Canton pole vaulter Nick Alaniva qualified for the state meet with a personal-best vault of 13 feet, 10 inches. (Ed Wright photo)

Several PCEP athletes qualify for Division 1 track-&-field state meet

BY ED WRIGHT
May 22, 2010, 6:15 p.m.

   There was plenty of lightning and thunder at Friday's and Saturday's Division 1, Region 5 boys track and field meet -- both on the track and in the sky.

  The final two events of the meet -- the 3,200-meter run and 1,600-meter relay -- were postponed until Saturday morning, meaning Salem's 1,600-meter relay team had an extra night's sleep before it broke a 35-year-old school record in the event: 3:22.5.

  Team-wise, the extended meet belonged to Plymouth, which compiled 113.5 points to secure the school's first Regional title. Park neighbors Salem (93 points) and Canton (78) finished second and third, respectively.

  The three Livonia schools earned the next three spots in the standings with Stevenson (67), Churchill (57) and Franklin (46) finishing fourth, fifth and sixth.

  Pacing the Wildcats' memorable days was its first-place 3,200-meter relay team of Matt Neumann, Justin Heck, Joe Porcari and Warren Buzzard, who placed first with a school-record time of 8:01.9, two seconds ahead of runner-up Stevenson.

  Buzzard had an ultra-productive day, placing second in both the 800 and 1,600. Porcari is also Rockford-bound in an individual event thanks to his gold-medal effort in the 3,200.

  Plymouth's Kyle Brindza, one of the best football place-kickers in the state, advanced to his first state meet with a second-place showing in the shot put.

  The meet ended with a flair thanks to the Rocks' 1,600-meter relay team's record-shattering effort of 3:22.5, a mark that clipped the former standard of 3:23.7, which was set in 1975.

  Three of the four Rocks who contributed to the record also placed in individual events. Dan Martin earned a trip to Rockford in the 800; Zack Gaskell qualified in the 200 and 400; and Scott O'Connor qualified in the 300 intermediate hurdles.

  Also turning in a state-qualifying effort for Salem were shot-putters Dana Baltazar and Ed Merhi, who finished second and third, respectively.

  The Chiefs were led by blazing-fast sophomore Kevin Buford, who solidified his place among the area's top sprinters by qualifying in the 200 and 400 dashes. Buford also anchored the Chiefs' second-place, state-qualifying 1,600-meter relay team, which also included Ben Spreitzer, Jordan Wisniewski and Keith Zech.

  The Chiefs' 3,200-meter relay contingent of Zech, Max Schmiel, Paul Rakovitis and Zack Spreitzer also qualified.

  A pair of Chiefs qualified in the field events as well. Matt Schacht placed second in the high jump with a personal best leap of 6-1 while junior pole vaulter Nick Alaniva is headed to Rockford after vaulting 13-10.

FINAL STANDINGS: 1. Plymouth, 113.5 points; 2. Salem, 93; 3. Canton, 78.5; 4. Livonia Stevenson, 67; 5. Livonia Churchill, 57; 6. Livonia Franklin, 46; 7. Westland John Glenn, 44; 8. Dearborn, 39; 9. Dearborn Fordson, 34; 10. Redford Union, 30; 11. Inkster, 27; 12. Dearborn Heights Crestwood, 19; 13. Redford Thurston, 8; 14. Detroit Cody, 2; 15. Garden City, 1; 16. Wayne Memorial, 0; 17. Detroit Western International, 0.

DISCUS: 1. Yacoobi Feerooz (D), 158 feet, 3 inches; 2. Nate Coleman (LF), 150-3; 3. Ethan Walsh (S), 13-5; 4. Kyle Brindza (P), 134-9; 5. John Aneed (LS), 134-3; 6. Keith Choma (P), 132-10; 7. Bryan Bartig (LC), 130-9; 8. Sean McAuliffe (LF), 126-10.

HIGH JUMP: 1. Yusuf Naser (DF), 6-5; 2. Matt Schacht (C), 6-1; 3. Ghassan Fadallah (DF), 6-1; 4. (tie) Pawan Dhaliwal (P) and Ben Spreitzer (C), 6-1; 6. Anthony Blair (WJG), 6-1; 7. (tie) Anthony Johnson (WJG), Antoine Banks (LF) and Stephen Pollard (LS), 5-8.

LONG JUMP: 1. Scott Coppola (LC), 21-2; 2. Eric Wilson (RT), 20-5.25; 3. Will Burek (LS), 20-2; 4. Alex Ruffin (P), 20-1; 5. Nick Alaniva (C), 19-9.75; 6. Nick Podulka (LS), 19-9; 7. Kenya Gholston (DF), 19-2.5; 8. Ghassan Fadallah (DF), 18-10.

SHOT PUT: 1. Feerooz Yacoobi (D), 53-0.50; 2. Kyle Brindza (P), 51-3.5; 3. Edward Merhi (S), 51-0.5; 4. John Aneed (LS), 50-2; 5. Dana Baltazar (S), 50-0; 6. Sean McAuliffe (LF), 49-5; 7. Jay Woolfork (LF), 48-0; 8. Bryan Bartig (LC), 47-8.5.

