BARLOW at CENTRAL CATHOLIC

CENTRAL CATHOLIC vs. SAM BARLOW
@ FERNHILL PARK
9 APRIL, 2008

On a day when the weather went from sunny to windy to rainy to really, really rainy – and ultimately to a very short-lived driving hailstorm – the Ram men turned in some fine performances against Sam Barlow High. Barlow is traditionally one of the top programs in the state, and this year’s Bruin squad certainly follows in that tradition. Given that the Rams were without a few top performers, Barlow’s 95-50 victory was not unexpected.

There were numerous PRs in the throws as Coach Reinke and Coach Mick have our young group improving at a rapid rate. JOE LOPEZ ’10 finished a strong second to Barlow’s super-frosh, Ryan Crouser, while PRing at 44’2 ½. (Ryan is the latest from the legendary Gresham throwing family.) SPENCER LAIS ’11, MATT PEREZ ’11, JUSTIN RANSOME ’11, and JASON EVANS ’10 also PRed in the shot. In the disc the Rams were led by soph WILSON HUYNH ’10 in third, PRing by almost four feet. Lais, Perez, Ransome, and Evans also notched lifetime best marks.

Given the weather, personal records were few and far between in the jumps, but LYLE KEATHLEY ’10 continued his steady improvement in the vault with a 10 inch PR. BLAKE RILEY '10 won the triple jump despite not being at his absolute best.

On the track JOE PARKER ‘09 turned in new best times in both the 400m and 200m (54.93 and 24.35). Matching Joe’s effort was outstanding freshman BRENNAN SCARLETT at 56.33 and 24.92. Classmate MARC ANDRE also had a very fine day with excellent efforts in the 100m (12.09), 200m (25.15) and legs on both relays (400m – 57.5). Highlighting the afternoon for the sprint crew was JOSH JANSSEN ’10 in the 100m. Josh gave Barlow’s football star, Malcolm Johnson, everything he could handle PRing at 11.37, just two-hundredths behind Johnson. Josh’s time is the #7 Sophomore mark in CC history; when (if?) the weather turns, he should move up even further on that list.

LUCAS NOLING ’10 hurdled his way onto the soph list in his first ever attempt over the 110m high hurdles. Lucas time of 16.64 is #8 on the list; maybe more impressive than his time is the fact that he was able to three step the entire race – again, in his first attempt at this event. In the 300mh Lucas narrowly missed his PR in fourth, while our newest hurdler, TAYLOR MORGAN ’08, finished a strong 2nd to Barlow’s All State hurdler, Eric Capelle. Morgan, a steeplechaser since the 8th grade, has been toying with the hurdles for a couple of years and finally got the ok from his overly conservative coach to give the 300s a try. His time today, 42.40, is an excellent start, particularly in light of the poor conditions. Senior HEW COMMEREE also PRed over the intermediates (45.16) and ran a fine leadoff leg (54.6) in the 4 x 400m.

In the distances, the Ram thinclads had some old and some new shine on this day. The “old” were seniors AUSTIN JONES and JOEL TURKHEIMER; Jones won both the 1500m (4:22.67) and 800m (2:05.53) in PR times while Turkheimer was 2nd in the 1500m before PRing to victory in the 3000m (9:21.42). Both have been handling very heavy training loads lately, amplifying these marks. PETER SLAUSON ’10, returning from injury, ran a solid 9:35.71 after two weeks of difficulty with his back.

The “new” distance stars were highlighted by SCOTT LEE ’10, who emulated Jones in taking the JV 1500m (4:40.51) and 800m (2:16.55). Classmate NATHAN COLLINS ran two huge PRs in those same events, while EVERETT STILLEY ’10 finally was able to compete on the track for the Rams after fighting injury a year ago. Everett’s 10:37.76 was a great beginning in the 3km. Freshmen RICK SULLIVAN and MIKE LASKOWSKI each knocked over ten seconds off their efforts from March’s Polar Bear meet effort, Sullivan in the 3000m and Laskowski in the 1500m.

Next week your Rams travel to Centennial HS on Wednesday to meet the host Eagles and the Raiders of Reynolds High. On Saturday, the varsity team will compete at Aloha HS in the 4th annual Aloha Relays. Hope to see you somewhere along the way. You can find our complete schedule and a vast assortment of statistics at www.athletic.net. Go to “Oregon” and the Mount Hood Conference, where you’ll find Central Catholic’s page.