Drew Forrey’s comeback story is as good as gold
By Julie Pelchar Cohen — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
SHIPPENSBURG – The ambulance carried Drew Forrey away and all that was lost started flooding his heart.
His final football season was erased in an instant.
He wondered if he’d wear Wyomissing’s navy and white again.
“I was thinking that I’m going to miss basketball season,” Forrey said. “Then I wondered if it could affect track season. I’m just glad it didn’t. I’m happy I could make a speedy recovery.”
Half a year after breaking his leg in a football game Forrey punctuated a storybook comeback with a pair of gold medals during Saturday’s District 3 Track and Field Championships.
His wins in the javelin and discus propelled Wyomissing to a fifth straight Class 2A team title and 17th overall.
Forrey couldn’t have captured his golden glory in a more fitting fashion.
His wins were comebacks, as well. Forrey won both of his titles on the final throw, tossing 172-0 in the javelin and 149-6 in the discus.
His wins highlighted an exciting gold rush for Berks boys. They won six titles Friday and seven Saturday.
Berks Catholic’s Brady Mider and Schuylkill Valley’s John Kowalski joined Forrey as double winners. Mider added his second straight 3A shot put title to Friday’s discus gold. Kowalski swept the 2A sprints.
Wyomissing’s Addie Cohen was a repeat triple gold medalist. She won the 800, 1600 and 3200 for the second straight year to lead the Spartans to the girls 2A team title. Berks girls finished the meet with six golds.
Forrey and Wyomissing’s stable of stud throwers catapulted the Spartans to the expected win. The only question seemed to be their margin of victory. Wyomissing put three boys on the medal stand in each of the three throws to score 104 points and beat Schuylkill Valley by 19.
Their throwers scored a whopping 59 points.
| Boys 2A | |
| Wyomissing | 104 |
| Schuylkill Valley | 85 |
| Greenwood | 80.5 |
| Columbia | 58 |
| Annville-Cleona | 56 |
| Susquenita | 44 |
| Oley Valley | 41 |
At the season’s start, Forrey was an unlikely candidate to lead the way.
As a junior he took district bronze in the javelin but missed qualifying for the PIAA Championships. He didn’t make the district podium in shot put and only tossed the discus in a handful of dual meets.
The 6-4, 210-pound halfback and outside linebacker saw his senior sports season come to a screeching halt when he broke his leg Oct. 14 against Conrad Weiser. He sat on the sidelines as the Spartans won a District 3 Class 3A championship and reached the state semifinals.
He didn’t return to the basketball court until Wyomissing’s final game.
“Missing the moments you have your last year,” he said. “That’s what really was hard.”
Forrey instead spent the winter rehabilitating his leg. He went to physical therapy twice a week. He attended basketball practices, but was limited.
| Boys 3A | |
| Carlisle | 64 |
| Palmyra | 44 |
| Hershey | 34 |
| Berks Catholic | 33 |
| Chambersburg | 31 |
| Manheim Township | 31 |
“I did what I could,” he said. “I could practice 60 percent (one day) and the next day I couldn’t even walk.”
By the time track season started Forrey quickly worked his way to full strength and beyond.
He was a quick study in the discus, hitting a personal-best 157-6 at the Stephan Meet a month ago.
The javelin started to click last week. He threw a season-best 175-10 to win his first invitational at the county-championship Firing Meet.
“It feels like the discus came out of nowhere,” said Spartans coach Jim Delp. “He worked on it all season long. I think with planting his foot (in the javelin) he was a little bit tentative early in the season. So he was working on discus more.
“There were days practice had ended and there he was working in the discus circle. He worked really hard all season on all three throws, but I think he spent extra time on the discus.”
Forrey, who placed eighth in Friday’s shot put, edged teammate Jamie Miller in Saturday’s discus. Miller threw 144-8 on his third attempt to carry the lead into finals. Forrey eclipsed him on his final attempt, launching a throw that was more than eight feet better than his first five tries.
In the morning’s javelin, Forrey tangled with teammates Collin Niedrowski, the defending champion, and Isaac Focht.
Forrey trailed Niedrowski and Focht heading into the final throw. He unleashed a winner that was five feet longer than his previous attempts.
“I wouldn’t say I enjoy it,” Forrey said of pressure-packed situations. “But I like every once in a while to be faced with some adversity.”
“It was sad at the end of football season and basketball season. But it means a lot to finally start hitting some bigger numbers.”
