Carmel ends Benet’s ESCC streak at five

With Benet’s reign over and rain starting to fall from a sunny sky, Carmel Catholic’s track and field boys celebrated not with a victory lap around their track, but with a team meeting inside their school.

That, and cookies.

The real treat for the Corsairs on Thursday was their sixth East Suburban Catholic Conference championship and first since 2004.

“We’ll go in and we’ll celebrate with a prayer,” Carmel coach Jim Halford said. “Whenever we’ve won the conference, we’ve never done the dance.”

Carmel settled for showing off their fancy footwork during races and field events. The Corsairs rang up a hefty 145 points to easily outdistance runner-up Benet (109.33), which had won the last five ESCC titles. Notre Dame (83), Nazareth (69) and St. Viator (64), which boasted Justin Johnson’s three wins, rounded out the top five in the nine-team field.

“I was projecting about 120 points for the meet, so this is far beyond exceeding expectations,” said Carmel junior K.J. Matuszak, who won the 3,200- and 1,600-meter runs. “Our goal was definitely to win. We knew coming in we had a really good team. We got a lot of good seniors and a lot of good juniors.”

Matuszak and the 1,600 relay provided Carmel its only wins on the track. Jack Schoen, Christian Horcher, Ryan Ruddell and anchor A.J. Gawin clocked a 3:33.77, which was nearly 10 seconds slower than the relay’s seed time.

The hot weather did not make for perfect running conditions.

Carmel’s Brian Kadowaki (season-best 13-feet-3) and John Thumel (12-3) went 1-2 in the pole vault.

One of the Corsairs’ top sprinters, Anthony Paul, competed, despite being sick.

“(Considering) the heat and everything, it was a very good day,” Halford said. “We told everybody, ‘Today is not about time.’ So you could see the strategic races going. I told them, ‘I don’t care how fast you run. Just get the points.’ ”

Matuszak earned the maximum 10 points in a thrilling 1,600 race. His time of 4:43 edged Benet sophomore Tom Berg (4:44.04). In the final straightaway, Berg cut in front of Matuszak and took the lead. A lean at the finish line gave Matuszak his second victory of the day.

“At the end, I felt kind of bad,” Berg said. “I kind of cut him off. I didn’t mean to do it.”

Immediately after the race, both competitors made sure there were no hard feelings.

“He apologized,” Matuszak said. “It’s all good between us.”

Matuszak, who pulled away with 500 meters to go to win the 3,200 in 10:12.87 and by six seconds over his nearest competitor, overtook Berg in the 1,600 after Berg led for most of the race.

“I came into the race knowing it was going to be a sit-and-kick, just like the (3,200),” Matuszak said. “I didn’t know when it would be, though. At the earliest it would be with about 800 to go; at the latest, about 300. I decided to go with about 830 (to go) because we were coming through in like 2:30. I came through in like 2:35. It was insanely slow.”

“It was tiring,” Berg said. “I just tried to stay in the lead of the pack for the first two laps, and then in the last (200 meters) I guess me and K.J. both had the same plan, just to kick it.”

Berg also anchored Benet’s winning 3,200 relay (8:21.15). Redwings senior Trevor Ells ran the first leg, followed by junior Ryan Krouse and sophomore Bobby Svoboda. Benet’s E.J. Howe won the long jump (20-4).

No athlete dominated more than St. Viator’s Johnson.

After winning the 110 hurdles (14.75), the St. Norbert-bound senior immediately raced the 100 and nearly won that race, too, clocking an 11.5 to finish second to Nazareth’s Rapher Ryan (11.39).

Johnson then sped to a winning 50.4 in the 400, taking the lead in the straightway to edge Carmel’s Gawin (50.69).

Exhausted and having gotten sick twice due to the heat, Johnson capped his day by winning the 200 in 22.63, just ahead of Ryan (22.89).

Johnson said he drew inspiration from Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose and Michael Jordan.

“I just thought about my heroes,” Johnson said. “The last race, I was like, ‘All right, it’s the last race of the day. Just be Kobe in the fourth quarter.’ Do everything I can. The best ones play hurt. So I guess I’m going to do it tired. I had to go out there and put up points for my team.”

And Johnson’s 200?

He won while racing in Lane Eight.

“It was stiff (competition) out there,” Johnson said. “I was kind of scared of the fence a little bit, but I just had tunnel vision.”