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Track and field: La Follette shines at Monona Grove Invitational

Dennis Semrau  —  5/10/2008 3:08 pm

MONONA - When Kendric Smith roared out of the starting blocks at the beginning of his 110-meter high hurdles preliminary heat on Friday afternoon, the Monona Grove senior had the look of a champion.

But fate appeared to deal the second-seeded Smith a cruel blow when he tripped over the first hurdle and fell during the early moments of the 50th annual Monona Grove Invitational boys' track and field meet at Klement Stadium.

Smith, though, made a quick recovery to get back in the race, to the relief of MG coach Brian Storms.

"When he fell, he hit the panic mode," Storms said. "It took a lot of guts to get back up and get in the race. He didn't give up."

Smith surged back into contention, finishing as the second-last qualifier to advance to the semifinal round. Smith went on to win his semifinal heat before holding off Madison Memorial sophomore Lechein Neblett in the finals to win in 14.84 seconds.

"About two weeks ago in practice, I did the same thing and I thought that was out of my system for the whole year," Smith said. "But I didn't drive me knee enough and I caught my toe under the bar. It was so embarrassing and then I got to the second hurdle and was barely able to get over it and I started five stepping and I'm like, 'what am I doing?'

"I usually three step and so I lengthened my stride and got within two or three hurdles behind and I just started muscling it. I got third in the heat but I didn't think I was going to make the semifinals."

The Silver Eagles, who finished sixth at the meet, also received several other top-notch performances. Senior Nick Grosso won the discus title (168 feet, 3.25 inches) and was fourth in the shot put (51-8.5) to earn the meet's Field Event Performer award. Senior Travis Morehouse won the high jump (6-6), while junior Damonte Reed was runner-up in the discus (152-0).

However, Big Eight Conference power Madison La Follette stole the show with its superior depth. The Lancers scored points in 15 of the 20 events to finish with 88 points and outdistance Stevens Point (74) and Racine Park (67).

La Follette cross country teammates Andy Buchanan, Trevor Scharnke, Abdou Seye and Alex Brill got things going early for the Lancers when they easily won the meet's first event, the 3,200 relay, in 8 minutes, 2.84 seconds, 6 seconds ahead of runner-up Stevens Point.

Senior distance runner John Prusynski, also a member of La Follette's two-time state championship cross country team, joined Buchanan as individual champions at the meet. Prusynski won the 1,600 in 4:23.13, while Buchanan won the 800 in 1:55.86.

"I had no idea what the race was going to look like before I ran it. You never know if you have that last gear," said Prusynski, who roared past runner-up Shane Lacy of McFarland with nearly 200 meters to go. "I hoped I could carry it all the way to the finish. I've never run well here before. It was nice to run a good race."

La Follette coach John Neumann was pleased with his team's depth and overall performance.

"It's a great group of kids across the board. In every event there is something good going on. There's good coaching, good athletes and good parents behind those athletes. It's a team effort," he said. "Everybody has got their niche on this team. We have people from all different backgrounds and specialties and we make it work. That's cool."

Other top performances by the Lancers included: Caleb Krueger, who was third in the 300 intermediate hurdles and fifth in the 110 high hurdles; Chris Redman, who took third in the high jump and sixth in the long jump; Garrett Eklof and Dayton Sheppard, who were second in the 3,200 and pole vault, respectively; and Tyler Knight, who was second in the triple jump.

Knight said although the coaches downplayed the importance of the competition because of Tuesday's upcoming Big Eight Conference meet, the Lancers still thought they could win the MG Invite title.

"We thought we had the firepower all around the board to win it and do what needed to be done," Knight said. "But the conference meet is still our focus. We'll be ready to go."

There were several other area athletes who recorded top finishes. They included: Madison West's Brett Kelly, who won the 3,200; Verona's Kyle Martin, who claimed the 600 title; and Verona's Lars Mattison and Madison Memorial's Lechein Neblett, who recorded runner-up finishes in the 800 and 110 hurdles, respectively. Waunakee's 400 relay also took top honors.

Martin, who edged runner-up Kevin Grunewald of Sauk Prairie by 3/100ths of a second in the 600, said he had not run the unique race in a meet before Friday.

"I've run it a couple of times during my workout," Martin said. "I mentioned it to my coach about running it at this meet. But I didn't think I'd get the chance."

Once Verona coach Joff Pedretti gave Martin the go-ahead, though, the senior sprinter gave a lot of thought to what his race strategy would be.

"I thought I'd come out and run a 400 pace and see if I could survive," he said. "I was really scared holding that lead because I'm a 200 runner mainly. I was just waiting for the 800 guys to come in and kick. Then I felt (Grunewald) coming and it scared me to death."

Team scores: Madison La Follette 88; Stevens Point 74; Racine Park 67; Marquette 60; Milwaukee Vincent 57; Monona Grove 50; Madison Memorial 49; Marshfield 39; Verona 35; Madison West 33; Kenosha Bradford 29; Glendale Nicolet 24.5; Brookfield East 24; Sauk Prairie 19; West Bend West 18.5; Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln 17; Beaver Dam 13; West Bend East 13; Lodi 12; Middleton 20; Waunakee 20; Germantown 8; McFarland 8; Columbus 7; Clinton 6; Monroe 4; Cambridge 1.

