The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
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Hornets take Shumake Invite championship
Girls first, boys fourth in program's first apperance at meet
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 1, 2008
After facing top-ranked Ann Arbor Pioneer the previous Tuesday, the Saline track teams took on some of the rest of the state's top teams at Detroit's Renaissance High School in the Shumake Relays Saturday.
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The Hornets came away with a huge day as the girls took home the meet championship with 64.5 points, 4.5 ahead of runner-up Livonia-Stevenson, and the boys finished fourth despite missing a handful of key athletes to injury.
"It was a new meet for us, so we didn't know quite what to expect. There were many schools there that we normally don't compete against," said Hornet girls' head coach Mike Smith. "Throughout the day we were always toward the top when they announced the team scores, but they were always close. In the final two events (the 3,200-meter run and the 1,600 relay) we picked up enough points to put us into first and keep us there.
"After losing to Pioneer earlier in the week, it was nice to bring home the championship trophy."
Boys' head coach Allan Leslie was similarly encouraged.
"If we'd been completely healthy and we'd really competed for first," Leslie said, pointing out that many Hornet distance runners ran less than a full slate of races, "I think we would have been right there for first in this meet. We were pleased with everybody who ran.
"We've got less than two weeks before Regionals, so hopefully we'll put it all together there."
The Saline girls didn't win any single event on their way to the title but scored in 12 different events. As usual, the Hornets were strongest in the distance events with the 3,200-relay team of Meagan Creutz, Lindsey Cummings, Alex Leptich, and Kate Carter (9:30) taking second, Carter (5:13.45) placing second in the 1,600, and Leptich (11:31) and Cummings (11:54) going 2-3 in the 3,200.
Also scoring for Saline were Lauren Zakrasjek, Karen Gallardo, Taylor Franz, and Rachel Nyberg in both the 400 relay (51.89, fourth) and the 800 relay (1:48.9, sixth) despite the absence of relay regular Corrie Castro. Emily Everett took third in both the discus (99'3") and the shotput (34'9"), with Brooke Pleger (94'1") also taking sixth in the discus and Nina DeJonghe (32'2") ninth in the shot. Nyberg (14'8") took sixth in the long jump and Kari Frank (4'6") took sixth in the high jump.
Samantha Cannell (62.8) placed eighth in the 800 and helped the 1,600 relay team also featuring Franz, Carter, and Cummings (4:10.4) to fourth.
The biggest performance for the Saline boys came from junior Brian Conn, who set a meet record in winning the 3,200 in 9:40. Blake Johnson (4:25.12) took second in the 1,600 with Brian Hernandez (2:01.36) taking fifth in the 800. Hernandez, Sam Burchyett, and Luke Dishnow (3:32.48) took Saline to sixth in the 1,600 relay. Conn, Johnson, and Hernandez helped the 3,200 relay team (8:05.70) to a second-place finish.
Saline shone in field events, with Quinn Dawson (168'3") winning the discus and Gabe Helmuth (140'4") just behind in third. Tyler Olsen (6') took sixth in the high jump and Ryan Nowatzke (42'6") placed fifth in the shot put.
Milford Relays
The Hornets set one meet record and finished third at Milford's unusual coed Balawaider Relays April 19.
The 6,400 relay team of Erin Dowling, Carter, Hernandez, and Johnson took first in a meet-record time of 19:55. The same foursome took fourth in the distance medley relay. Leptich, Cummings, Dishnow, and Tommy Hunt took second in the 3,200 relay. Conn, Joe Lipa, Leptich, and Cummings placed second in the 4 x 3,200 relay. Pleger, Alina Luurtsema, Burchyett, and Drew Jurgensen combined to take third in the 400 relay.
Saline also saw success in field relays. Dawson, Nowatzke, Everett, and DeJonghe took second with Pleger replacing DeJonghe for a third-place finish in the discus. Katie Turrentine, Emily Solan, Shaun Fyall, and Mark Caparese placed second in the pole vault and Olsen, Josh Barbu, Solan, and Frank took fourth in the high jump.
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