Butler Invitational success gave taste of things to come for Quaker Valley track team

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, July 20, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Quaker Valley’s track and field program announced to WPIAL opponents that it would be a powerful postseason force in mid-April at the 60th annual Butler Invitational.

The Quakers turned in an unforgettable performance at Butler to cap off an incredible regular season. It proved to be a historic performance by the QV tracksters and set their stage for their postseason heroics.

The Butler Invite is annually one of the largest and most competitive meets in the state. Close to 100 schools from across Pennsylvania were represented at this year’s invitational.

For the first time ever, a Class 2A school — Quaker Valley — claimed the overall boys team title. The Quakers secured the win with 66 team points, topping the leaderboard and etching their name into Butler Invitational history.

The QV girls team also had an outstanding showing, placing third in the team scoring with 35.5 points.

Five school records were set by QV athletes and nine additional performances ranked in the top five all-time in school history.

Davin “Macky” Gartley led the way for the boys team at Butler by being named Track Athlete MVP.

“I was thinking I was going to win the award,” Gartley said, “but was surprised when they called my name because I was still warming up for the 4-by-4 relay.”

Gartley broke his own school record in the 300-meter hurdles with a 38.55 time and finished first in the 110 hurdles in 14.37. He also was a member of the Quakers’ 1,600 relay team — along with James Irwin, Jackson Pethel and Clark LaLomia — that finished second but smashed a 43-year-old school record with a time of 3:23.03.

The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Gartley, who is 18, holds three school records and won seven gold medals in WPIAL track and one gold in cross country in his brilliant career.

He also was named Boys Most Valuable Player at the MAC Invitational and was honored in 2025 as a WPIAL athlete of the week.

Gartley has a 4.28 grade-point average and plans to continue his track career at Washington and Lee.

Also at Butler, Jonah Montagnese finished first in the 3,200, breaking both the school and Butler Invitational records.

LaLomia placed second in the 800 and set a new school record in the process. Pethel also posted a school-record breaking time and jumped into second place in the all-time rankings.

And Thomas Debelak broke his own school record in the triple jump with a leap of 45 feet, 10.5 inches.

“I was really proud of our boys for coming out and competing that day,” Gartley said. “There were many teams from the WPIAL there, including most 3A teams, and we showed that we are the best in Western Pennsylvania and all of 2A in the PIAA.”

Several members of the girls team etched their names into the QV record books, with three seniors reaching second all-time in their events.

Cecilia Montagnese ended up third in the 1,600 with a time of 5:00.47 — which was the second fastest in school history.

“Both the girls and boys teams had an incredibly impressive showing at the Butler Invitational,” Montagnese said, “especially with the boys winning the meet against many larger schools. It’s a very competitive meet so being able to excel in events like we did was impressive.”

Vanessa Pickett’s mark of 17-8 landed her in sixth place in the long jump with the second longest jump in school history.

And Kwilai Karto moved into second all-time in the 400 with a time of 59.08, finishing eighth and missing the school record by less than half a second.

Lucy Montagnese turned in an impressive 11:13.55 time in the 3,200, and Rose Pocasangre posted a 47.07 in the 300 hurdles.

The 400-meter relay team of Pocasangre, Evie Rosselli, Karto and Emma Currier also took second at the meet.

These achievements came on the heels of another major milestone for the program. Both QV squads were crowned Section 3-2A champions with undefeated records.

But that was just a start.

The Quakers were represented by 16 athletes in 24 events, along with four relay teams, at the PIAA Class 2A championships May 23-24 at Shippensburg University.

With such a large volume of top-flight competitors, QV was a favorite — at least in the boys meet — to bring home its first state title in school history in track and field.

And the Quakers didn’t disappoint.

QV’s two-time WPIAL champion boys team racked up 75 points to finish first by a wide margin, easily defeating Nativity BVM with 30 points and Lewisburg with 27.33.

QV’s girls team, which won its fourth consecutive WPIAL championship in 2025, finished first in the PIAA scoring with 54 points. Lewisburg, the Day 1 leader, ended up with 47, and was followed by Laurel with 31.

The girls team had nine qualifiers in 14 events along with one relay team that advanced to the PIAA meet. QV’s boys team had seven athletes in 10 events and all three relays advance as state qualifiers.

Tags: Quaker Valley