The Chesterton boys track team may have known it was undermanned heading into Thursday’s Duneland Athletic Conference meet at Merrillville, but that didn’t stop their performances.

The Trojans finished seventh overall (47 points), as Merrillville took the team title (124) followed by Crown Point (107) and Valparaiso (100).

“ What I’m encouraged about is that of the 38 participants we had, 17 of them were freshmen or sophomores,” Chesterton coach John Snyder said. “That’s like putting half of a JV team against the area’s best varsity kids. Our kids really competed well.

“I didn’t think our kids ran poorly. They ran as well as we have at any point this year. The rest of the conference just ran great.”

The Trojans top two finishers were seniors Mark VanDenburgh (third in the discus) and Joe Raffin (third in the 400).

“Mark was seeded second going in and finished third with a solid throw. He did a good job of maintaining his position,” Snyder said. “ Joe Raffin was seeded sixth and finished third in a really strong field. He got out great and he’s so strong that he was able to hold on at the end.”

Chesterton also went 4-5 in the 100 hurdles with Jacob Holth and Matt Raffin.

“ Jacob Holth and Matt Raffin did a great job in the 100 hurdles against two of the best kids in the State,” Snyder said. “They’ll continue to get better and we have some other kids that will be right with them.”

Other solid performances from the Trojans came from David Osborn in the 1,600 and 3,200 and Tony Smith in pole vault.

“ Tony Smith in his first year as a pole vaulter continues to go 11-feet or 11-6. He finished eighth and that’s very encouraging,” Snyder said. “David Osborn continued to run well in the distance. We ran a little different strategy in the mile and he didn’t run poorly. The other kids just ran really well.”

The Trojans also got encouraging 10th place finishes from freshmen Jon Watson and Dan Dellumo.

“Freshmen Jon Watson and Dan Dellumo both finished 10th and in the DAC that’s pretty good in your first year,” Snyder said. “Regardless of how they felt about their performance, they should be happy with competing at that level.”

Team Scores

1. Merrillville, 124; 2. Crown Point, 107; 3. Valparaiso, 100; 4. Portage, 92; 5. LaPorte, 68; 6. Lake Central, 52; 7. Chesterton, 47; 8. Michigan City, 33.

Individual Results

200 – 1. Randy Hudi (CP), 22.13; 2. Scott Shimala (V), 22.66; 3. Matt Ortiz (P), 22.71; 4. Tyson Daake (V), 22.96; 5. Caleb Serrano (P), 22.99; 6. Romeo Harper (M), 23.14; 7. Donald Gutzweiler (CP), 23.66; 8. Keith Dockery (M), 23.74; 10. Adam Lukach (C), 24.57; 12. Remy Lewis (C), 24.69.

4x400 – 1. Merrillvile, 3:26.25; 2. Valparaiso, 3:29.57; 3. Crown Point, 3:29.92; 4. Portage, 3:32.54; 5. Chesterton (Cole Galloway, Matt Mabry, Joe Raffin, Joe Stahura), 3:33.25; 6. Lake Central, 3:39.98; 7. Michigan City, 3:40.43; 8. LaPorte, 3:50.97.

HJ – 1. Matt Hills (V), 6-4; 2. Anthony Washington (LC), 6-4; 3. Ashton Cole (M), 6-3; 4. Rodney Watson (CP), 6-0; 5. Chris Wells (CP), 5-10; 6. Chris Linn (C), 5-10; 7. John Berning (V), 5-10; 8. Remy Lewis (C), 5-10.

3,200 – 1. Mike Fout (L), 9:33.20; 2. Brian Witt (CP), 9:49.38; 3. Matt Miller (L), 9:49.75; 4. David Osborn (C), 9:54.93; 5. Chester Vanek (C), 10:00.99; 6. Logan Koch (CP), 10:04.04; 7. Robert Loop (MC), 10:05.61; 8. Brendan Pope (V), 10:11.72.

SP – 1. Jakob Engel (P), 55-4 3¦4; 2. Brian West (M), 53-0 1¦2; 3. David Spurrier (P), 51-0; 4. Brian Goodaker (V), 49-10 1¦4; 5. Ryan Ellis (V) 48-8 3¦4; 6. Cody Blue (CP), 48-6 3¦4; 7. Nicholas Diehl (M), 46-11 1¦2; 8. Sam Jaeger (C), 44-8 1¦2; 10. Dan Dellumo (C), 43-0.

PV – 1. Nate Malone (V), 13-6; 2. Ryan Morris (P), 13-0; 3. Tyler Roark (M), 12-0; 4. Scott Spicer (LC), 11-6; 5. Chris Watson (LC), 11-6; 6. Ben Kucinski (V), 11-6; 7. Bob Meegan (L), 11-0; 8. Tony Smith (C), 11-0; 11. Dan Baughman (C), 10-0.

