By Staff
NILES – What's the differenc between first and second palce?
Well, in track, it can be something as simple as a dropped baton.
Wednesday night, the Ring Lardner boys' track team won the Edwardsburg Relays for the third consecutive year, and its sixth out of the past seven years.
Ten teams competed in Edwardsburg for the crown with the Vikings coming away with first place by only points.
Myles Busby, Antwaan Brann, Justin and Jordan Potthoff, Daryle Whalen, Matthew McLaughlin, Logan Harpenau, Cole Allison and Nick Lucero all won first place in their races.
Trey Nichols, Sam VandenHeede, Taylor Campbell, Ron Smith, Seth Purucker and Darius Beck won second place to add to the teams point total. Overall, the boys took first two times and third three times in nine events.
The difference between Edwardsburg and Niles winning was a dropped baton in the 1,600-relay. The Vikings finished second in the race behind the Eddies, which would have given them the meet. After crossing the finish line, the baton was thrown by an Eddie, resulting in his relay team beind disqualified and putting the Viking team in first with the narrow four-point win.
The Lady Vikes also competed in the relays. They were unsuccessful in capturing first place. The girls have won the relays three years in a row, but finished second this year to a very strong Lakeshore team.
Niles captured many second and third place finishes, but the Lancers took almost of the the firsts, leaving the Lady Vikes in second by 28 points.
Alex Haimbaugh, Jesse Sebestian and Morgan Dlouby won the shot put with a combined throw of over 86 feet. Desiree Egmer, Francis Franciscotty, Taylor Fuller, Maureen Craig, Taylor Brandstatter, Anne Tyler, Mikea Briggs, Aimee Whetstone, Eva McKeel, Sam Wetzel and Tory Treatall helped the cause by running hard to capture three seconds and four third place finishes.