Exeter sprinter wins Manny, Manny gold medals in dominating Shaner Meet

By  Julie Pelchar Cohen — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

Their athletes hovered while the Exeter coaches organized the hardware they had just collected.

The sorting took some time after they had carved out a quiet spot on the infield while the John H. Shaner Invitational came to a close.

Coaches Drew Eckel and Kevan Schaeffer handed a gold medal secured to a pretty blue and white ribbon to Manny Boyd.

They handed him another and then two more.

Boyd draped each one around his neck. After he had done this four times, he peeked at his collection.

“I’m pretty surprised,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

Boyd was the Shaner Meet star on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at Wyomissing’s Flannery Field – the fastest sprinter in Berks County this weekend. He cruised to victories in the 100 and 200 and helped the Eagles win the 400 and 1600 relays.

Boyd’s quadruple gold led Exeter to the boys team title. The Eagles, who also got wins from their 3200 relay and Lukas Peterson in the 400, scored 100.5 points to edge the host Spartans by two.
Wyomissing was led by its sweep of the hurdles.

Andrew Delp won the 100 hurdles. Twin brother William won the 300 hurdles and finished second in the 100 hurdles.

The Spartans also got victories from Paul Monsour Friday in the 3200 and Collin Niedrowski Saturday in the javelin.

Boyd didn’t see his golden day coming.

Entering the season the junior wasn’t even the fastest sprinter on his team. Senior Ashton Fasig held that distinction. But Fasig suffered a season-ending injury two weeks ago.

“I was always the fast kid in school,” Boyd said. “Everyone always wanted to race me and try to win. I could beat everyone except Ashton.”

Boyd’s transition from fastest boy at Exeter to one of the quickest in the county didn’t come without growing pains.

After playing soccer and basketball as a child, Boyd focused his energy solely on the track. But that didn’t mean he immediately became serious about the sport.

That maturity came with time.

“We had to get him to work when he came out as a seventh-grader,” Schaeffer said. “He matured a little bit in eighth grade. We saw a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

“His ninth grade year it began to click. But at the same time I still had to be on him with his work ethic. It was a lot of tough love until he really took a step forward last year and even more so this year.”

The speed started to show his sophomore season.

Boyd won the 200 at the Shaner Meet last spring and both sprints at another invitational. He reached both sprint finals at the county-championship Firing Meet.

Boyd began his dusting of the 2023 Berks competition Saturday with a close win in the 100. He edged Gov. Mifflin’s Tynan Harter by six-hundredths of a second with an 11.39.

“Tynan is a really good runner,” Boyd said. “He was the guy I was watching. I was hoping to beat him and was able to do that.”

Boyd needed to work harder to give the Eagles a win in the 400 relay. Exeter trailed Wyomissing by more than 20 meters before Boyd grabbed the final handoff for the rallying win. Boyd and teammates Isaiah Choy, Peterson and Cameron Neafcy finished in 44.14.

Boyd’s victory in the 200 later in the afternoon came more comfortably. He broke 23 seconds for the first time, cruising to a 22.87.

Boyd ended his busy day by running the third leg with teammates Leomar Brown, Tai Morgan and Peterson in their meet-ending 1600 relay win with a 3:32.53.

Boyd’s reward was certainly golden.

“He bought into the program,” Schaeffer said. “Bought into having to work hard. He’s willing to do whatever is needed now.”

Boyd’s four gold medals clanged against each other as he left Wyomissing’s infield Saturday evening.
They told his story.