The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
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Big Red boys roll, stay undefeated
By Jerry Hinnen, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 17, 2007
The Milan boys' track team is one meet away from a second straight undefeated season.
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The Big Reds rolled past Monroe-Jefferson 91-36 Tuesday, May 8, then dispatched Airport 79-49 the following Thursday to move to 5-0 on the year. The Big Reds will aim for a 7-0 finish and a league title at the Huron League meet at Jefferson next Tuesday, when they face Grosse Ile and New Boston (whose meets were rained out) as part of the Huron meet.
Milan boys' head coach Rich Pellegrini said it had been "probably 50 years" since Milan had last put together back-to-back perfect seasons in boys' track. But their record doesn't mean they expect a title at the league meet to be a meer formailty.
"The (Airport) meet was a lot closer then the score indicates," Pellegrini said. "We expect Airport to be a strong contender at the league finals ... If Airport wins and we slip to third, we tie (for the league crown) with Airport and St. Mary's. On the good side, we do control our own fate."
24 different Big Reds notched personal-best performances against the Jets, including the first-place 3200-meter relay team of Erik Myyra, Sam Rowe, Brian Kirkpatrick, and Anthony Mann in 8:27.25. The Big Reds won eight other events, with Ron Spears winning the 100 dash and long jump, Eric Betts the high jump, Anthony Marshall the 200 dash, Chris Duval the 400 dash, Kirkpatrick the 800, Cedric Douglas, Kyle Love, Randy Butts and Marshall in the 800 relay, and Douglas, Love, Marshall, and Spears in the 400 relay.
Many of those were repeat winners from the Jefferson meet, with other first-place finishers from the meet against the Bears including Jake Hill in the shot put, David Box in the discus, Love in the 110 and 300 hurdles, Rowe in the 400 dash, Kyle Anderson in the 3200, and Butts in the 200 dash. Milan swept the discus with Corey Gunderson second and Hamid Thompson third.
Perhaps the most impressive Milan performance of the week, however, came at the Whitmore Lake Invitational Friday when Spears tied the school record in the100 dash with a blistering, first-place 10.74. The time is rounded up to 10.8 for record-keeping purposes, Pellegrini said, tying Spears with Richard Cosme (2006) and Matt Sabo and Blake Novak (1989).
Marshall nearly had his own school record in the 200 dash with a first-place, career-best 22.15, .17 off the school mark. Box had a personal best with a first-place throw of 130'3" in the discus. Other winners included Hill in the shot put, Spears in the long jump, and the 400 relay team of Spears, Marshall, Douglas, and Love. Milton Page gave Milan a 1-2 finish in the long jump.
Spears and Marshall will have another crack at the school marks in Saturday's regional meet at Linden, but the more important goal will be qualifying out of the meet for the state finals in June. To do so, an athlete must finish in an event's top two or meet a
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