-June 16. The Warriors had five athletes representing Wakefield at the prestigious event.
Joseph Patt competed in the Decathlon in 10 events over two arduous days. He placed an impressive 10th place with 5,735 points against athletes from Texas, Tennessee, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and more. Day 1 competition started at 11 a.m. and continued until 5:30 p.m. Day 2 started at 8:40 a.m. and did not finish until 9 p.m. It was a test of will and perseverance.
Patt started off Day 1 with a strong performance taking nearly a half a second off his best in the 100 meters running a time of 11.58 and was 11th. He followed that up with a jump of 19’7” in the long jump placing 11th. Next was the shot put in which he threw 40’8.75” placing 4th. In the high jump, he cleared 5’3.25” to place 10th. Finally, after a long day of competition, Patt ran the 400 meters in 55.02 placing 11th.
On the same day, the 4×1 mile relay team of Liam Taggart, Oliver Polster, William Mezikofsky and George Palmer placed 42nd with a total time of 18 min, 24 seconds.
Day 2 of the Decathlon started off with the 110 meter hurdles. Patt ran a time of 16.11 placing 9th. In the discus, he threw 103’3” to place 9th. One week after learning how to pole vault for the first time, Patt cleared the opening height and then improved to 8 feet 10.25 inches placing 11th. In the javelin, he had a great throw of 169’10”, the 2nd furthest javelin distance of the competition. Finally, in the 1500 meters, Patt placed 3rd in a time of 4:52.56.
When all was said and done, Patt finished 10th in overall scoring and had a group of new friends from around the country.
“The competitive spirit and respect for one another among the competitors was amazing to witness,” said coach Perry Pappas. “Joseph has worked so hard to get to the national level and accomplished an amazing goal and we are extremely proud of him.
“We are excited to see him off to the next chapter in his life as he will head to West Point Prep in one month.”
