Tippecanoe Valley Quartet Leaves Mark

PLYMOUTH - Just six days later and the results were almost the same.

Last Friday, Tippecanoe Valley's boys track team trailed Manchester going into the 1600 relay and ended up winning the meet's final event, topping the Squires by one to win the Three Rivers Conference championship.

In Thursday's Plymouth Sectional, once again Valley trailed the Squires and ended up winning the 1600 relay to top the Squires by one, 83-82. But that's where the coincidences stop.

Valley and Manchester finished last night's 12-team meet in third and fourth place, respectively. The host Pilgrims won the event with a team score of 117 points. Triton's 64 points were good enough for sixth place and Whitko finished in ninth place with 26.5 points.

Valley's 1,600 relay team of Kevin Hileman, Noah Silveus, Adam Smith and Eric Prater ran a winning time of 3:32.78, a shade under their No. 1 seed time of 3:32.80.

After his relay team won, Valley coach Terry Screeton was asked if he considered the 1,600 relay team his bread and butter event.

"It's my favorite event," said Screeton. "We always try to have a good 1600 relay team. We don't have one really outstanding leg but we have four guys who are very good. It's truly a team effort."

When the Valley relay team won the TRC championship, Prater told Screeton that the baton used in the event would be marked. Last night Prater and company said they used the same baton to win the sectional and that their mark was that each member of the relay team spit into the green piece of metal.

Other first-place finishes for Valley include Smith in the 110 hurdles with his time of 15.67 seconds, Eric Carlin, 300 hurdles with a time of 40.90 seconds and Hileman's winning time of 2:00.36 in the 800.

The top four finishers advance from each event. Valley will also advance to Thursday's Kokomo Regional, Mike McNeal in the 100 and 200, Smith in the 300 hurdles, Carlin in the 100 hurdles, Silveus in the high jump, and Jeremy Fox, who was seeded No. 1 in last night's shot put event and finished fourth with a throw of 46-3.

Whitko will advance Ben Mohr, who finished third in the 400 with a time of 52.9 seconds. Whitko's 1600 relay team of Mike McKeighen, Micah Moncreif, Mohr and Josh Gonzalez also advances to the Kokomo Regional after placing third.

Rex Reimer of Manchester took top honors in the 200 as well as second-place finishes in the 100 and long jump. The Squires will also advance the 400 relay team of Reimer, David Barrett, Josh Peden and Michael Hendrix, David Bazzoni in the pole vault, Klay Bechtold in the long jump, and Greg Groombridge after a first-place effort in the discus and a third-place finish in the shot put.

The biggest portion of those advancing for Triton come from the distance events. The Trojans' 3200 relay team of Wes Rettinger, Jason Lemler, Mason McIntyre and Brandon Zeider finished fourth with a time of 8:38.9. McIntyre also advances after a second-place time of 4:37.47 in the 1600 and a fourth-place effort in the 800. Nathan Gephart moves on in the 1600 and 3200 and Matthew Yankovich's jump of 11-6 in the pole vault was good enough for fourth.

1999 PLYMOUTH BOYS TRACK SECTIONAL

Team results - 1. Plymouth 117, 2. Northfield 85.5, 3. Tippecanoe Valley 83, 4. Manchester 82, 5. Culver Military Academy 74, 6. Triton 61, 7. Rochester 35, 8. Culver 32, 9. Whitko 26.5, 10. (tie) Caston 10, Argos 10, 12. Oregon-Davis 8.

Abbreviations - Plymouth (P), Northfield (N), Tippecanoe Valley (TV), Manchester (M), Culver Military Academy (CMA), Triton (T), Rochester (R), Culver (Cu), Whitko (W), Caston (Ca), Argos (A), Oregon-Davis (OD).

400 relay - 1. CMA :44.25, 2. Manchester, 3. Plymouth, 4. Northfield, 5. Whitko, 6. Valley

400 - 1. Baker (P) :52.36, 2. Timmerman (OD), 3. Mohr (W), 4. Jimenez (W), 5. Pete (CMA), 6. Gidley (P)

3,200 relay - 1. Northfield 8:14.90, 2. Plymouth, 3. CMA, 4. Triton, 5. Whitko, 6. Rochester

100 - 1. Salinas (P) :11.60, 2. Reimer (M), 3. Adesida (CMA), 4. McNeal (TV), 5. Clark (R), 6. Hendrix (M)

110 hurdles - 1. Smith (TV) :15.67, 2. Beck (P), 3. Carlin (TV), 4. Zimmerman (N), 5. Price (T), 6. Vogel (CMA)

200 - 1. Reimer (M) :23.25, 2. Adesida (CMA), 3. Rodriguez (P), 4. McNeal (TV), 5. Barker (P), 6. Barrett (M)

1,600 - 1. Andrews (N) 4:29.55, 2. McIntyre (T), 3. Gephart (T), 4. Hausmann (CMA), 5. Cordes (N), 6. Jefferies (P)

300 hurdles - 1. Carlin (TV) :40.90, 2. Teall (P), 3. Smith (TV), 4. Beck (P), 5. Gaerte (M), 6. Slater (W)

800 - 1. Hileman (TV) 2:00.36, 2. Hausman (CMA), 3. Haupert (N), 4. McIntyre (T), 5. Dunkel (CMA), 6. Lewis (P)

3,200 - 1. Andrews (N) 9:54.50, 2. Parks (N), 3. Gephart (T), 4. McFarland (Cu), 5. Kariger (P), 6. Ruccius (M)

Pole vault - 1. Bazzoni (M) 13-0, 2. Shoaf (CMA), 3. Wagoner (R), 4. Yankovich (T), 5. Brenner (CMA), 6. Smith (Cu)

1,600 - 1. Valley 3:32.78, 2. Plymouth, 3. Whitko, 4. CMA, 5. Triton, 6. Northfield

Long jump - 1. Brainard (N) 20-11, 2. Reimer (M), 3. Bechtold (M), 4. Stotler (Cu), 5. Reiwoldt (P), 6. Davis (P)

High jump - 1. Warren (A) 6-7, 2. Brainard (N), 3. Silveus (TV), 4. Read (T), 5. Buschman (Cu), 6. Wise (T)

Discus - 1. Groombridge (M) 138-6, 2. Burkett (R), 3. Moore (T), 4. Dexter (Ca), 5. Martin (P), 6. Gross (T)

Shot put - 1. Salinas (P) 49-4.5, 2. Terry (CMA), 3. Groombridge (M), 4. Fox (TV), 5. Kuhn (TV), 6. Burkett (R)