MT. VERNON — So dose, yet 10 far away.That was the story for Sanduskys boys track team Saturday in the Class AAA regional meet at Mt. Vernon.The Blue Streaks battled Columbus West in an one-on-one situation in the final eventof the day - the 1600 meterp«!*y -* with the team championship on the line.t Sandusky had 47 points, one less than West. And, both •chooto had teams in the relay.The Streaks needed to beat West anywhere in the top 5 positions to claim the crown.However, West nipped the Streaks in the race to place second, one position ahead of first-year coach Jeff Opelt’s•quad. t •'T ■• times were 3:20.8 forWest and 3:21.2 for the Streaks,just 4/lOths of a second apart.Sandusky had the best time inthe prelims Thursday at 3:18.7.Mifflin won Saturday’s race in 3:20.46.As a result, West won the title with 56 points and Sandusky returned home late Saturday afternoon with the runner-up trophy, and 53 points.While Opelt was disappointed his team’s gallant effort fell short, he was elated with the fact the Streaks qualified 4 individuals and 2 relays for the state meet in Columbus Friday and Saturday.“We have 10 ldds in all going to the state and that is excellent. We ran well as a group today, but came up a little short.IIthe relay, we had a realistic chance of winning the race and Tracy Shoemo went after the Mifflin kid and wore himself down. He still ran a 48.2 split, Opelt said.The Erie Shore Conference champions will have representatives in 4. individual races and the 2 relays in the preliminaries Friday morning. In addition, Tony Johnson will be in the shot put competition which begins at 1 p.m. with prelims, then immediately after the top 7 throwers are determined, the finals.Once again Sandusky's senior standouts surfaced.For instance, Shoemo captured the regional crown in the 400 meter dash with a school-record effort of 47.9 seconds.did not win the event in the Erie Shore, Sandusky Invite and district meets. He was second each time.However, it was the gallopingsenior’s day Saturday.“Tracy went right out after it with a very fast start for the first 110 yards and he came up with his best at the right time,” Opelt noted.The Streaks also had another winner in the fine-tuned 400 relay group of Megal Ervin, Joe Brown, Kevin Randleman and Corey Croom. The posted a school record 42.2 time in theErelims Thursday and came ack to earn the gold medal with a 42.95.In addition to the 2 victories, senior Dave Brown was runner-up in the 800 meter run with a career-best time of 1:57.3 and again it was a matter of fractions between first and second. The winner, Zach Place of Watkins Memorial, was caught in1:57.16.It was just two weeks ago Brown was hovering around the two-minute mark and last week lowered his time to 1:59.2 in the two-lap race to just get to the regional with a 4th-place district finish. He outran the 3 rivals who beat him in the Mansfield district a week ago.“Dave impressed quite a fewcoaches with his performance today. Again, it was a close race and Dave spent all the energy he had,” Opelt said.Croom and the 1600 relay team of Todd Lawson, Joe Brown, Dave Brown and Shoemo advanced with third-place efforts. Croom had a time of 22.3.Todd Allison and Johnson claimed the 4ths to also earn state tickets as the top 4 participants in all events from each of the 4 regional meets advance to form a field of 16 entrants in the state meet.Allison, who missed qualifying in the 110 highs Thursday, did it in the 300 intermediate hurdles with a time of 39.2 seconds. Johnson competed in the shot put and had one of his better throws of the year at of 52 feet, 7 1/2 inches.Again, it was a matter of inches for Sandusky, and Johnson. The runnerup thrower’s distance was 52-8 3/4.Croom gave Sandusky 2 additional points with a 5th in the 100, the same spot Greg Franks had Thursday in the pole vault when he cleared 13*0. Croom’stime was 11.2 and he had an 11-flat effort in the prelims Thursday.The 3200 relay team accounted for the final point with a 4th Thursday in a son-best 8:07.6.Shoemo and Allison were the only SHS entries in the state meet last year, and neither made it to the finals of the Mg show on Saturday.“We are very happy to score 53 points and place second in the regional, but we also had an opportunity to win it all, Opelt concluded.ftjPONTIAC. #v.v. •» i W. * 1 I %»«•»('•IT • • lt;MICHELIN-MADE radialR0ADHANDLER 50OUR LONGEST ^ WEAR0UT WARRANTY 50,000 MILES!2 steel belts for strength and durabili Modem block tread design helps aive excellent handling.«. . »• •«-»► jtvA XSleekPowerful • Aerodynamic• »P155/80R13Limited tire wearout warranty for miles specified. 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