**2010 KLAA Kensington Conference Meet**

Salem's Zack Gaskell, pictured above during the 1,600-meter relay, won the high jump at Friday's KLAA Kensington Conference meet.

Big dance has 'prom'inent effect on KLAA Kensington Conference meet

BY ED WRIGHT
May 14, 2010, 11:15 p.m.

  Dance or compete?

  That was the question several local track-and-field athletes had to ask themselves leading up to Friday -- the day of the KLAA Kensington Conference track-and-field meet and the PCEP Senior Prom.

  Several seniors opted to attend the prom -- a decision that significantly impacted the track meet's final standings.

  Novi won the title with 119 points, 19 more than runner-up Plymouth, which was hit hard by prom-related absences.

  "I don't want to downplay what Novi was able to accomplish because they had a great meet," said Plymouth coach Jon Mikosz. "But if we would have had all of our guys there -- even if they didn't turn in their best performances -- we would have scored an additional 15 to 25 points, and we only lost by 19.

  "It's frustrating because some of the guys who left early or didn't show up at all told me they'd be here for the entire meet.

  "Even with all that happening, there were a lot of good things that happened today. We had three conference champions and a lot of guys stepped up and performed well."

  There was no official MVP of the meet, but if there had been, Plymouth's Warren Buzzard would have been a finalist. In addition to winning the 800 in meet-record time, the senior won the 1,600 and ran a key leg of the Wildcats' first-place 3,200-meter relay foursome.

  Mikosz also praised the efforts of Kyle Brindza, who won the shot put competition with a meet-record heave of 52 feet, 3 inches; Anthony LeMerise, who set the school record in the 400; and Pawan Dhaliwal, who placed second in the high jump.

  "Matt Neumann and Joe Porcari had outstanding meets, too," Mikosz added. "We finished one-two-four in the mile, which is hard to do."

  Salem, which was the KLAA Central Division champion, finished third with 78 points despite having its roster decimated by prom-goers.

  "I was happy with third considering we had some prom conflicts," said Salem coach Kyle Meteyer. "Going into the meet, I said that we'd do well to finish fifth or better, so to wind up third exceeded my expectations.

  "We had a couple of guys go above and beyond what they've been doing, especially Derek Draplin, who vaulted a personal-best 12-11 in the pole vault; and Tom Crawford, who PR'ed over a foot in the long jump.

  "It's a tough call for these kids. They'll run in dozens of track meets in high school, but there's only one senior prom, so we try to work with them. The good thing is we'll be at full strength for next week's Regional meet since there's only one prom, thankfully."

  Canton accumulated 61 points to finish in a strong sixth, just six points behind fourth-place Westland John Glenn.

  Sophomore Kevin Buford was the Chiefs' lone champion, winning the 400 with a meet-record time of 49.94 seconds.

  Canton's 1,600-meter relay team of Ben Spreitzer, Jordan Wisniewski, Keith Zech and Buford also excelled, placing second in a personal-best time of 3:30.1.

  "I thought the guys ran strong," said Canton coach Bob Richardson. "Kevin Buford is a conference champion, which is something he really wanted, and a couple of our relays ran well. Now we'll get ready for the Regional meet next week."

Canton's Kevin Buford won the 400-meter title at Friday's KLAA Kensington Conference meet at Novi. (Ed Wright photo)

FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Novi, 119; 2. Plymouth, 100; 3. Salem, 78; 4. Westland John Glenn, 67; 5. Northville, 64; 6. Canton, 61; 7. Livonia Stevenson, 53; 8. Livonia Churchill, 50; 9. Livonia Franklin, 48; 10. South Lyon, 15; 11. South Lyon East, 8.

HIGH JUMP: 1. Zack Gaskell (S), 6 feet, 1 inch; 2. Pawan Dhaliwal (P), 6-1; 3. Ben Spreitzer (C), 6-1; 4. Nick Dyer (SL), 6-1; 5. Anthony Blair (JG), 6-1; 6. Matt Schacht (C), 5-11; 7. (tie) Stephen Pollard (LS) and Scott Brewer (LS), 5-8.

POLE VAULT: 1. Joseph Marlow (LC), 13-7; 2. Nick Alaniva (C), 13-3; 3. Derek Draplin (S), 12-11; 4. Carl Rayford (LC), 12-7; 5. Michael Greer (LC), 12-3; 6. Mike Kaplan (LF), 12-3; 7. Grant Senkbeil (P), 12-3; 8. Jeff Wagner (NRV), 11-11.

LONG JUMP: 1. Brett Kuhn (NOVI), 21-9.25; 2. Ali Arastu (NRV), 21-8.50; 3. Ryan Oliverio (SLE), 20-5.25; 4. Nick Alaniva (C), 20-4; 5. Thomas Crawford (S), 20-2.75; 6. Michael Bates (NRV), 19-11.50; 7. Joseph Marlow (LC), 19-9.75; 8. Matt Williams (LS), 19-8.50

DISCUS: 1. Nate Coleman (LF), 139-1; 2. Bryan Bartig (LC), 136-10; 3. Jacob Mehr (SL), 136-3; 4. Kyle Brindza (P), 131-10; 5. Keith Choma (P), 129-4; 6. Sean McAuliffe (LF), 126-7; 7. Ethan Walsh (S), 126-3; 8. John Aneed (LS), 126-1.

