BY DENNIS CHASE
TRAVERSE CITY -- The Traverse City Central boys have never won a medal at the Division 1 state meet in the 400 relay.
Coach John Lober believes this could be the year.
The team of Tyler Clark, Ben Broad, Mike Heim and Blair Bell tuned up for the state meet by setting records in the 400 and 800 relays Tuesday at the Record-Eagle Honor Roll. They won the 400 in 43.76 and 800 in 1:31.24. The previous records -- 44.28 in the 400 and 1:31.7 in the 800 -- were established in 1982 and 1981, respectively, and were the two longest standing boys Honor Roll records.
"These kids are the real deal," Lober said.
Two girls records were also set. Traverse City Central's Maren Bahra, Taylor Mattarella, Katie Fallick and Julia Otwell lowered the 3200 relay mark to 9:33.14. It was previously 9:34.25. St. Francis' Hannah Meachum went 10'7" to break Forest Area's Jessica Miela's record of 10'6 in the pole vault. Miela set that mark in 2002.
The Central boys 400 relay team, meanwhile, will enter Saturday's state meet seeded eighth after running a school-record 43.14 at the regional.
"Breaking the school record is not that easy to do," Lober said. "We've been around a long time. And we've got a good track program.
"These kids have worked really well together all year. They've been very consistent.
"But there's going to be a lot of competition in the sprints in Division 1. We're going to have to run under 43 seconds to medal. Can we do it? Yes. We can do it."
Bell believes so, too.
"We would like to think we haven't run our fastest time of year yet," he said.
Bell is the lone senior in the group. Clark's a freshman, Broad's a sophomore and Heim's a junior.
Bell enjoyed a banner night Tuesday. He also won the 110 high hurdles (14.61) and 300 intermediates (40.65).
"I was happy with that," he said. "I've been looking forward to this meet all year. It's my favorite meet. To win in four events, it felt good to get it done."
Kingsley's Dave Zaleski swept the 100 (10.82) and 200 (22.62) and ran on the Stags victorious 1600 relay team (3:30.54).
Zaleski tore the ACL in his left knee as a junior.
"First (football) practice of the year," he said. "It's still bothersome. It still hurts when I run, when I stretch. When I'm done (running), it gets tight. It's hard to move. But it's worth it."
Zaleski's time in the 100 was a personal best. He's seeded seventh in Division 3 in the 200.
Other winners included Central's Nick Alpers in the discus (139'3") and James Barbera in the shot put (49'2.25"), Benzie's Ben Thaxton in the high jump (6'4"), St. Francis' Adam Karpinski in the pole vault (13'3"), Kingsley's Nolan Stiner in the long jump (20'8.75"), St. Francis' Marc Kanitz in the 400 (51.78), Benzie's Nick Radionoff in the 800 (1:58.87), Suttons Bay's Ben Wynsma in the 1600 (4:27.14) and Benzie's A.J. Patterson in the 3200 (10:24.14. Traverse City West won the 3200 relay (8:19.24).
Meachum and Grand Traverse Academy's Rachel Zeppa were double-winners among the girls. In addition to setting a new pole vault record, Meachum won the 100 hurdles (15.83). She's seeded first in the 100 hurdles, second in the pole vault and fifth in the 300 hurdles at the Division 4 state meet.
Zeppa, who has lost only one race all season, claimed the 100 (12.85) and 200 (26.95).
"It's pretty exciting," she said about her two wins. "These are not my best times because of the weather, but I'll train harder this week."
Zeppa is seeded second in the 100 and fourth in the 200 at the state meet.
"My goal is to win," the junior said. "That's the one goal I set at the start -- to get first in the state."
Otwell and Bahra won individual races in addition to running on the record-setting 3200 relay team. Bahra captured the 400 (1:00.29) and Otwell the 1600 (5:09.44). Otwell and Wynsma each received the Ryan Shay trophy for winning the 1600-meter events.
Other winners included Central Lake's Jasmine Hines in the shot put (school record 40'6"), Central's Kortney Bower in the discus (119'2"), Central's Molly Walker in the high jump (5'), Elk Rapids' Kelly VanDeusen in the long jump (16'4.5"), Benzie's Carrie Noah in the 300 hurdles (49.50), Traverse City West's Veronica Asch in the 800 (2:25.36) and Benzie's Devyn Ramsay in the 3200 (11.29). Elk Rapids won the 400 relay (53.58), West the 800 (1:50.31) and Benzie the 1600 (4:14.5). West's 800 team consisted of Mandy Scott, Dani Brzezinski, Lilia Favela and Kara Pohlman. Favela also took second in the long jump, 100 and on the 1600 relay.
