By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
ST. JOSEPH - Kalamazoo Central swept the boys' and girls' portions of the Big 16 Conference Track &Field Championships Wednesday afternoon at Dickinson Stadium.
Both teams scored 118 points.
The boys' team defeated Portage Northern, which finished second with 103.5 points.
Despite a key injury, the Division 2 regional champions Niles finished third with 65.5 points.
Quinton King pulled a hamstring before the meet even began and had to sit the meet out. King will also be out for the team state meet on Saturday, but will be back for the MHSAA state finals in June.
Rounding out the top five were Benton Harbor and Battle Creek Central with 59.5 and 47 points respectively.
Kalamazoo Central won the girls' meet with 118 points. Battle Creek Central was second with 80.5 points.
Niles had a pair of Big 16 Conference champions as Kurt Poehlman won the high jump with a height of 6-feet-5, setting a new meet record and Isaiah Glaze won the 100-meters with a time of 11.08.
Otis West finished second in the 200-meters with a time of 22.6.
Logan Todd was second in the 800-meters with a time of 2:03.41.
The Vikings were third in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 8:23.03.
Niles was also third in the 800-meter relay with a clocking of 1:33.7.
The Vikings finished eighth in the 400-meter relay with a time of 46.37.
Placing fourth was Andrew Wuthnow in the 800-meter with a time of 2:03.92.
West finished fifth in the long jump with a distance of 21-feet, while Ricky Phillips was tied for sixth in the high jump with a height of 5-10.
Niles' Stephen Scally finished ninth in the 3,200-meters to round out the Top 10 finishers for the Vikings. Scally posted a time of 10:27.54.
Niles' Nicole Horvath finished fifth in the 100-meter hurdles. Horvath also set a school record in the pole vault with a height of 8-feet. She eclipsed the record of 7-9 set by Erin Miller.
No further results were available for the girls' meet at press time.