100: 1 Minter, MV, 11.03; 2, Johannes, WBE, 11.34; 3, Brown-Griffin, RP, 11.46; 4, Davis, MW, 11.50; 5, Nkemnji, MM, 11.53; 6 McKinney, MQ, 11.72. 200: 1, Williams, KB, 22.19; 2, Minter, MV, 22.30; 3, Bartlett, SP, 22.79; 4, Badger, MM, 23.02; 5, McBride, L, 23.08; 6, Blockmon, MV, 23.14. 400: 1, Williams, KB, 49.08; 2, Fagbemi, MA, 49.40; 3, Davis, MW, 50.73; 4, Conway, BD, 51.05; 5, Reigle, BE, 51.17; 6, McBride, L, 51.37. 600: 1, Martin, V, 1:25.37; 2, Pliska, SP, 1:25.53; 3, Grunewald, SPR, 1:25.62; 4, Downing, WRL, 1:26.01; 4, Owen, MA, 1:26.01; 6, Greenwald, MM, 1:26.04. 800: 1, Buchanan, MLF, 1:55.86; 2, Mattison, V, 1:57.94; 3, Fisher, MI, 1:58.73; 4, Jaskowiak, MM, 1:59.01; 5, Zander, COL, 1:59.55; 6, Casey, MQ, 2:00.51. 1,000: 1, Senefeld, SP, 2:35.60; 2, Gregory, RP, 2:37.84; 3, Sweeney, MQ, 2:38.18; 4, Clark, LO, 2:39.80; 5, Bohn, MLF, 2:43.02; 6, Bartholf, V, 2:45.45. 1,600: 1, Prusynski, MLF, 4:23.13; 2, Lacy, McF, 4:25.95; 3, Kerska, SP, 4:26.55; 4, Hatton, SP, 4:26.71; 5, Williams, MW, 4:28.11; 6, Megna, MQ, 4:28.39. 3,200: 1, Kelly, MW, 9:25.21; 2, Eklof, MLF, 9:35.68; 3, Jones, MQ, 9:39.31; 4, King, SP, 9:55.12; 5, Campbell, SPR, 10:02.97; 6, Warren, KB, 10:05.98.

110 high hurdles: 1, Smith, MG, 14.84; 2, Neblett, MM, 15.21; 3, Thomas, MV, 15.33; 4, Jennings, Racine Park, 15.51; 5, Krueger, MLF, 15.54; 6, Wyatt, MV, 15.95. 300 intermediate hurdles: 1, Sandberg, RP, 39.58; 2, Lucas, MA, 40.06; 3, Krueger, MLF, 40.75; 4, Hodges, BE, 40.87; 5, Hughes, RP, 41.28; 6, Hughes, MQ, 41.33.

400 relay: 1, Waunakee (Radel, Vandenbrook, McDonough, Johnson), 44.05; 2, Nicolet, 44.20; 3, Racine Park, 44.27; 4, Stevens Point, 44.46; 5, Madison La Follette, 44.49; 6, Milwaukee Vincent, 44.62. 800 relay: 1 Milwaukee Vincent (Rogers, Minter, Wyatt, Thomas), 1:28.63; 2, Racine Park, 1:30.07; 3, Marquette, 1:31.08; 4, Germantown, 1:31.69; 5, Madison Memorial, 1:32.21; 6, Madison La Follette, 1:32.38. 1,600 relay: 1, Racine Park (Sandberg, Fix, Lowe, Hughes), 3:24.78; 2, Marshfield, 3:26.93; 3, Marquette, 3:26.96; 4, Kenosha Bradford, 3:27.55; 5, Milwaukee Vincent, 3:29.04; 6, Columbus, 3:29.39. 3,200 relay: 1, Madison La Follette (Buchanan, Seye, Scharnke, Brill), 8:02.84; 2, Stevens Point, 8:09.08; 3, Madison Memorial, 8:14.85; 4, Marquette, 8:18.40; 5, West Bend West, 8:19.07; 6, Middleton, 8:27.64.

High jump: 1 Morehouse, MG, 6-6; 2, Taylor, BE, 6-4; 3, Redman, MLF, 6-4; 4, Conway, BD, 5-10; 5, Kopriva, MQ, 5-10; 6, Parker, MQ., 5-10. Long jump: 1, Stark, WRL, 21-10; 2, McKinney, MQ, 20-11; 3, Pearson, MW, 20-5.5; 4, Hammonds, MG, 20-5.5; 5, Minter, MV, 20-4; 6, Redman, MLF, 20-3.5. Triple jump: 1, Fagbemi, MA, 45-11.5; 2, Knight, MLF, 44-8.75; 3, Rogers, MV, 42-7.5; 4, Taylor, BE, 42-7.25; 5, Christen, MO, 41-8.5; 6, Rousseau, SP, 41-4. Discus: 1, Grosso, MG, 168-3.25; 2, Reed, MG, 152-0; 3, Mahaffey, MM, 150-11.5; 4, Banovetz, SP, 148-2; 5, Genovese, SP, 143-5.25; 6, Malofsky, V, 141-7.25. Shot put: 1 Moore, RP, 56-6.75; 2, Mahaffey, MM, 53-1.25; 3, Kampbell, CL, 52-11.5; 4, Grosso, MG, 51-8.5; 5, Moericke, WBE, 51-0; 6, Banovetz, SP, 50-0.5. Pole vault: 1, Mathe, SP, 14-0; 2, Sheppard, MLF, 13-0; 3, Klessig, WBW, 12-6; 3, Weedall, GN, 12-6; 5, Harper, V, 12-0; 6, Moua, V, 12-0.

Dennis Semrau  —  5/10/2008 3:08 pm