All Catholic Track and Field Invitational: In the End, The Weather Did Not Win

A team tent took flight right next to the coaches' meeting for the 37th annual All Catholic Track and Field Invitational, held at Saturday. They didn't seem to notice. The meet went on. Rain, wind and chilly temps made for a challenging meet, especially for athletes who competed in what they would normally wear on a nice, sunny  spring day.

"The meet went well, despite the weather," Chaminade coach Jim Chrismer said. "Obviously a little bit of rain here and there, the guys competed well, the times weren't too bad."

coach Mike Russo said, "This is one of the meets that we try to win as a team. So we've really been setting our sites on this one." The Spartans won the meet for the boys, with 163 team points. CBC was the next closest competitor, with 68.

DeSmet junior Justin LaBelle had a personal best in the triple jump, taking second with 41 feet, 7 inches. Russo also said junior Durron Neal ran well. Neal, who is being heavily recruited to play Division 1 football, took second the 100-meter dash, in 11.3 seconds, and ran in DeSmet's winning 4x400-meter realy team. Junior Tim Pickel won the 400-meter run in 52.1 seconds and anchored the 4x400-meter relay. The Spartans won the 4x200-meter relay and was second in the 4x100-meter relay.

Spartan seniors, Alex Potter was second in the 800-meter run, Kevin Abernathy won the 1600-meter run, and Steven Pace won the long jump with a 19'2" jump.

"We're a pretty deep team," Russo said, "we try to spread it out, so we don't have guys running four events. We're able to pick and choose guys, running one or two events, and in their events. That helps us out."

The boys came in fourth, with 50 team points. Coach Tony Finan said senior, Colin Linkul's winning effort of 48'll.5" in the shot put was the best Priory had for the day. "He's thrown up in the low 50s," Finan said, "but conditions today, obviously are so cold, and so windy, just made it difficult for a lot of the athletes today."

Priory senior, John Cole took second in the 1600-meter run with a 4:43. Finan said it was a good effort for the day. He said he likes the meet because it gives his boys a chance to compete against some of the larger schools, like SLU, CBC and DeSmet. Finan said Priory brought about 25 athletes to the meet.

Host Chaminade was seventh out of 13 boys teams, with 38 team points. The Red Devils took second in the 4x100-meter relay and third in the 4x200-meter relay. Team Scores:

Boys teams:

1. DeSmet                   163
2. CBC                           68
3. SLUH                        56
4. Priory                        50
5. St. Dominic              45
6. Cardinal Ritter        44
7. Chaminade               38
8. St. Mary's                  30
9. DuBourg/Vianney   25   
10. Duchesne                  13
11. Kennedy/Barat          0

Girls teams:

1. Cor Jesu                 129
2. Nerinx Hall             90.5
3. Cardinal Ritter        67
4. Rosati-Kain              64
5. St. Dominic              62
6. Villa Duchesne        25.5
7. Barat                          19
8. Notre Dame              14
9. Bishop DuBourg      13
10. Ursuline                      9
11. Kennedy                      2
12. Duchesne                    0
13. Visitation                    0