Lake Michigan Invite

The Sequoit boys competed at the Lake Michigan Invite held at Carthage College on Saturday.  The boys placed 10th out of more than 30 schools with 24 points.  The 4x800 consisting of Joe Sculuca, Ryan Johnson, Jack Holston, and Brad Gaydovchik placed 19th and ran 10:01.  Sculuca lead off the relay with a 2:16 split.  Next up was the 55 high hurdles where freshman Athan Kaliakmanis ran 8.74 to qualify for the finals...he came back later in the day to place 7th in 8.63 and running a personal best.  The 55 meter dash consisted of 3 guys fresh off the basketball season.  Robert Christiansen (7.10), Zach Grindley (7.25), and Khalil Anderson (7.26) paced the way for the Sequoits.  The race of the day has to be Charlie Smith who placed 3rd overall in the 1600. His time of 4:23.86 not only broke the sophomore school record by 7 seconds, but is currently the 11th best time in the state of Illinois.  Smith was followed by fellow soph Josh Linck, running a personal best of 4:49 and placing 21st out of 62 runners.  The 4x200 relay of Javen London, Athan Kaliakmanis, Zach Grindley, and Robert Christiansen placed 10th out of 28.  The team saw a nice surprise from freshman Dino Kaliakmanis and sophomore Ryan Shaputis in the 400, both running personal bests of 55.07 and 55.78 respectively.  Mike Volkmar ran a indoor best of 2:05 and placed 9th, while teammate Joe Kestian ran 2:17 for 35th.  The 200 meter dash saw freshman Kahlil Anderson (25.52) and senior Drew Porter (26.40) make their season debuts in the event.  Seniors Andrew Johnson and Alex Besson ran indoor bests of 10:25 and 10:31 respectively.  The last event on the track of the day was the 4x400 relay where Robert Christiansen, Charlie Smith, Dino Kaliakmanis, and Ryan Shaputis ran a seasons best of 3:42 and placed 7th overall.  The field events were not to be outshined.  Junior Matt Becker threw a personal best in the shot put, throwing 49'5" and placed 4th overall.  Senior Alex Scheider placed 32nd and tossed a 39'11.5".  Junior Zach Grindley competing in his first meet as a Sequoit, not only contributed to the team on the track, he placed 4th in the long jump, leaping 20'3.74" which is the farthest jump of the year for any Sequoit!  Athan Kaliakmanis jumped 18'8" after having a good day on the track.  The triple jump was lead by some rookies as Khalil Anderson and Dino Kaliakmanis placed 29th and 32nd, while junior Drew Smith placed 41st.  Juniors James Brown and Drew Smith both cleared 5'6" in the high jump both cracking the top 20.  In the pole vault, junior Nico Fier placed 5th equaling his indoor best of 12'0", while sophomore Tyler Oslage cleared a new personal best of 10'0" to place 16th overall.