West Catholic's girls, Sparta's boys win O-K Blue track meet

Jeff Chaney | The Grand Rapids Press, May 09, 2009 1:27 a.m.

COMSTOCK PARK -- Olivia Sydow crossed the finish line and collapsed.

The West Catholic senior was exhausted after winning her third event of the day but was happy she helped the Falcons win their first conference championship.

West Catholic won the O-K Blue Conference meet Friday at Comstock Park High School with 121 points -- nine points better than runner-up Sparta.

With the win, the Falcons tied Sparta, which ended the regular season with a perfect meet mark, for the conference championship.

In the boys meet, Sparta won with 99 points, followed by West Catholic (88), Coopersville (87) and Cedar Springs (82).

The Sparta and West Catholic boys teams also share the league title, but by different means.

Cedar Springs came into the boys meet undefeated in duals. Its fourth-place finish made Sparta and West Catholic co-champions. Sparta was third after the regular season, while West Catholic was second.

"My legs are tired, but I knew I was going to have a tough day," Sydow said after winning the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters. "I knew it would be hard, but I'm glad to have done it for the team. (Winning our first league championship) was our goal since the beginning of the season, and we have been working hard all year for this."

Sydow won the 800 with a time of 2 minutes, 24.93 seconds, the 1,600 in 5:17.46 and the 3,200 in 11:41.47.

She also was part of the Falcons' 3,200-meter relay team that finished second.

"She's incredible," West Catholic girls coach Dave Arbanas said. "She's a great kid, and she carried us today. But we also had a lot of little things that happened, too. We received points all over the place."

The only other winner from West Catholic was Kelly Morrissey in the pole vault with a leap of 10 feet, 6 inches.

It was a tough meet for Sparta girls coach Adam Pfeffer, whose 3,200-meter relay team was disqualified for running out of the lane.

"Sometimes, things go well, and sometimes, they don't," Pfeffer said. "We came out of day one with only eight points, and that wasn't good.

"But it was a battle out there, and West Catholic met the challenge. It was a good meet."

Sparta boys coach Ted Smith also was thrilled about the meet and his team's performance.

"I knew it was going to be this tight," Smith said "During the year, we had two meets where we lost 69-68, and one where we won 69-67, so there was a lot of balance in the league.

"I thought if we could score 100 points, we could win, and then see where everybody else came in."

The Spartans got wins from Brandon VanDriel in the 100 with a time of 11.02, the 1,600-meter relay team (3:30.19) and Josh Patterson in the pole vault with a leap of 14 feet.

West Catholic's winners were Ton Schafer in the 1,600 and 3,200 (4:29.48 and 9:52.78, respectively) and the 3,200-meter relay (8:19.44).

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