Jesuit finishes fifth in Sheaner 5A competition
BY GREG FORD Sports Editor
Photography: Jake Dean
Photos: top left Jose Pitrie
of Jesuit fights through the driving rain to finish his leg of the
4x200-meter relay.
bottom right: Jesuit runner, Taylor Wildman,
finished second in the 300-meter hurdles
The Jesuit track and field team was scheduled to compete in the Class 4A competition at Saturday’s Jesuit-Sheaner Relays. However, head coach Bob Molyet knew that starting next year the Rangers would likely be participating against 5A competition in the UIL, so he decided that the relays would be a good opportunity to see how his team would fare against a higher level of opposition.
In the end, Jesuit finished fifth overall in the 5A meet, scoring a total of 57 points. Finishing ahead of the Rangers were Jenks (Okla.) with 91 points, DeSoto (86), Plano East (83) and Duncanville (59). Lancaster won the 4A competition with 143 points. St. Mark’s was 10th in the 4A meet with 21 points.
Molyet said he was pleased with his team’s overall performance, considering that a number of his players missed practice because of the spring break.
“I am confident that our kids will compete well,” Molyet said. “It’s a learning opportunity, because they see what happens when you take a week off or four or five days off from running.”
One of a number of Jesuit runners who decided to keep practicing during the spring break was long distance runner Tommy Colven, who finished second in the 1,600 meters (4:19.62) and was third in the 3,200 meters with a time of 9:32.0.
The 1,600-meter time set a new school record, breaking the old record (set by Colven in 2002) by three seconds. The 3,200-meter time was a personal best for Colven, Molyet said.
Joey Kramer was fourth in the discus with a throw of 152-10, while Jonathon Goedecke was fifth in the pole vault with a leap of 13-0. Andrew Thiess was sixth in the 800 meters in a time of 2:02.36, and Taylor Wildman was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.82. Wildman was second in the 300-meter hurdles in 39.35.
Jesuit also finished third in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:27.83, and the Rangers were third in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:49.96.
The lack of practice time did hurt the Rangers in the 4x200 relay, in which the team was disqualified because of an illegal baton pass. The team would have finished second in the race, which would have earned them 16 points, Molyet said.
St. Mark’s coach pleased with Sheaner efforts
The St. Mark’s track team sent only five participants to the Sheaner Relays. In the end, the Lions scored 21 points and finished in 10th place.
However, head coach John Turek was anything but disappointed about how his team performed.
“I’m pretty excited about the rest of the season,” Turek said, “because we will have a full squad for the remainder of the (season).”
The Lions are the defending Southwest Preparatory Conference champions, and have won five out of the last seven SPC championships. The 2003 SPC track and field championships are scheduled to take place May 1 and 2 at Greenhill.
Among the top performers who will be counted upon to help lead St. Mark’s to another SPC title are Kyle Thornton and Shawn Schmidt.
At Saturday’s track meet, Thornton finished second in the shot put (54-0) and the discus (150-4), while Schmidt was second in the high jump (6-2).
Alex Gaidarski finished third overall in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:17.0.