SHOT PUT: 1. Kyle Brindza (P), 52-3; 2. Ed Merhi (S), 52-2; 3. Nate Coleman (LF), 50-6; 4. Sean McAuliffe (LF), 48-6; 5. Dana Baltazar (S), 47-5; 6. Ethan Walsh (S), 47-1; 7. John Aneed (LS), 47-1; 8. Jay Woolfork (LF), 46-0.

3,200-METER RELAY: 1. Plymouth (Warren Buzzard, Matt Neumann, Justin Heck, Joe Porcari), 8:05.73; 2. Novi, 8:07.28; 3. Canton, 8:11.16; 4. Stevenson, 8:14.58; 5. Salem, 8:33.56; 6. Northville, 8:38.39; 7. South Lyon, 8:45.30; 8. South Lyon East, 8:46.71.

100-METER DASH: 1. Jeremy Langford (JG), 11:04; 2. Scott Coppola (LC), 11.42; 3. Justin Hopton (NOVI), 11.43; 4. Stefon Anthony (JG), 11.47; 5. Rico Cole (JG), 11.53; 6. Mike Baumgardner (LF), 11.54; 7. Brandon Love (NRV), 11.55; 8. DeAndre Fordham-Johns (NOVI), 11.63.

110 HURDLES: 1. Ali Arastu (NRV), 14.68; 2. Derek Kim (NOVI), 14.97; 3. Lance Lilla (NOVI), 15.28; 4. Will Burek (LS), 15.49; 5. Brandon Piligian (P), 15.76; 6. Derek Cingel (NOVI), 15.98; 7. Kelly Maxwell (JG), 16.06; 8. Mike Sharp (LF), 16.17.

200 DASH: Jeremy Langford (JG), 22.95; 2. Brett Kuhn (NOVI), 22.99; 3. Kevin Buford (C), 23.05; 4. Mike Jocz (NOVI), 23.29; 5. Stefon Anthony (JG), 23.52; 6. Scott Coppola (LC), 23.68; 7. Ian Herman (SL), 23.73; 8. Melvin Joseph (NRV), 23.75.

300 HURDLES: 1. Ali Arastu (NRV), 38.9; 2. Will Burek (LS), 41.51; 3. Rico Cole (JG), 41.52; 4. Ben Spreitzer (C), 42.01; 5. Jose Amado (S), 42.19; 6. Mark Zheng (NOVI), 42.24; 7. Ian Guerin (LC), 42.30; 8. Derek Cingel (NOVI), 42.39.

400 DASH: 1. Kevin Buford (C), 49.94; 2. Zack Gaskell (S), 50.19; 3. Anthony LeMerise (P), 50.96; 4. Matt Williams (LS), 51.90; 5. Pat Smith (LS), 52.46; 6. Ken Middlebrooks (S), 52.53; 7. Nelson Kenne (JG), 52.66; 8. Jordan Wisniewski (C), 53.01.

800 RUN: 1. Warren Buzzard (P), 1:58.55; 2. Dan Martin (S), 1:59.30; 3. Dan Egner (NOVI), 2:00.05; 4. Ed Clifton (NRV), 2:03.18; 5. Adam Chludzinski (LS), 2:04.75; 6. Keith Zech (C), 2:04.77; 7. Zach Masserant (NOVI), 2:05.33; 8. Dave Koponen (LF), 2:05.92.

1,600 RUN: 1. Warren Buzzard (P), 4:35.19; 2. Matt Neumann (P), 4:35.93; 3. Mike Blaszczyk (NOVI), 4:37.19; 4. Joseph Porcari (P), 4:38.17; 5. Frank Griffiths (NRV), 4:38.33; 6. Brett Giampa (NOVI), 4:39.75; 7. Thomas Windle (LC), 4:40.92; 8. Joe Urso (LC), 4:48.12.

3,200 RUN: 1. Mike Blaszczyk (NOVI), 9:55.03; 2. Joe Schubring (NOVI), 10:05.23; 3. Austin Jones (LF), 10:09.93; 4. Alex Minghine (NOVI), 10:12.44; 5. Derek Gielarowski (P), 10:14.73; 6. Matt Neumann (P), 10:18.08; 7. Frank Griffiths (NRV), 10:20.74; 8. Chad Cini (NRV), 10:22.32.

400 RELAY: 1. John Glenn (Rico Cole, Umberto Kenle, Stefon Anthony, Jeremy Langford), 43.79; 2. Novi, 44.33; 3. Stevenson, 44.45; 4. Franklin, 44.49; 5. Churchill, 44.66; 6. Salem, 44.86; 7. Plymouth, 44.89; 8. Northville, 45.63.

800 RELAY: 1. Northville (Brandon Love, Melvin Joseph, Stephen Vucinaj, Ali Arastu), 1:31.12; 2. John Glenn, 1:31.40; 3. Novi, 1:32.28; 4. Plymouth, 1:32.76; 5. Franklin, 1:32.84; 6. Stevenson, 1:33.22; 7. Churchill, 1:33.87; 8. Salem, 1:34.56.

1,600 RELAY: 1. Salem (Dan Martin, Zack Gaskell, Shawn Quinn, Brian Maksimovic), 3:27.59; 2. Canton, 3:30.35; 3. Novi, 3:31.25; 4. Stevenson, 3:31.75; 5. Plymouth, 3:32.23; 6. Northville, 3:36.89; 7. John Glenn, 3:40.06; 8. South Lyon East, 3:42.44.