First-year athletes finding success for Fox Chapel track and field team

By: George Guido
Saturday, May 7, 2022 | 11:01 AM

Previous Next

As Fox Chapel readies for the WPIAL track and field postseason, a number of athletes came to prominence during the regular season.

One is sophomore Anna Troutman, who is new to the sport. She has wasted little time becoming well-known around the state.

“Anna is having a great season with the high hurdles and the long jump,” Foxes coach Tom Moul said. “She won the high jump at Butler, and we’re going to try her in the triple jump at the Pine-Richland event.”

Troutman earned the gold at the 57th Butler Invitational with a score of 5 feet, 3 inches in the high jump. That’s a bit lower than her season high of 5-6, which is second best in the state this season, according to PA MileSplit.

Another newcomer to the Fox Chapel program is junior George Tabor.

“He’s been excelling in all three jumps,” Moul said. “He’s made a lot of progress and we’re happy to have him on the team.”

Tabor won the triple jump at Butler with a 43-3, second so far this season among WPIAL athletes. Two days later in a tri-meet at North Allegheny, he hit a new personal best in the long jump at 21-25 vs. Shaler.

Tabor was the leading scorer on Fox Chapel’s soccer team last season that made the WPIAL playoffs for the 21st straight season.

Tabor and Troutman performed in track at Dorseyville Middle School but did not come out for the high school team as freshmen.

Fox Chapel’s 3,200 relay team of seniors Jack Lorence and Jordan Gwin, along with junior Damian Blum and sophomore Rowan Gwim finished second at Butler with a time of 8 minutes, 10:95 seconds.

They beat their previous best time by 25 seconds.

“That’s a huge increment,” Moul said. “The 25 seconds is big. They just all went out and ran well. They still need to run a little better to finish in the top four at the WPIALs. That’s their goal.”

The WPIAL meet is scheduled for May 18 at Slippery Rock.

Troutman earned another medal at Butler, finishing fifth in the 100-meter hurdles while Stephen Schrim finished sixth in the 400.

“I ran indoor track in the winter, and it helped me get ready for (spring) track,” Troutman said. “That helped a lot because I got experience at track meets, how they worked and what I had to do to get ready for them.”

“I think I also have a good WPIAL qualifying time in the 200,” Schrim said. “But the 400’s my main event.”

Schrim got his first taste last season as a ninth-grader, performing in the 1,600 relay, along with the 400 toward the end of the season.

Also out for the first time is junior Elsie Smith who has shown improvement in the 300 hurdles.

Moul is also pleased with the accomplishments thus far in throwing events. Senior Caleb Kulikowski was second in the shot put at Butler with a 45-7 and seventh in the javelin at 150-2. Kulikowski qualified for the state meet last season after finishing third in the javelin at the WPIAL meet.

Sophomore Mason Miles won in the shot put and discus at the freshman-sophomore-only meet at Seneca Valley.

Moul praised the efforts of his assistant coaching staff.

Mark Shemanski and Scott Karavlan handle the throwing events while Tim McLister coaches the long and triple jumpers.

Justin Patterson works with the hurdlers and Shawn Mawhinney rounds out the staff.

Matt Senkowski is the middle school head coach.

Tags: Fox Chapel