Andrean gives Torres present with title

Updated: April 30, 2011 11:17PM

MERRILLVILLE — Andrean coach Rick Torres celebrated his 51st birthday in style after the Andrean Invitational.

First, and likely most importantly in the coach’s eyes, his 59ers successfully defended their boys title Saturday.

Second, both the male and female athletes combined their voices to belt out a harmonious rendition of “Happy Birthday” for Torres.

Then, of course, there was a birthday cake for the coach — and yeah, the athletes actually saved a piece for the birthday boy, while he answered questions.

“It’s a great birthday present,” smiled Torres, who was headed out for dinner to celebrate his birthday after the 59ers captured another team title.

Andrean racked 179.5 points to cruise past Lew Wallace (95) and East Chicago (89).

“I’m really ecstatic right now, just because of how things are pulling together for us,” Torres said. “I think today it all went to another level and that’s what it’s going to take in the postseason. They’re a very, very disciplined group.”

The 59ers set a couple of meet records — Brian Sims went 132 feet to win the discus —and the 1,600 relay team of Jeff Gough, Nick Janiga, Chris Stazinski and Chris Arvia, not only set a meet record, but a school record (3:25.53).

Arvia took second in the 100 and third in the 200, while Janiga and Stazinski placed third and fourth, respectively, in the 400.

Pat Musgrave and Lucas Kalbfell finished one-two in the 1,600, while Blaine Wolf and Nick DeMass did the same in the 3,200. Musgrave, Wolf, Kalbfell, and Justin Anderson, helped the 59ers win the 3,200 relay.

Marcus Santos took second in the 110 high hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles, while Sims also won the shot put.

Christian Hood won the long jump, and Gough took first in the 800, beating his brother, Matt, by nearly six seconds.

Jeff Gough’s performance helped him to share the Most Valuable Performer award in the running events with Bowman Academy’s Cornelius Strickland.

“It feels great,” Gough said. “In the 800, I went out pretty strong. My first lap was about a minute. I hit my third 200 pretty hard and just blasted at the end. It was definitely a good race.”

The junior ran a 51.7 split on the first leg of the 1,600 relay.

“Coach told me to go out hard for the gun,” Gough said.

“I hit the first 200 in 24. The wind was at my back on the other side of the track so I knew I had to hit it, because I knew the wind would hit me in the face when I came off the curve on the other side.”

Strickland, meanwhile, won the 100 (11.22) and 200 (22.42) and placed second in the 400 (50.13) to E.C. Central’s Jonathan Hill, who won in 49.85.

“I’m pretty happy with my meet overall, especially since we just had a meet in Michigan last night,” Strickland said. “I slipped in the blocks in the 100. I could have done better in the 400, if I’d have just trumped it up a little earlier, but I trumped it up too late. In the 200, my coach told me to get off the curve and pick up my knees. I thought I did that well today.”

Covenant Christian’s Matt Schurman took the MVP for the field events -- winning the high jump with a 6-foot effort into the wind, and placing fourth in the long jump (20-6.75).

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.