Neidigs three wins help spur Generals to third in Kiwanis Invitational
brian questel
May 4, 2011
309
050911 Kiwanis boys track
Promo: Distance team, balance helps spark Generals to third in own invite
Neidigs three wins help spur Generals to third in Kiwanis Invitational
By Brian Questel
The Wooster boys track team brought a little balance to the Kiwanis Track and Field Invitational April 30.
The Wooster High distance crew flexed its muscle, while other teammates performed well in the field events to lead the Generals to a third-place finish in the meet. Hudson won the first-place trophy with 139 points, followed by Norwayne (120) and Wooster (112.5). Copley was fourth with 108 points, while Timken (69.5) brought up the bottom four teams with Cloverleaf (56.5), Mount Vernon (35.5) and St. Martin de Porres (13).
Wooster started strong in the field events, paced by a major improvement and win from Andrei Leabu in the discus behind his throw of 149-8. Grant Stokes followed that with a third in the shot put (42-11) and Leabu was fourth (41-10), while Chris Graves (17-1) and Cooper Orr (16-11) placed 6-7 in the long jump for Wooster.
In the high jump, Austin Carstensen cleared 6-0 to place second, while Brett Breneman was third in the pole vault (12-6) and Athan Nicolozakes was fifth with a vault of 11-0.
The thing that popped into my head was Andrei Leabu, who had a really nice day, said Bennett. Weve watched him a couple weeks now do that in practice. He kept it in the sector, which he was having problems doing before. It was really nice to see that, and Grant Strokes, too. Hes struggled and he had a good day, too. He threw 42-11, which is not great, but for him it was improvement and he scored points.
We scored where we were not expected. We had a nice surprise from Christopher Graves and Cooper Orr scoring in the lone jump. They werent great jumps, but they were gamers and did what they needed to do. I didnt think we would score points in the long jump, but to their credit they did.
Cody Neidig paced the performance on the track as he anchored the 4x800 relay of Zach Humrichouser, Brock Berlin and Marcus Cremer to a clocking of 8:37. He wasnt done, though, as he came back to pick up wins in the 800 (2:01) and 1600 runs (4:36).
Im happy with the wins, said Neidig. I was hoping to get the 800 record. I wanted to run about two seconds faster.
Humrichouser placed sixth in the 1600 (4:45) and 3200 (10:22), while Berlin added a seventh-place 10:23 in the 3200. In addition, Drew Wigham was eighth in the 800 with a 2:10 showing to help round out the distance performance.
The 4x8 first place was nice, said Bennett. They werent pressed, so it was hard for them to turn the jets on. Somewhere there is 15 seconds to be had. I was pleased for them and Cody. Three first places are hard to do in any invitational when you have Hudson come to town along with Mount Vernon and Copley. Copley saved Nick Pubino for the two mile or he would have given Cody a run in the mile.
Brock and Zach both scored well given field before them. A 9:24 wins that – thats not quite our county record! Pubino broke (former General) Eric Brenners record of 9:44; the next two ran 9:50s and the kid from Mount Vernon ran a 10:15. I think those two-milers, the Hudson kids and the Mount Vernon kid, all ran fresh and didnt have a 4x8 or a mile in them. We worked our kids hard and in two weeks when we pull some of that work load off, theyll blossom.
In the hurdles, Jordan Cremer placed third in the 300 hurdles with a 42.3 and was sixth in the 110 high hurdles (16.9). Michael Styer matched that third in the 400 with a 51.4, while Marcus Cremer was seventh with a 52.1. Thomas Dail also placed eighth in the 200 (24.1).
Woosters sprint relays both placed fifth, with the 400 relay of Dail, James Hunter, Mason Tomblin and Carstensen turning in a 47.3, while the 800 unit of Styer, Dail, Jordan Cremer and Carstensen turned in a 1:35. The 1600 relay of Styer, Neidig and the Cremers finished sixth as they ran a 3:40.
Our 4x1 and 4x2 relays turned in a journeyman. Every place counts in an invitational, said Bennett. For Thomas Dail to get into finals of the 200 and place eighth in a competitive field with Timken, Hudson and the kid from Copley was good. With the seed times, he shouldnt have made the finals but he did.
Jordan was third (in the 300s) and set a PR. Michael Styer ran a 51.4 in the quarter and that finishes third at our invite. Its not a great time, but in our invite it usually places first or second. The first six places were between 50 and 51 – Marcus was sixth with a 52.1, which is a competitive quarter-mile.
It was a good day for our kids. Were getting better. It was a good day of growth. The kids brought home a trophy and it was a positive day going into the later half of the season.
