Generals’ present reveals its future as well

  • By Brian Questel
  • May 21, 2010
  • 477
                        
Wooster boys track coach Doug Bennett didn’t get the end result he was hoping for at the Ohio Cardinal Conference Track and Field Championships at Ashland last Friday, May 14, when the Generals placed second. The future, though, may hold a different story for a Generals’ team with an eye looking down the line. Lexington won its fifth consecutive title as the Minutemen scored 141 points, outlasting the Generals (116 points) and the rest of the conference on a warm night. Orrville was third with 108.5, followed by Clear Fork (80.5), Ashland (73), Mansfield Senior (69), West Holmes (46) and Madison (28). Wooster’s only two wins came from the feet of sophomore Stewart Turner, who had a career-best jump of 22-2.25 to win the long jump and who then turned to the track to win the 200 sprint in 23.01. He nearly added the 100 crown as well by running an 11.39, but was edged out by Senior’s Jamarkus O’Neal’s 11.38 and his lean at the finish. “Stewart had a personal record of 22-2.25 and he placed first,” said Bennett. “It’s a big deal when a sophomore wins a league meet. He had a very nice day.” “I was surprised to win the 200,” said Turner. “When I looked at the heat sheets, O’Neal had run in the low 22s … and all year I haven’t broken 23. So, I was real surprised. In the 100, I gave that my all. I wasn’t expecting him to beat me, but I knew it would be close.” In the long jump, Turner edged closer to his father’s school-record 22-5 record as he broke the 22-foot barrier. “My first three jumps were all in the 21s,” said Turner, who had the lead heading into the finals. “After jumping three 21s … I felt I had a 22 in me.” Classmate Cody Neidig supplied a pair of runner-up finishes in two open events, losing in a race to the wire but running a personal-best 4:29.52 in the 1600, and then returning to take second in the 800. “Cody got his PR in the mile and was runner-up to a senior in the 800,” said Bennett. “That’s a difficult double to do and he does it very well for a sophomore.” Neidig also anchored the Generals’ 4x800 relay of junior Marcus Cremer, freshman Zach Humrichouser and sophomore Brock Berlin to a third-place 8:39.81. Other thirds came from juniors Austin Carstensen in the high jump (6-0) and Duke Price in the long jump (21-0.5), as well as Berlin in the 3200 with a 10:19.85 and fellow soph Michael Styer in the 400 (52.37). Wooster’s only fourths came from juniors Brett Breneman in the pole vault (12-0) and Jordan Cremer in the 300 intermediate hurdles (42.52), while fifths went to Humrichouser in the 3200 (10:29.98) and senior Gabe Abud in the 1600 (4:44.20). Sophomore Thomas Dail was sixth in the pole vault (11-6), as was sophomore Andrei Leabu in the discus (122-1) and Carstensen in the 200 (24.08). Senior Mamoudou N’Diaye (high jump, 5-10) and Price (400, 54.27) both had sevenths, with senior Ryan Huttinger placing eighth in the shot (41-3.5). No WHS relay featured a senior on it. The 4x200 relay of Dail, Price, Carstensen and Turner was fourth (1:33.69); the 4x400 of Styer, Marcus Cremer, Neidig and Price was sixth (3:37.56), and the 4x100 unit of juniors James Hunter and Winston Gordon, along with freshmen Mitchell Buckwalter and Von Blair, was seventh (47.01). Seniors contributed only seven points to the Generals’ total, so while Bennett may have been hoping to make a run at the Minutemen, he may have been a year early. “This is still a young team,” said Bennett. “We scored lots of points all over the place and we had a number of personal bests. It was a good night for the team – Lexington was just a little better. “We were hurting a little bit with some injuries … but we got out and competed.” Wooster competed in the North Canton Div. I Districts this past Wednesday and Friday.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load