POLE VAULT: 1. Joseph Marlow (LC), 14-2; 2. Nick Alaniva (C), 13-10; 3. Joe Bockstanz (P), 12-4; 4. Carl Rayford (LC), 12-4; 5. Grant Senkbeil (P), 12-4; 6. Colin Mahar (DHC), 12-4; 7. Derek Draplin (S), 11-10; 8. Andy Bihn (P), 11-10.

3,200-METER RELAY: 1. Plymouth (Matt Neumann, Justin Heck, Joe Porcari, Warren Buzzard), 8:01.9; 2. Stevenson, 8:03.4; 3. Canton, 8:04.6; 4. Dearborn, 8:26.8; 5. Salem, 8:28.0; 6. Franklin, 8:48.0; 7. Redford Union, 8:58.6; 8. Churchill, 9:03.0.

110 HIGH HURDLES: 1. Will Burek (LS), 15.3; 2. Yusuf Naser (DF), 15.8; 3. Brandon Piligian (P), 16.2; 4. Dion Walker (S), 16.3; 5. Kelly Maxwell (WJG), 16.6; 6. Tom Brokaw (LF), 16.8; 7. Moe Krayem (DHC), Doug Deykes (P), 17.2.

100 DASH: 1. Jeremy Langford (WJG), 10.8; 2. Terrance Stevens (I), 11.0; 3. Alonso Collins (I), 11.0; 4. Ryan Jones (I), 11.2; 5. Keith Marshall (RU), 11.3; 6. Stefon Anthony (WJG), 11.5; 7. Scott Coppola (LC), 11.5; 8. Vaughn Frederick (GC), 11.7.

800 RELAY: 1. John Glenn (Rico Cole, Umberto Kenle, Stefon Anthony, Jeremy Langford), 1:30.60; 2. Inkster, 1:30.9; 3. Franklin, 1:31.9; 4. Salem, 1:32.1; 5. Plymouth, 1:33.3; 6. Churchill, 1:34.0; 7. Cody, 1:34.6; 8. Dearborn, 1:34.8.

1,600 RUN: 1. Raidan Nagi (DHC), 4:32.6; 2. Warren Buzzard (P), 4:32.6; 3. Matt Neumann (P), 4:33.0; 4. Zach Spreitzer (C), 4:40.7; 5. Adam Chludzinski (LS), 4:41.8; 6. Joe Urso (LS), 4:45.6; 7 Mark Freyberg (LC), 4:47; 8 Robert LeBrell (D), 4:49.1.

400 RELAY: 1. John Glenn (Rico Cole, Umberto Kenle, Stefon Anthony, Jeremy Langford), 43.6; 2. Franklin, 44.0; 3. Salem, 44.8; 4. Churchill, 44.9; 5. Canton, 46.1; 6. Fordson, 46.2; 7. Redford Union, 46.6; 8. Crestwood, 46.6.

400 DASH: 1. Kevin Buford (C), 49.5; 2. Zach Gaskell (S), 49.6; 3. Keith Marshall (RU), 49.7; 4. Nicholas McIntosh (D), 51.3; 5. Anthony LeMerise (P), 51.7; 6. Brandon Tinsley (RU), 51.8; 7. Pat Smith (LS), 52.3; 8. Jordasn Wisniewski (C), 52.8.

300 HURDLES: 1. Scott O'Connor (S), 40.2; 2. Will Burek (LS), 41.1; 3. Ben Spreitzer (C), 41.2; 4. Brandon Piligian (P), 41.9; 5. Doug Deykes (P), 42.2; 6. Jose Amado (S), 42.4; 7. Rico Cole (WJG), 42.5; 8. Kelly Maxwell (WJG), 42.7.

800 RUN: 1. Dan Martin (S), 1:56.2; 2. Warren Buzzard (P), 1:58.4; 3. Keith Zech (C), 1:59.9; 4. Matt Williams (LS), 2:02.1; 5. Francis Menseh (RU), 2:02.3; 6. Raidan Nagi (DHC), 2:02.7; 7. Adam Dabkowski (LS), 2:06.4; 8. Jared Hoffman (D), 2:06.7.

200 DASH: 1. Zack Gaskell (S), 22.6; 2. Kevin Buford (C), 23.0; 3. Anthony Frezzell (LC), 23.1; 4. Brandon Tinsley (RU), 23.2; 5. Richard Duncan (LF), 23.4; 6. Chris Anderson (S), 23.8.

3,200 RUN: 1. Joe Porcari (P), 9:42.6; 2. Thomas Windle (LC), 9:45.8; 3. Derek Gielarowski (P), 9:52.2; 4. Austin Jones (LF), 10:01.4; 5. Hamed Saleh (DF), 10:02.9; 6. Donald Davis (D), 10:11.4; 7. Quinn Osgood (LC), 10:18.8; 8. Steven McEvilly (S), 10:29.7.

1,600 RELAY: 1. Salem (Dan Martin, Zachary Gaskell, Kenneth Middlebrooks, Scott O'Connor), 3:22.5; 2. Canton, 3:24.1; 3. Stevenson, 3:25.5; 4. Plymouth, 3:27.1; 5. Redford Union, 3:31.8; 6. Dearborn, 3:38.8; 7. Franklin, 3:48.2.


 
 

Pictured is Salem's record-setting 1,600-meter relay team of (from left) Dan Martin, Scott O'Connor, Kenneth Middlebrooks and Zack Gaskell. (photo by Ken Gaskell)