Grand Blanc runner wins at regional in tribute

Track

Related Photos

Traverse City Central's Aimee Marsh, left, gets the baton from Katie Perkins in the 3200-meter relay Saturday. Record-Eagle/Keith King
Traverse City West's Cody Russell competes in the 110-meter hurdles Saturday, May 22, 2010 during the Division 1 track regional at Traverse City Central High School. Record-Eagle/Keith King

May 23, 2010

TC Central girls qualify as a team for state finals

BY MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Sun May 23, 2010, 09:19 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — With a heavy heart, Grand Blanc's Omar Kaddurah ran on Saturday.

And he ran away from the competition.

Honoring the memory of a deceased friend, Kaddurah captured the 800-meter run, the 1600 and teamed to win the 1600 relay at Saturday's Division I track regional at Traverse City Central.

"I was really happy to have success," Kaddurah said. "A lot of the times, things don't go the way you plan them, but today went as well as planned."

Grand Blanc won the regional with 123 points while Flint Carman-Ainsworth was second at 100 and TC Central was third at 88. TC West was fifth (58).

Kaddurah's friend, Amir Safy, passed away Friday in Flint. Instead of joining his team in northern Michigan Friday night, Kaddurah spent the day with Safy's family and drove to Traverse City first thing Saturday morning.

"I focused on the drive up this morning," Kaddurah said. "I feel okay. Our coach talked about running hard today. We haven't done that in a long time."

Kaddurah said he's held back in races this year to conserve his energy to better help his team.

That wasn't the case in the 1600, where he won in 4 minutes, 7.2 seconds. Trojans coach John Lober said it was the second fastest time in the nation this spring.

In the girls' 1600, home track paid off for TC Central's Julia Otwell, who fought her way to the front on the final lap to win in 4:55.2.

"(Trojans coach Lisa Taylor) said my competition would go out fast," Otwell said. "I tried to run at an even pace and not start too fast."

Otwell helped TC Central qualify as a team for the state finals by placing second. Grand Blanc won the meet with 76 points, but the Trojans were second at 73.5. TC West was sixth with 57.25.

Besides the win in the 1600, Otwell finished second in the 3200 in 10:50.8 and teamed with Katie Fallick, Katie Perkins, Aimee Marsh and Julia Otwell to win the 3200 relay in 9:31.29.

TC West was fourth in the 400 relay (50.8) but had a good enough time to move on to the state finals with Ruth Hines, Kathryn Walters, Hannah Schnack and Savannah Stuart-Dahl. It was a school record time.

Hines was third in the 100 hurdles in 15.70 and fourth in the 300 hurdles in 47.7. She missed the state finals, but broke school records in both events.

In the boys' meet, TC Central had state-qualifying performances in six events.

That included the 100 dash, where Trojans senior Mike Heim earned his first individual state finals berth by placing fourth in 10.9.

"It was quite fast," Heim said of the competition. "I haven't seen anything like it this year. But good competition brings out the best in you."

Heim will be joined in the state final by teammate Tyler Clark, who qualified by placing fifth in 10.9.

"That's pretty cool," Heim said of having a teammate in the same race. "This was the first time I've actually beat him this year, so I can finally brag a little."

Heim and Clark also qualified in the 400 relay with Boone Marois and Jack Stevens by placing third in 43.2 seconds.

In the pole vault, TC Central also had a pair of qualifiers. Ryan Gemmell was second at 13-4 while Tony Fulk was third at 12-10.

Nick Bruning qualified in the 1600 by placing fifth in 4:24 while the 3200 relay team of Evan Cover, Ryan Keenan, Drew Dancer and Tyler Kelly advanced to the state finals by placing third in 8:05.9.

TC West's Zeke Famiano punched his ticket to the state finals by finishing second twice. He ran the 200 in 22.1 and the 400 in 50.5.

Connor Kostrzewa was second in the discus at 147-3 while Cody Russell qualified in the 300 hurdles by placing third in 39.9.

West's 800 relay team of Famiano, Russell, Scott Ringwelski and Anthony West missed states, but set a school record by finishing fourth in 1:31.5.