High school boys track and field: Drzewiecki leads Selinsgrove to District 4 title

By Brandon Paul
For The Daily Item

May 16, 2008 05:40 am

— SUNBURY -- With Montoursville standout Keenan Michael watching from the stands, it was Chad Drzewiecki's day to shine. And shine the Selinsgrove senior did.
Drzewiecki captured both hurdles races at the District 4 Class AAA Track and Field Championships at Shikellamy Stadium, successfully defending his titles from last season, and, in arguably the best race of the day, held off Bryant McCorey of Williamsport at the finish line to win the 1,600 relay for the Seals in 3:27.22.
Explaining his strategy for the final relay, Drzewiecki said: "I could feel (McCorey) pass me, so I hung back and stayed on his hip. If I let him go past me, I knew I had to beat him.
"I came on pretty strong at the last turn."
Drzewiecki ran a blistering 50.60 split on his leg of the 4x4.
Michael, 110 and 300 hurdle champion at the SVC Championship Meet, will compete in Saturday's District 4 Class AA Meet in Athens.
"(Keenan) is a good guy, and it's cool that he comes down (to cheer us on)," Drzewiecki said.
Drzewiecki never trailed in taking the 110 hurdles (15.27) over teammate Justin Kline. Kline hung close with Drzewiecki in the 300s until the 100-meter mark, where the senior exploded for the win in 40.57.
Prior to the later event, Drzewiecki felt a sharp pain in his back, and was seen walking around the infield with an icepack applied to the affected area.
"I tried to not think about (the pain)," the Seals' standout said. "I had to run, because that's my race. I thought I ran pretty well, but I did chop a few of the hurdles."
In addition to Drzewiecki's multiple golds, the Seals also captured the triple jump, won by Kyle Bennar with a leap of 42-09.5, and the 1,600, by freshman Vince Fadale in 4:36.15. Fadale also won gold in the 1,600 at the league meet this past Saturday.
Not surprisingly, Selinsgrove claimed the overall team title with 200.5 points, topping Jersey Shore (181.5) and Williamsport (123.5).
"We had a heck of a day all across the board," Selinsgrove coach Brian Catherman said of his squad's outstanding performance.
The Shikellamy 3,200 relay team of Kyle Attinger, Evan Kohl, Dan Francis, and Miles Wolfe took gold with a time of 8:20.74, 10 seconds off their league-championship winning pace.
"Our kids wanted to win badly, and we had two outstanding performances from Attinger (2:02.9 split) and Wolfe (2:00.0)," Shikellamy coach Jim Bell said. "I was disappointed with our time, but the kids will run better at states."
In a battle that has raged for the better part of the season, Shikellamy senior Nicco Dalpiaz topped Milton junior Todd Postie to win the pole vault with a height of 13-9.
"We've been neck-and-neck all year," Dalpiaz said. "I'm glad I won, because it's my senior year. I know I can beat 13-9 at states."
Much the same as they did at the league meet, Jersey Shore dominated in the field, claiming gold in five of the seven events away from the track. Eli Skinner won the long jump and javelin, and teammate Tyler Thomas took first in the discus and shot put, where he tossed 55-6.
Milton senior Brandon Smith was the hard-luck silver medalist in both the 400 (52.18) and 800 (2:03.41), bested by Nate Jones, of Jersey Shore (50.97), and Shavonn Caesar, of Williamsport (2:00.66), respectively.
All gold medalists and those surpassing state-qualifying times, distances and heights will compete next Saturday at the PIAA Class AAA Track and Field Championships in Shippensburg.

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