Boy’s track
Falcons beat Red Raiders, look to meet with Mustangs Uniontown realized it would have a tough road to hoe against visiting Connellsville, and the Falcons proved to be a worthy opponent Tuesday, defeating the Red Raiders, 881/2-611/2, in preparation of Thursday’s showdown for the Section 2-AAA title Thursday against Laurel Highlands.
Connellsville improves to 4-0 in the section and 6-0 overall. Uniontown evens its mark in the section at 2-2 and overall to 3-3.
The Falcons were dominant equally in both areas, taking first places in eight of 11 track events and five of seven field events.
The 3,200 relay team of Ryan Mullaney, Shane Kovack, Paul Micklow and Pat Mullaney jumpstarted the Falcons, followed first place finishes in the 110 high hurdles (Frank Kolarik), 100 (Brian Burden), 1,600 (Kenny King) and 400 (Burden) before Uniontown stemmed the tide in the 400 relay.
King showed surprising maturity in the 1,600 as the freshman hung onto Uniontown senior Dave Madison through almost 1,400 meters, stepping inside Madison on the first lane, then sprinting home for the victory in 5:00.9.
“I thought he’d be pretty tough,” King said of Madison. “He was running on the outside of Lane 1 and he was slowing down. I was speeding up, so I stepped inside.
“This is a lot harder than junior high. (The other runners) don’t know I’m here. They’re not expecting me, but next year they will know.”
After Matt Smiley, Eric Russman, Nate Frezzell and Jarred Volek won the 400 relay in 45.4, Connellsville returned to the winner’s circle in the 800 and 200. Kris “One Shoe” Oswald lost his left shoe early in the 800, but persevered through to the end to finish first in 2:16.5.
Burden capped his strong day by racing past the field in the 200 with a time of 22.8 seconds to total 15 points to the Connellsville cause.
“I try to run my hardest. I feel I need to do the best I can for the team,” Burden said of his approach. “It hurts a little bit (not running against strong competition), but my teammates push me a lot.”
“I take one day at a time. I focus on what I’m doing now,” Burden said of the upcoming meet with Laurel Highlands.
Clint Richter secured two first place finishes in the field events for the Falcons by out-throwing the field in the shot put (46-91/4) and discus (148-8). Rich Hair jumped 5-8 in the high jump and teammate Mace Copeland out-leapt the field in the other two jumps, the long (18-11) and triple (40-0).
Kovach, Volek, Rasinski and Smiley joined to win the 1,600 relay.
A bright spot for the Red Raiders was pole-vaulter Steve Kovach. The senior bettered his personal best by one foot, vaulting 12-6 to win the competition over Connellsville’s John Tremba.
“I hit my personal best by one foot. I’m undefeated so far (in competition), so I just wanted to win this meet. I’m a little higher than I thought I’d would be (at this time of the season),” Kovach said, though he later qualified his response with a look to the future.
Kovach won’t have to wait until the April 27th meet to vault against his rival because the Red Raiders host the Mustangs early next week.
Uniontown boys coach Joe Everhart thought his crew would do better in some areas, but was pleased with the gutsy performance of his squad.
“There were certain areas I thought we could do better. I thought Dave (Madison) could have taken (Kenny) King in the 1,600, but King ran well,” Everhart said.
“I’m happy with our sprinters, even though we only got one point. Our exchanges in the 400 relay are improving. Connellsville’s well coached and the kids are mature.
“No one gave up and that’s what we stress. I’m very pleased with the kids.”
Connellsville coach Jeff Galand was happy with what he saw against Uniontown as the Falcons look to Laurel Highlands.
“It was a nice day for the boys. We were focused on what we were doing today. I think the times were quicker today because of the weather.”