Boys track: Mustangs 3rd in conference meet

Livonia Churchill came up just short of the century mark, but 99.5 points was good enough Friday as the host Chargers captured the KLAA Kensington Conference meet – it's first title since 2007.

Westland John Glenn took runner-up honors with 84 despite missing LSU-bound sprinter Jaron Flournoy, who was out with an injury.

Northville scored 76 to edge Canton's 75 for third place, while Salem placed fifth with 72 in the 12-school field. Novi, meanwhile, wound up 10th with 33 points.

Junior sprinter Adam Ghabra figured in a pair of firsts to lead Northville as he captured the 100-meter dash (11.21) and joined forces with Jason Ferrante, Jacob Kamm and Sean Flanagan for a first in the 1,600 relay (3:24.39), which established new conference and school records.

"The 4 x 400 is the most exciting race in track.," said Ghabra, who also placed second in the 200 (23.13). "We all performed great with the highest competition here. I thought I performed at my highest level and that's all I could ask for myself. Next week is regionals (Friday at Milford), so we have to qualify for 'states.' We're going to try."

With the temperatures reaching 90, conditions proved to be less than ideal, but that couldn't stop slew of great performances.

"It was hot, but once you break a sweat, it gets you running faster," Ghabra said. "I'd say we actually ran faster than usual."

In the 3,200 run, Novi's Joost Plaetinck set a meet record in 9:32.14 while holding off Northville's Conor Naughton, who was clocked in 9:32.51, in battle of junior standouts.

The 800 run was just as compelling as Plymouth's Jonny Dalton established a meet record time of 1:55.14 while holding off Ferrante's clocking of 1:55.20.

"It was very hot," Northville coach Brandon Langston said. "All these kids grew up in Michigan so they know what it's like. Tuesday we had a (dual) meet were it was 50 degrees and kind of freezing rain almost, and now we've got 90 degrees and sunshine. It toughens up the kids mentally because you don't know the conditions. You have to be prepared for everything. I'm happy with the way they competed. They stayed healthy and hydrated all day. They ran smart, which is not only running hard, but running smart."

Plaetinck, a junior, was the only Novi winner, but there was some other notable performers for the Wildcats.

"Scott Sawyer had a P.R. in the pole vault (sixth, 12-0) today," Novi coach Marsha Reid said. "Dorian Haney also in the shot and discus.

"We're fighting a couple of injuries and stuff like that, and we're just trying to get some things working with our sprinters going into regionals next week. The 4 x 800 (fourth, 4:14.58) ran a nice race. Collin Thomas has been sick for the last couple of weeks, so he's trying to come back with it, so we're trying to see how they can do next week and try and get into the state meet as well."

bemons@hometownlife.com

KLAA KENSINGTON CONFERENCE

BOYS TRACK MEET

May 9 at Livonia Churchill

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Livonia Churchill, 99.5 points; 2. Westland John Glenn, 84; 3. Northville, 76; 4. Canton, 75; 5. Salem, 72; 6. South Lyon, 54; 7. Plymouth, 45; 8. Livonia Franklin, 43; 9. Livonia Stevenson, 41.5; 10. Novi, 33; 11. Wayne Memorial, 21; 12. South Lyon East, 19.

FINAL EVENT RESULTS

Shot put: 1. Nick Hitchcock (LS), 50 feet, 1 inch; 5. Max DeDona (N'ville), 47-11.5.

Discus: 1. Trent Willenborg (SLE), 166-5 (meet record).

High jump: 1. Nathan Harris (Ply.), 6-6; 6. John Hamilton (N'ville), 6-0; 8. Scott Sawyer (Novi), 5-10.

Long jump: 1. ShakurLockett (LC), 21-1.25.

Pole vault: 1. Nick Burkhalter (SL), 14-6; 6. Sawyer (Novi), 12-0.

110-meter hurdles: 1. Freddie Thompson (WJG), 15.44.

300 hurdles: 1. Thompson (WJG), 39.09; 8. Justin Days (N'ville), 43.42.

100 dash: 1. Adam Ghabra (N'ville), 11.21.

200: 1. Austin Hickerson (WJG), 22.99; 2. Ghabra (N'ville), 23.13.

400: 1. Hickerson (WJG), 50.27; 4. Alec Przybocki (N'ville), 51.76; 5. Sean Flanagan (N'ville), 51.79; 8. Josh Holcomb (Novi), 52.38.

800: 1. Jonny Dalton (Ply.), 1:55.14 (meet record); 2. Jason Ferrante (N'ville), 1:55.20; 4. Jacob Kamm (N'ville), 1:57.74; 8. Jeff Baxter (N'ville), 2:03.84.

1,600: 1. Keenan Jones (LF), 4:30.59; 5. Scott MacPherson (Novi), 4:37.74; 7. Nathan Hall (Novi), 4:42.55; 8. Sean McCullough (N'ville), 4:43.61.

3,200: 1. Joost Plaetinck (Novi), 9:32.14 (meet record); 2. ConorNaughton (N'ville), 9:32.51; 4. Ben Cracraft (N'ville), 10:07.96; 5. Adam Ditri (Novi), 10:09.22.

400 relay: 1. Salem, 43.28; 800 relay: 1. John Glenn, 1:29.46; 1,600 relay: 1. Northville (Ghabra, Ferrante, Kamm, Flanagan), 3:24.39 (meet record); 3,200 relay: 1. Churchill, 8:12.52; 4. Novi, 4:14.58; 6. Northville, 8:28.44.