Chopra Leads Cavaliers to Fifth Consecutive County Track Meet Title

by Matthew Sprague

Macoupin County Enquirer

5/15/97

The Carlinville High School boys' track team went into the Macoupin County Track Meet as four-time defending champion. After it was all said and done on Thursday, May 8, they emerged as five-time champions, possibly with the strongest team effort of the five. The Cavaliers finished with 156 points, 26 ahead of the closest competitor, Virden.

Usually, Carlinville does their damage through some first and many strong second-place finishes. Not this day, as the Cavaliers had 10 first-place finishes. Four came from senior Amit Chopra, who won the long jump, triple jump, and the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Fellow senior Matt Smith provided two more firsts, in the mile and 2-mile runs. Brett Nejmanowski ran to surprising victory in the 800, while three relays were victorious: the 1600-meter relay, the 3200-meter relay, and the freshman 400 relay.

Coach Ken Garrison remarked, "Amit had an outstanding meet. Any time someone can win four events they are doing pretty good." Other notable point-scorers were hurdlers Dan Wills and Mike Genta. Wills placed second in both the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300 intermediate hurdles. Genta was third in the 110 hurdles and fourth in the 300 hurdles.

On Saturday Carlinville took their best to the Tuscola Premier Meet. A notable absence was thrower Bryan Lusk, who could not attend either meet due to a death in the family. No team scores were kept, as this was a showcase of the best athletes in the area.

Chopra once again showed his dominance of the long jump and triple jump, winning both with leaps of 19-7 1/4 and 42-11, respectively. Wills finished second in the long jump, jumping 19-1 1/2. Chopra also finished sixth in the 100 dash.

Wills finished third in the 110 high hurles, with a time of 15.77 seconds. Sophomore Genta was sixth in 16.64. Wills took fifth in the 300 intermediate hurdles in 42.26.

Smith placed fifth in the mile run in a time of 4 minutes and 38.6 seconds. The relays fared well, as the 3200 relay finished in second place in 8:14.8, just behind first plae Manteno's meet record time of 8:14.00. The mile relay placed third in 3:32.76

Cavalier Frosh-Soph Track Team Wins SCC for Fifth Straight Year

by Matthew Sprague

Carlinville High School's boys' freshman-sophomore track team traveled to Gillespie High School and the frosh-soph South Central Conference track meet on Tuesday, May 6, as four-time defending champions. It would be a very tough fight, but in the end, the Cavaliers left with their fifth straight conference title, winning by only six points over Litchfield.

The Cavaliers had many first place finishers. Mike Genta won the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. Jeff Klaus and Justin Nejmanowski were 1-2 in the pole vault. Heath Barkley placed first in the long jump and second in the triple jump, and freshman David Rhoads ran to victory in the 100- and 200-meer dashes.

The 800-meter relay also placed first. Matthew Sprague was third in the shot put and fourth in the discuse, just behind teammate Charlie Taylor, who placed third.

Carlinville had its share of mistakes, however. The strong 400-meter relay team was disqualified for a bad exchange, one 110 hurdler false-started, and a few runners missed the 800-meter run. The Cavaliers had to sweat it out until the final event, the 1600-meter relay. Carlinville placed ahead of the closest competitor, Litchfield, and clinched victory.