Battle for the South

Wildcats take showdown between two state-ranked PCEP cross-country teams

  The cooler the temperatures get, the hotter the competition becomes in high school cross country.

  That was never more true than during Tuesday afternoon's much-anticipated dual meet between PCEP rivals Plymouth and Canton at Cass Benton Park.

  Led by Joe Porcari's first-place time of 16:38, the Wildcats prevailed in the match-up of top-10 teams, 24-33, to improve to 3-0 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association's South Division.

  Canton, which entered the meet winners of three consecutive weekend invitationals, slipped to 2-1.

  "This was a pretty big meet," said Plymouth coach Jon Mikosz, who's squad hasn't lost a dual meet in two years. "Canton has a very good team this year and they ran well Saturday, so I figured today would be tough.

  "Our one through four guys are running really amazing righ tnow. The problem for us is that we somebody to step up so we have a fifth. You can do well in dual meets with just four guys running well, but it will eventually hurt you in the big meets that we have coming up."

  Senior captain Warren Buzzard completed the Wildcats' one-two punch by finishing second in 16:47. Canton's Keith Zech placed third in 16:52, but Plymouth cemented the win thanks to Matt Neumann and Derek Gielarowski's four-five finishes in 16:58 and 17:03, respectively.

  "Derek has been running really well lately," Mikosz said of Gielarowski. "Joe has been our consistent No. 1 and Warren ran really well today, too."

  Canton claimed the sixth through ninth spots with Zack Spretizer (17:16), Mitch Clinton (17:22), Paul Rakovitis (17:28) and Miles Felton (17:36).

  Plymouth's final points came from Jimmy Eiben, who placed 12th in 18:07.

  Jimmy Maciag (18:08) and Stephen Balaze (18:27) completed Plymouth's varsity roster while Brandon Conley (17:56) and Steve Watts (18:00) were Canton's sixth and seventh runners.

Ed Wright can be reached at info@plymouthcantonsports.com or (734) 453-1980.