Make it two for two.

The Chesterton boys track team won its second consecutive IHSAA Valparaiso Regional title on Friday 73-55 over second place LaPorte at Portage.

Portage finished third with 52 1/2 points, while Valparaiso was fourth with 51 points.

“Winning it again and the fact that we only have two ever is pretty nice,” Chesterton coach John Snyder said. “You have to have great kids and coaches. Everybody has worked hard and it really is a team sport, not just individual.”

Snyder used a simple formula to rebuild the program.

“Get as many kids out for track as possible and make them compete,” Snyder said. “It’s paid off and it’s not just football kids. It’s kids from lots of different sports that are getting involved. Hopefully that continues.”

Friday night’s meet got off to a fast start as the Trojans continued to score big points in the field events. Kody Galloway won the high jump (6-7) and finished second in the long jump (22-2 1/2) punching a ticket to the State Finals in both events

“When you can go in two events, you’re pretty special,” Snyder said. “If you can score 18 team points in a meet at that level, you’re an incredible athlete. He’s probably one of the top two long jumpers and high jumpers in school history.”

The Trojans also scored 16 points in the pole vault as Justin Zosso and Peter Fouts went 1-3 to earn a trip to IU.

“With Justin you have a Junior with a school record that didn’t have a great night, but he was first,” Snyder said. “He’s capable of 16 feet if he has a good night. He’s one of the top 3-4 juniors and he’s right there with them.

“Peter is a football kid that would have never done track if we wouldn’t have ‘made’ him. To finish your career at a State Finals makes everything worth it.”

On the track, the Trojans won the opening event, the 4x800 relay, with the quartet of Austin Palombizio, Manny Orlich, Tyler Rusboldt and Ryan Cutter winning in 8:00.64.

“Any time you can lose three guys off a relay and get back to where you were, that’s impressive,” Snyder said. “The kids believe in what Coach (Tim) Ray is doing and have learned from the kids before them. This is what our expectations are.”

Cutter not only brought the Trojans back from third to first as anchor of the 4x800, but also won the 800 individual title in 1:55.66.

“He’s such a gifted runner and reminds me a lot of Geoff Lambert,” Snyder said. “He’s kind of found his race. Cutter’s capable of doing well in anything from 400 to the 3,200. He’s got some sprinter speed for a kick and the endurance from his distance background.”

Chesterton also got two people out in the 400 as Joe Troop finished third in a school-record time of 49.11.

“A sophomore setting a school record makes you say ‘wow’,” Snyder said. “We knew all along he had some speed, we just needed him to believe it. Overall, in the last three years, we’ve seen the top three 400 kids in school history.”

Senior Jon Watson is one of those three and even though he finished fifth Friday night, he earned a call back for the State Finals.

“For Jon, I’m so happy he got the call back to go to State,” Snyder said. “I was disappointed that a career like he has had ended last Friday and now he gets one last chance to have a last race.”

The Trojans also got important points in the shot put as Dan Dellumo and Nathan Brock finished fifth and sixth overall.

“It goes back to realizing early on that we were a better big meet team than a dual meet team,” Snyder said. “Starting with conference we thought we had chances to win every week. Our top kids are going to score so high that we might have a shot.

“If we did what we were capable and got a little help, we could win.”

1. CHESTERTON 73, 2. LAPORTE 55, 3. PORTAGE 52.5, 4. VALPARAISO 51, 5. (TIE) MERRILLVILLE 37, CROWN POINT 37, 7. LAKE CENTRAL 33, 8. BOWMAN ACADEMY 31, 9. (TIE) HOBART 28, MORGAN TWP. 38, 11. MUNSTER 27.5, 12. ANDREAN 27, 13. HANOVER CENTRAL 22, 14. GRIFFITH 19, 15. EAST CHICAGO CENTRAL 18, 16. HEBRON 17, 18. (TIE) WEST SIDE 8, KOUTS 8, 20. (TIE) NEW PRAIRIE 7, HIGHLAND 7, 22. NORTH JUDSON 6, 23. (TIE) KANKAKEE VALLEY 5, MORTON 5, 25. LEW WALLACE 3, 26. (TIE) BISHOP NOLL 2, LOWELL 2, HAMMOND 2, RIVER FOREST 2.

3,200 RELAY -- 1. CHESTERTON (TYLER RUSBOLDT, AUSTIN PALOMBIZIO, MANNY ORLICH, RYAN CUTTER) 8:00.64, 2. LAPORTE (AUSTIN ALCORN, STUART WEST, JOSH HOJNACKI, MITCH HUBNER) 8:01.66, 3. VALPARAISO (NICK VIOLANTI, AHMAD ALJOBEH, NIK JEFTICH, DAN MARCHETTI) 8:03.24, 4. Andrean 8:22.73, 5. Crown Point 8:22.79, 6. Lake Central 8:25.55.

110 HH -- 1. ANDREW KITTRIDGE (VAL) 14.99, 2. DEANTE MAHOME (WEST SIDE) 15.00, 3. ARTHUR WILLIAMS (MC) 15.05, 4. Karlos Young (Morton) 15.09, 5. Simon Abu-aita (Mun) 15.25, 6. Willie Vinson (Bow) 15.42.

100 -- 1. CORNELIUS STRICKLAND (BOW) 18.89, 2. RAHIM CONWELL (MERR) 11.10, 3. NIGEL PALMER (HIGH) 11.14, 4. Jeron Blake (Por) 11.22, 5. James O'Neal (LaP) 11.32, 6. Israel Mercado (CP) 11.34.

