Blue Blazers 'A' champs

By Greg Keim
THE GOSHEN NEWS

Fri, May 16 2008

— The Elkhart Central Blue Blazers repeated as Class A champions in the 38th running of the Kelly Relays for high school boys track and field Friday night at Concord.
Central finished with 83 points, followed by Elkhart Memorial and Plymouth tied at 68, Concord and NorthWood tied at 44, East Noble 37, Northridge 36 and Goshen 23.
The Blue Blazers won two events. James Fletcher, Cody Harman, Brendon Williams and Andre Jackson captured the 4 x 200-meter relay (1:32.93); Nathaniel Howell (46-8 3/4), Benjamin Kain (45-6 1/2) and Thomas Lee Kirts (45-5 1/2) shot put.
Goshen’s best efforts were fifths in pole vault, shot and discus. Jacob Heiliger (11-0), Zach Prater (10-6) and Aaron Krabill (9-0) were in pole vault; Scott Flory (45-6 1/2), Chris Figueroa (43-3 1/2) and Thomas Gingerich (43-2 1/4) in shot; Gingerich (127-9), Jason Lauver (116-3) and PJ Metzler (109-4) discus.
“We did good, but there are still things we have to improve on to get ready for the Northern Lakes Conference meet (Tuesday at Warsaw) and the sectional (May 15 at Goshen),” Goshen coach Brock Maust said. “Last year, I think we scored 13 points here, so we are continuing to show improvement.
“Pole vault was a highlight. Heiliger was three feet over his career-best. Prater did his usual and Krabill going 9-0 as a freshman is a good sign.
“Shot was another good area. A year ago, we were around 88 feet. This year it was over 132.”
Concord won two events. Donald Mulroy, Ben Clark, Todd Dion and Daniel Zelaya took the 4 x 800 relay (8:19.86); Anthony Yoder, Steve Mulroy, Will Mulroy and Eric McCray took the freshmen sprint medley (1:41.69).
“I thought this was as a good a performance as we have had all season,” Concord coach Jeff Payne said. “We ran with a lot of heart and I am proud of our overall effort.
“The 4 x 800 relay has been having trouble with consistency all season. They put it together. All four are underclassmen. That is encouraging to see.
“Anthony Harper and Wes Smith carried our sprinters as they have been doing all season. We have had some injuries in that area, but Harper and Smith have done everything the coaches have asked of them. It’s great to see them competing at a higher level.”
NorthWood finished first in one event, but did so in record fashion. Kyle Yoder, Kent Biller, James Reynolds and Danzele Johnson won the 4 x 100 relay in 42.99, breaking the previous mark of 43.20 by Central in 2007.
“That relay was something else,” NorthWood coach Adam Yoder. “We have Biller back (pulled hamstring) and are finally starting to get healthy. We still have one piece out yet. Reynolds is running for Alex Rethlake. We feel that we have a regional-caliber, if not state-caliber 4 x 100 team.
“We front-loaded our lineup, but once we had a false start in the hurdles we pulled Biller and Johnson out of some events to save their legs for the NLC.
Northridge won two events. Nate Meyer, Seth Virgil, Ladd Mercer and Mitch Keyser finished first in the distance medley (8:28.98); Mercer, Keyser, Austin Ball and Andrew Albert in the sprint medley (3:42.38).