Posen track will have two runners at state meet

The Posen track team has two state qualifiers this season. Amanda Pieczynski has advanced to the Michigan High School Athletic Association state finals as a regional champion in the 100-meter dash (12.90), and will compete in two sprinting events in Grand Rapids. She was second in the 200-meter dash (26.84) behind Melissa Hale of Atlanta (26.66). Both athletes set personal records in their fight for the finish line. Joining Pieczynski at state will be James Sobek, who qualified in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.13. Track coach Chuck Wozniak was extremely pleased with the performance of his squad at the regional meet at Central Lake as 22 personal records were set by the athletes.

?WE HAD an excellent day, team wise,? said Wozniak. ?Naturally there was some disappointment, and some tears, but the overwhelming events we participated in, we did well in.? For those who didn?t make state, there are two more meets left on the schedule. The Vikings will set their sights on North Star League championships in individual events today at Hale and then travel to Alcona for the Alpena News Meet of Champions. In Pieczynski?s bid for a return to state, she was first in preliminaries and in the semifinals of the 100- and 200-meter runs.

?Amanda did pretty darn good, I thought,? said Wozniak. Standing in the way of Pieczynski winning two regional titles was a terrific runner from Atlanta, said Wozniak.

?NATURALLY SHE was a tad disappointed because she was regional champ in both of those events (100 and 200 meter dash) last year, but you have to give credit to the Atlanta runner because she ran a really nice race, and Amanda did well too,? said Wozniak. Sobek was close to qualifying for state in the 200-meter dash. After taking first in the preliminary run and semis, he ran a 23.57 in the event for a fourth, but missed the state qualifying time by seven one-hundredths of a second. Other athletes gave their all in a bid for state, and in the process, sliced major chunks of time off personal records, such as the two-mile relay team of Whitney Meeder, Michelle Mulka, Beth King, and Rachel Beach, who lopped 30 seconds off their best run (11:17.66) for a fourth.

THE 1600-METER relay team of Megan Pieczynski, Amanda Pieczynski, Meeder and Mulka took nine seconds off their best time with a 4:32.94 to finish fourth in that event. The 800-meter relay team of Megan Pieczynski, A

manda Pieczynski, Mulka, and Beach set a PR (1:59.40) with a fifth place finish. Mulka and King set new PR in the 300-meter hurdles. Mulka had a time of 54.96, while King finished with a time of 58.61. Overall the girls came in eighth place of the 17 schools with 32 points. For the boys, who finished tenth, Josh Worthington had his best long jump of the season with a 17?10.50?, which is a foot better than his previous best. He was sixth in the event at regionals. ?Josh Worthington shocked himself and found out that work and perseverance does pay off,? said Wozniak. ?He kept working at it and good things happened.?

Sobek was third in the long jump (18? 07.00?). Steve Lijewski got to the finals in the discus and took an eighth (103?04?) and set a PR in the process. Curtis Beach was sixth in the high jump (5?07.00?), which was a personal best for him. He also was sixth in the 800-meter run (2:14.22). ?When I got on the bus to leave, I told them all how proud I was of them,? said Wozniak.