Red Devils in a rout

HIGHLAND -- The smiles on their faces said it all for the Lowell Red Devils' boys track team Thursday night.

Shimmering under the glow of stadium lights at Highland High School's track, the Red Devils could hardly contain their exuberance at winning the Northwest Crossroads Conference crown in convincing fashion. Lowell, which finished the regular season dual meets 6-0, won the conference meet going away with a team score of 139. Munster finished second at 101, Andrean was third at 100 and Hobart was fourth with 73.

"That was our entire focus was to win it," said Red Devils junior Ray Skamay, who won both hurdles events and set a meet record in the 110 highs by running a 14.90 for the easy win. "Our seniors had been runner up each year before this, and we wanted to win it for them this year."

Lowell's depth is what pushed the Red Devils into the lead position. Aside from Skamay's wins, they got a win from Kyle Pattee in the 800 meters (2:00.01) and won both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. The 4 x 400 relay team of Cody and Cole Midgett, Skamay and Pattee set a new meet record at 3:23.90.

Munster won the girls meet for the second year in a row, and once again did it in impressive fashion. The Mustangs posted 193 points, which bettered runner-up Lowell (110) by 88 points. They took first in every individual running event and all three relays. Stacey Avtgis and Shaklya Askew finished first and second in both the 100 and 200 dashes, while Lyndsey Kunz took first in both the 800 and 1,600.

Hurdler Whitney Freeman won both hurdles easily, and set a new meet record in the 100 highs at 14.69 seconds.

"We went 1-2 in a lot of events and it just tells me that we're working really hard," Munster girls head coach Michelle Duffy said. "Coming out with any kind of a victory always makes us feel good. It's an accomplishment the girls can be proud of."

Lowell's boys can feel the same way, said Red Devils' head coach Keith Kilmer -- who was thrilled with his team's effort from top to bottom among the 27 athletes who competed in the meet.

"Everybody's got their big dogs," he said. "Every team out here has a stud or two, but it's those seconds, thirds and fourth place finishes that win you the meet."

Other standout performances at the meet included Griffith's Stephanie Negrete winning both the shot and discus competitions, Hobart's Kendall Gunn winning both the 100 dash and the 400 and finishing runner up to Highland's Nigel Dunn in the 200.

"Winning the 400 really tired me out," Gunn said. "Usually the 200 is my best event, but tonight I was dead tired at the start. They fired the gun and I just sort of felt like not running for a second. But my coach got on me and I got it going."

Andrean's Matt Gerbick had a great day for the 59ers in the jumps. He won both the long jump and the high jump and set new meet records in each event. In the long jump pit, he leaped 21-5 � feet. In the high jump, he cleared an impressive 6-10.

That one broke a record set by Highland's Aaron Underwood in 1995. Gerbick didn't know about breaking the record until after the meet. He was also unsure of whether he'd cleared the bar during the jump.

"I nicked it a little bit," he said. "But when I was coming down I heard the crowd start cheering and I knew I'd gotten it. I was really fired up."