It is truly debatable as to which carries more prestige Lebanon Sports Buzz’s Athlete of the Week honor or the Lebanon County Track and Field Championship’s Outstanding Male Athlete award. Well, there’s really no sense arguing with Jeronimo Rodriguez.

On Saturday at Lebanon High School, Rodriguez copped his second consecutive Outstanding Athlete at the county meet with a record-setting performance. The Cedars’ senior sprinter simply had speed to burn.

Rodriguez established a new Lebanon County record in the 400-meter dash, clocking a 49.0 to best Northern Lebanon’s Joe Vedilago’s 2012 mark by 0.3 of a second. Rodriguez also struck gold with a strong performance in the 200-meter dash.

In addition, Rodriguez finished third in the long jump. He also ran an extremely fast split while anchoring Lebanon High’s 1600-meter relay team to a third-place showing.

Now it’s on to the bigger meets – the Lancaster-Lebanon League, District Three Championships and possibly the PIAA Track and Field meet – for Rodriguez, where the competition becomes increasingly challenging. Should Rodriguez stay true to himself and run his own races, he will get where he needs to go.

– Jeff Falk