800 – 1. Kiel Lovekin (L), 2:01.91; 2. Matt St. Amour (LC), 2:02.78; 3. Quinn Roberts (M), 2:03.26; 4. Marc St. Amour (LC), 2:04.28; 5. Nolan Fine (MC), 2:05.12; 6. Nick Violanti (V), 2:05.25; 7. Joe Efantis (P), 2:06.13; 8. Phillip Strader (MC), 2:06.68; 13. Ben Reed (C), 2:15.44; 16. Chris Noel (C), 2:20.80.

300 HUR – 1. Denzell Miller (CP), 39.84; 2. Myles Tolliver (P), 40.01; 3. Adam Karcz (LC), 42.78; 4. Skyler Coburn (L), 42.84; 5. Roosevelt Williams (M), 43.30; 6. Matthew Levendoski (MC), 43.74; 7. Ronneal Williams (M), 43.91; 8. Alfonso Bray (V), 43.97; 9. Matt Raffin (C), 44.03; 15. Jacob Holth (C), 52.01.

400 – 1. Gabriel Pirtle (M), 50.72; 2. Ronald Crosby (M), 51.07; 3. Joe Raffin (C), 51.40; 4. Scott Austin (V), 51.72; 5. Brady Schuster (CP), 51.87; 6. Kevin Snyder (LC), 51.99; 7. Pierre Pirtle (P), 52.43; 8. Nate Haverstock (CP), 54.08; 10. Jon Watson (C), 54.83.

1,600 – 1. Logan Koch (CP), 4:30.06; 2. Matt Miller (L), 4:31.63; 3. Tyler Toll (L), 4:33.06; 4. Nolan Fine (MC), 4:33.39; 5. Brian Witt (CP), 4:33.95; 6. Kevin Costalunga (V), 4:34.40; 7. Daniel Caruana (M), 4:36.01; 8. David Osborn (C), 4:37.95; 12. Thomas Halpin (C), 4:48.39.

4x100 – 1. Merrillville, 43.39; 2. Valparaiso, 43.69; 3. Portage, 43.76; 4. LaPorte, 45.95; 5. Chesterton (Cole Galloway, Ryan Knarian, Matt Mabry, Chris Linn), 46.35; 6. Lake Central, 46.93; 7. Michigan City, 47.41; 8. Crown Point, 47.43.

LJ – 1. Randy Hudi (CP), 22-6; 2. Harold Turner (M), 21-7; 3. Nathan Samano (P), 20-10; 4. Billy Wunder (V), 20-8; 5. Andrew Martin (V), 20-4 3¦4; 6. Nathan Scully (MC), 20-4; 7. Anthony Washington (LC), 20-3 3¦4; 8. Brady Schuster (CP), 19-11; 11. Taylor Brown (C), 19-5; 12. Matt Kollar (C), 18-11.

DIS – 1. Ricky Salary (L), 146-0; 2. Cody Blue (CP), 140-8; 3. Mark VanDenburgh (C), 134-10; 4. Jakob Engel (P), 134-2; 5. John Singel (LC), 133-7; 6. Sanchez Tate (M), 129-10; 7. Tyler Monahan (P), 128-10; 8. Darius Johnson (MC), 128-2; 14. Sam Jaeger (C), 115-9.

100 – 1. Randy Hudi (L), 10.86; 2. Caleb Serrano (P), 11.17; 3. Matt Ortiz (P), 11.19; 4. Scott Shimala (V), 11.26; 5. Landau Lang (M), 11.27; 6. Romeo Harper (M), 11.34; 7. Nick Thompson (V), 11.49; 8. Donald Gutzweiler (CP), 11.71; 11. Joe Raffin (C), 11.65; 15. Matt Mabry (C), 12.24.

110 HUR – 1. Ronneal Williams (M), 14.32; 2. Roosevelt Williams (M), 14.90; 3. Aaron Griffen (MC), 16.01; 4. Jacob Holth (C), 16.07; 5. Matt Raffin (C), 16.17; 6. TJ Trinosky (V), 16.26; 7. Adam Karcz (LC), 16.56.

4x800 – 1. Merrillville, 8:13.31; 2. Portage, 8:14.55; 3. Crown Point, 8:20.80; 4. LaPorte, 8:21.60; 5. Michigan City, 8:52.28; 6. Valparaiso, 8:59.39; 7. Chesterton (Ethan Hall, Sam Larimer, Chris Noel, Ben Reed), 9:02.83; 8. Lake Central, DQ.

Posted 5/9/2008