UPDATE: Track season off to a good start for Patrick

The 2008-09 indoor track season has begun for Patrick and his teammates at Fordham Prep. On Saturday (12/13) he won the gold medal in his category in pole vault during the Catholic High School Athletic Association Relay Carnival, held at the Armory in upper Manhattan.

It was his first vault competition of the season, and Patrick cleared the bar at 9 feet. He's been clearing 10 feet in practice lately, having come a long way from the 7-foot jump that was captured on video during training last winter.

Expectations are high for the Fordham Prep track team this year, according to this Journal-News article.

This fall, after playing as the starting goalie on the school's junior varsity soccer team, Patrick was added to the varsity team's playoff roster as a back-up. That gave him a close-up view of the varsity-level competition as the team made it to the Catholic High School Athletic Association finals, losing the Nov. 1 championship game 1-0 to Molloy.

Patrick hopes to be playing on the varsity team next year (and help it reclaim the title it held in 2006 and 2007). Meantime he's joined a New Rochelle team in a winter league to keep his skills up.