1,600 -- 1. MITCH HUBNER (LAP) 4:26.13, 2. JASEN EGOLF (HEB) 4:26.73, 3. ALEC KOSTELNIK (MT) 4:27.51, 4. Ian Silver (NP) 4:27.98, 5. David Dailey (MC) 4:38.57, 6. Blaine Wolf (And) 4:38.57.

400 RELAY -- 1. PORTAGE (DETREK SUGGS, JAKE DIXON, OTHIE FREENY, JERON BLAKE) 42.35, 2. MERRILLVILLE (RAHIM CROMWELL, WILLIAM ISABELL, MICHAEL JOINER, DENZEL PIERCE) 42.72, 3. BOWMAN ACADEMY (DYLON COLLINS, WILLIE VINSON, STEVEN RUTHERFORD, CORNELIUS STRICKLAND) 42.78, 4. Crown Point 43.14, 5. East Chicago Central 43.49, 6. LaPorte 43.62.

400 -- 1. JARVIS MCMILLIAN (HOB) 48.66, 2. CHRIS ARVIA (AND) 48.94, 3. JOE TROOP (CH) 49.11, 4. Alvin Best (Por) 49.81, 5. Jon Watson (Ch) 50.36, 6. Jonathan Hill (ECC) 50.54.

300 LH -- 1. SKYLER COBURN (LAP) 39.17, 2. TROY YARNELLE (GRIF) 39.87, 3. OTHIE FREENY (POR) 40.18, 4. Randy Trembacki (LC) 40.90, 5. Tristan Peterson (CP) 41.12, 6. Alex Vasile (Val) 41.22.

800 -- 1. RYAN CUTTER (CH) 1:55.66, 2. TONY RIGONI (MUN) 1:56.06, 3. TRAVIS KUCIC (CP) 1:57.49, 4. Dan Marchetti (Val) 1:58.68, 5. Trevor Lewin (Heb) 1:59.03, 6. Jacob Caddick (Mer) 2:00.75.

200 -- 1. CORNELIUS STRICKLAND (BOW) 21.87, 2. PAYTON MCCOY (LAP) 22.16, 3. JARVIS MCMILLIAN (HOB) 22.24, 4. Rahim Conwell (Mer) 22.28, 5. Michael Sims (Grif) 22.66, 6. Isiah Duggan (LC) 22.79.

3,200 -- 1. AHMAD ALJOBEH (VAL) 9:42.11, 2. ALEC KOSTELNIK (MT) 9:48.18, 3. TOM BOLANOWSKI (MUN) 9:50.07, 4. Josh Hojnacki (LaP) 9:58.76, 5. Alex Cordova (Hob) 10:02.45, 6. Patrick Musgrave (And) 10:04.95.

1,600 RELAY -- 1. PORTAGE (DETREK SUGGS, ALVIN BEST, OTHIE FREENY, FLORIAN FRENZEL) 3:21.61, 2. EAST CHICAGO CENTRAL (MATTHEW ROSADO, ARION CLANTON, JON HILL, TYREE PURHAM) 3:22.23, 3. ANDREAN (CHRIS ARVIA, JEFF GOUGH, CHRIS STAZINSKI, NICHOLAS JANIGA) 3:23.70, 4. Crown Point 3:23.78, 5. Munster 3:24.40, 6. Lew Wallace 3:24.68.

HIGH JUMP -- 1. KODY GALLOWAY (CH) 6-7, 2. STEPHEN KELLER (KOUTS) 6-7, 3. AUSTIN JAMERSON (MER) 6-5, 4. Jordan Romanov (Val) 6-4, 5. Anton Redmon (Mer) 6-2, 6. (tie) Ronnye Beamon (BN) 6-2, Paris Davenport (Grif) 6-2, Joseph Puskac (RF) 6-2.

LONG JUMP -- 1. JORDAN ROMANOV (VAL) 22-4 1/2, 2. KODY GALLOWAY (CH) 22-2 1/2, 3. ADAM BROWN (LC) 22-1 3/4, 4. ISAIAH THOMAS (MT) 21-11 1/2, 5. Aquid Bernard (CP) 21-7, 6. Austin Jamerson (Mer) 21-5 1/4.

DISCUS -- 1. DEREK DE ST. JEAN (HC) 168-11, 2. CHET HUNSLEY (MT) 153-7, 3. GELON ROBINSON (LC) 151-7, 4. Maciej Szczepkowski (Grif) 150-7, 5. Austin Epple (Lap) 136-2, 6. Jeremy Koselke (Hob) 135-8.

SHOT PUT -- 1. DEREK DE ST. JEAN (HC) 56-5 1/2, 2. JOEY LITTLE (POR) 55-4, 3. QUENTIN BARNHART (NJ) 53-6, 4. Tyler Kral (CP) 52-10 1/2, 5. Dan Dellumo (Ch) 52-7, 6. Nathan Brock (Ch) 50-4 1/2.

POLE VAULT -- 1. JUSTIN ZOSSO (CH) 14-0, 2. JAKE MARKIEWICZ (LC) 13-6, 3. PETER FOUTS (CH) 13-6, 4. Alex Shrum (Heb) 13-0, 5. (tie) Miles Gunty (Mun) 13-0, Mitchell Rodriguez (Por) 13-0.

Posted 5/31/2011