Uniontown sprints to win over Albert Gallatin
The Uniontown boys track and field team got off to a rousing start in Section 2-AAA Wednesday with a convincing 109-32 over rival Albert Gallatin. Uniontown won all but two events with Albert Gallatin’s Vaughn Jones helping the Colonials avoid a first-place shutout.
One of the interesting early match-ups of the season was between distance runners Andy Gleason of Uniontown and Albert Gallatin’s Patrick Reagan. Gleason bested the Colonial distance man twice, passing him in the bell lap to win the 1,600 (4:52) and taking the lead early for the 800 victory.
Nate Frezzell had strong opening day by winning the 100 (11.65) and 200 (24.12). Quindell Dean had the jumping pits hopping with his performance in the high jump (5-10) as well as in the 110 high hurdles.
The Red Raiders won 24 out of a possible 27 points in the throwing events. Tony DiNunno won the discus. Adam Muzika heaved the shot put 45-9½ while Greg Leonard won the javelin.
Joe Everhart was pleased to get the season underway because it offered him, throwing coach Tim Tatar, and sprint coach Keith Jeffries the opportunity to see the Red Raiders in action in competition.
“It’s a good meet to get into the start of the season. You don’t know what you have until you have a meet,” Everhart said.
The meet met Everhart’s expectations in some respects, but fell short in others.
“The times were not as good in events as we would have hoped. I was pleased with Andy in the mile. The sprinters are a young group. They’re still getting used to running in spikes in race conditions. It was a learning experience,” Everhart said.
“We have a lot of question marks. The sprinters will be better. The high jump will be better with Quindell Dean. We need to work on the pole vault. We have a couple of kids who can do it.
“We have some nice throwers. Adam Muzika should do well. Tony DiNunno is in his first year in the javelin, but he’s doing a nice job. We don’t have anyone area extremely strong, but not one that’s extremely weak. I like the way they’re working. The seem like they help each other a lot.”
Albert Gallatin coach Jeff Rush is in his second year and is anxiously awaiting a facility he can call home.
“They need the experience on the track. It shows not being on a track,” Rush explained.
He has a couple of proven commodities in Vaughn Jones and Patrick Reagan.
“I expect Vaughn to win. He’ll do all three jumps, but we want him to sprint. The other teams know his name. Pat is an excellent runner. It took him a long time to heal (from an off-season training injury). He’ll run anything from the 800 and up. He’s our best distance runner.
“We’ll try to limit the kids to two or three events each to find out what the other kids can do. I don’t want to burn them out.”