Cadets soaking it all up
Two different Marmion boys track coaches got congratulatory drenchings from team water coolers after the Cadets won the Suburban Catholic Conference meet on Monday.
If the hosts could send two scorers into a multitude of events, it figured two coaches could get soaked, too.
The secret of Marmion's third straight SCC title at Fichtel Field? No secret at all.
"Just like the past two previous years, it's depth," head coach Dan Thorpe said shortly after wearing 10 gallons of Gatorade.
"We really work on fielding all of the events on the track and in the field events. In big meets like this, that third, that fourth, that fifth place is so valuable and so important."
Led by athlete of the meet Alex Rindone and netting nine double-scoring efforts -- including top-two finishes in discus, shot put and the 1,600, Marmion's 177 points outdistanced St. Francis' 130½. Marian Central (58) took fourth, Aurora Central (54) fifth.
Rindone, a junior, won the 100- and 200-meter dashes, ran the anchor leg of a winning 800 relay, and led off the Cadets' third-place 400 relay.
"I made a big improvement from last year," said Rindone after ripping a 10.7-second 100, a leap from last year's 11.3 personal-best. "I wasn't really that fast, but this year is a big improvement. So I'll be looking forward to sectionals."
Loyola-bound senior Josh Stein didn't have his best day despite winning the 3,200 at 9 minutes, 52 seconds under no pressure. Finishing second in the 1,600 to teammate T.J. Heffernan, Stein admitted the main tactic was simply to outscore St. Francis.
"If it wasn't me," he said, "I'm glad it was T.J."
Junior Joe Weber and senior Peter Tate went 1-2 in both discus and shot put, Weber weighing in with a shot of 50 feet, 11½ inches and a disc throw of 130-1.
These two -- who racked up a total of 36 points -- spend a lot of time duking it out atop leader boards.
"Tate and myself, we've basically won every home meet here, so we're used to competing against each other," said Weber, who occasionally has to block Tate, a defensive end, in football practice. "…We go with each other in practice, the weight room, even in the meets."
Aurora Central's Anthony Kelley and Steven Bohr also are like that. They finished first and second in high jump each at 6 feet, 2 inches with Kelley earning the win by less misses.
"We just kind of use each other as gauges," Bohr said.
Kelley, who also won the 110-meter hurdles and placed fifth in the 300 hurdles, said he and Bohr had hit a recent "drought."
Till Monday's deluge.
"I said today, this is when we've got to get our swagger back and start jumping," Kelley said. "Sectionals is right around the corner, and no better time than now to turn it on."