Posted: April 2, 2010 |(0) Comments

Homestead boys track coach Dan Benson calmly took the splits off his fifth-place 1,600 relay team at the North Shore Conference indoor on March 31 and then gladly accepted congratulatory handshakes as the Highlanders won a much-closer-than-originally-thought championship in the annual event.

"You don't have too many sleepless nights when you have seniors in key positions and a lot of others filling in other spots," said Benson before the final scores were reported. "It's another step on our journey, but we knew it would be challenging.

"That Germantown team is super legit."

Yes it was, as the Warhawks made life hard on the defending champion Highlanders right at the end, with strong finishes in the meet's final events, closing the gap to 155.5-153.5 at the finish.

"We had a phenomenal meet," said Warhawks co-coach Jeff Schreiber. "... We started to get back late, but we knew they (the Highlanders) held out some guys and that they could have loaded some races a bit more.

"I'm just happy that we made it competitive."

Whitefish Bay was a distant third with 66 as Homestead won its fifth North Shore championship (indoor, relays and outdoor) in the last six tries.

Homestead got off to its fast start by scoring 62 points in the first four events combined (shot put, high jump, 55 dash and 55 hurdles).

Earning firsts for the Highlanders were Mike Collins in the 400 meters (53.12 seconds), Gabe Genovesi in the 800 (2:05.8), Brad Pelisek in the long jump (22-10), Danny Schiller in the high jump (6-6) and Justin Barber in the shot put (55-3).

Schiller, who earlier this season cleared a state best 6 feet-10 inches, said what people have seen so far (two major meet victories and one close second) is just the tip of the iceberg.

"We're definitely going to continue working hard all season and aim for state," he said. "We always challenge each other in practice, and are always pushing each other to be the best."

The prevailing attitude is that these Homestead men are definitely not going to get caught looking ahead.

"We're just going to continue to trust the training and then let it go in the races," said Collins. "Everybody has the same goal right now."

Meanwhile, other North Shore teams have their own goals for which to strive.

The meet was a success for Bay, because after struggling for a few years, coach Joe Saggio said the Blue Dukes "have some hungry kids competing this year."

And it showed.

Johnson won the 200 by more than a half-second in 23.92, while teammate Brandon Threats took second (24.53). Jevonate Merriwether won the 60 in 6.62 and took third in the high jump with a personal best of 6-3.

That runner-up 1,600 relay team included Johnson, Threats, Tommy Koehn and James Stecker (3:47.64) while Mike Camirelli earned a third in the 3,200 (10:48.34) and Paul Davis was a surprising fifth in the high jump (6-1).

"Hopefully that shows we have a lot of potential," Johnson said. "Last year (when he qualified for state in the 400), it was kind of like 'Are you serious?' because I didn't even think I'd make sectional, but I did a lot of lifting and cardio work over the winter."

Nicolet was sixth with 31 points, as the four-lap relay team of Christian Smith, Dan Torres, Winston Hermann and Lamar Johnson-Harris won in a clocking of 1:18.23 and the 1,600 relay team of Hermann, Johnson-Harris, Frank Fischer and Jeff McClain was third (3:49.78).

Smith was fourth in the 55 dash (6.87) while Brandon Kappel went 20-5 1/2 to take sixth in the long jump.

→ Girls track: Highlanders dominate at NSC meet. Page 26