Brahler, Knoch win at Moniteau

By SAMTALLARICO Eagle Staff Writer

May 02, 2006 Last Updated: May 02, 2006 01:50 PM High School

Knoch's Tim McNerney and Moniteau's Matt Schandelmeier are among the starters in the 100 meter dash during Monday's track and field meet. Knoch boys and girls won the meet.

CHERRY TWP—Wess Brahler was able to go home again on Monday and hopes his team was paying close attention.

Brahler, the Knoch boys track and field coach the past three seasons, graduated from Moniteau High School and also served as an assistant coach as well as a cross country coach for the Warriors.

"I knew coming up here Moniteau would give us a hard run," said Brahler. "(Moniteau) Coach (Mark) Kosick always has a good team. I wanted our kids to see what a class program is all about."

As it turned out, the Knoch boys team came away with a 95-55 victory while the Knights' girls team also prevailed, winning 88-60.

"It's good to see one of our former athletes come back," said Kosick, now in his 23rd season at Moniteau. "He was a distance runner for me and he even coached for me after he graduated high school."

Aside from running Butler and Seneca Valley, who are in the same section as the Knights, Brahler wants to see other county teams compete against each other.

"I think what's neat is the kids seeing the (track and field) honor roll and seeing Knoch and Moniteau and Slippery Rock.

"Moniteau has an excellent team. It would be neat to get the county athletes together. That's my purpose of coming up here,"Brahler added.

The Knights were led by Andy Starr and Artie Black, who won two individual events each.

Starr won the 110 hurdles (15.8 seconds) and the triple jump (37 feet, 8 inches) while Black won the 1,600 (4:39) and 3,200 (10:56) runs.

Matt Schandelmeier also picked up a pair of wins for Moniteau, grabbing the shot put (51-9½) as well as the javelin (170-4).

"When we lost to Karns City (in a Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference meet April 19), that took some steam out of us," said Kosick. "These kids gear up for the invites, but they have to keep plugging away.

"I wish we had given them a better meet," Kosick added.

In the girls meet, the Knights won two of three relay events and had six different individual winners en route to the win.

"We had some good times, but no one person really stood out," said Knoch girls coach Tom Hoffmann, "but what a great team Moniteau has."

Amy Gladd won the 800 (2:30) and triple jump (30-1½) and Haley McFeaters the 200 (27.6) and 400 (1:01.4) and the Warriors had seven different individual winners.

"We didn't plan on this meet. We're more focused on winning the KSAC," said Moniteau coach Sue Scialabba. "We used it as a warm-up meet for Wednesday.

"The one thing we didn't want was to get tired. We should be OK."

BoysKnoch 95, Moniteau 553200-meter relay: Knoch 8:48;

110-meter hurdles: Andy Starr (K) 15.8;

100-meter dash: Joel Berger (K) 11.3;

1,600-meter run: Artie Black (K) 4:39;

400-meter dash: David Rumbaugh (M) 52.5;

400 meter relay: Moniteau (Andy Weichey, Zack Thompson, Tyler Grossman, Josh Loos) 47.1;

300-meter hurdles: Zack Thompson (M) 42.1;

800-meter run: Kyle Reeping (K) 2:04;

200-meter dash: Kevin Flaherty (K) 23.8;

3,200-meter run: Artie Black (K) 10:56;

1,600-meter relay: Knoch 3:37.9