Nordic boys win first RR track title since 1984
By John Vrancic
POSTED: May 9, 2008
RAPID RIVER — Gasoline was selling for approximately $1 a gallon when the North Dickinson boys had last won the Rapid River Track Invitational.
Thursday, with gas approaching $4 a gallon, the Nordics scored 144 points Thursday to take the event for the first time since 1984. Runner-up Rapid River collected 130•. Defending champ Mid Peninsula slipped to sixth this time with 42.
North Dickinson’s Damien Smith set a meet record in the 400-meter dash at 51.97 seconds. Mid Pen’s Justin Wigand took second (53.32).
Smith also took the 200 (23.98), long jump at 19 feet, 10 inches and helped the Nordics win the 800 relay.
“I just felt good today, and I was pushed,” said Smith. “This is a real big confidence builder. I’m planning to get down to 49. I just haven’t had anybody to push me to that point yet.”
Pete Leeman, who also helped the winning 800 relay, took the 110 hurdles (15.35) and 300s (42.57) and high jump (5-11).
“I had good starts, but I’m still hitting every hurdle with my trail leg,” said Leeman. “Although this is a pretty good confidence builder, I still have room for improvement.”
The Nordics finished by winning the 1600 relay on this sunny and mild day.
“Our 800 and 1600 relays were solid, and we had fantastic performances from Pete Leeman and Damien Smith,” said Nordics’ coach Joe Reddinger. “We also had other good performances, like Mike Miller taking third in long jump and John Nurmi running the 800 for the first time and taking third.
“I think we’ve started the season real strong and the kids have very good attitudes right now. Winning here gives us a lot of confidence.”
Rapid River’s Tyler Crossman won the 800 (2:07.65), 1600 (4:50.67) and 3200 (10:28.91) and helped the winning 3200 relay. Crossman was challenged in the 800 by Forest Park’s Josh Aberly (2:10.29).
“Tyler worked hard, and all our relays ran their best times all year,” said Rockets’ coach Steve Ostrenga. “Derek McCarty was sick last night, but came here today and performed well. Derek Berglund also came through for us. I’m proud of our effort. All the teams battled well. It was nice to see North Dickinson. They’re every bit as good as I thought they’d be.”
Rapid River’s Tyler Kuehl won discus (134-6). Justin Plimpton took shot put (44-1) and Berglund copped pole vault (10-6).
North Central ran without its seniors, who were on a class trip to Chicago.
