East boys roll lucky 7, win championship

Kyle Rohde is known for being an all-state volleyball player during his career at Brookfield East. It looks like he is adding track and field to his résumé.

Rohde won an amazing four events and led the Spartans to their seventh straight Greater Metro Conference Indoor Championship on April 3 and their ninth in 10 tries.

Rohde won both 55-meter hurdles - the low hurdles (8.01 seconds) and the high (8.40) - as well as the long jump (21-feet, 3/4 inches) and triple jump (44-3 ½).

He scored 40 points by himself, as the Spartans won with 165 points to runner-up Brookfield Central's 99.

"Rohde is the real deal," East coach Mike Steiner said. "He is in a bit of a groove right now. He has an awful lot of confidence and his contributions were obviously pretty critical to the outcome of the meet."

The Spartans won the triple crown (indoor, relays, outdoor) in 2010 and 2011 and this is the fourth straight indoor championship as well. They won the indoor and the relays in 2009, but lost the outdoor.

"Our staff is very proud of how our guys competed," Steiner said. "They were ready from the get-go. There was absolutely zero hesitation on their part. They really did a nice job representing what we stand for.

"We talked about giving a great effort for each other and to leave a legacy of their own that will always be remembered. They represented our program and our school like winners. Very proud of the effort."

Brad Johnson took first in the 800 in 2 minutes, 3.10 seconds and was second in the 1,600 (4:33.21).

"Brad is fearless. He brings a lot to the table," Steiner said. "He simply does not back down and he wants to be great. It will be interesting to see how far he can go this year. He is pretty motivated right now."

But Steiner then addressed the hurdlers and the outstanding coaching job of Brad Mohns.

"No doubt, we were led by the hurdlers. They really set the tone by placing three in the finals of both races," he said. "Scoring 47 points in those two events is pretty hard for any team to overcome. Coach Mohns has done an amazing job getting those guys ready. That event has been a position of strength for us for quite some time and it appears that it will remain that way for the foreseeable future."

Mitch Douglas was second in the 55 low hurdles (8.18) and the 55 high hurdles (8.44); Alec Brown was third in the 55 high hurdles (8.48) and Zach Copeland was fourth in the 55 low hurdles (8.41).

The 1,600 relay of Kevin Kashian, Ryan DunDun, Will Sutton and Johnson also had a first-place performance with a winning time of 3:40.06.

The Douglas brothers both had personal bests in the high jump, each leaping 6-feet, with Mitch taking second and Scott finishing third.

Other top four performances had Glen Harold second in the pole vault (12-06), Alec James in the shot put (46-7¾) and the 3,200 relay (8:36.60) finished third and Karl Brandstaetter (800, 2:07.41), Steven Browne (3200, 10:17.69) and Mitch Douglas in the triple jump (38-5½) each took fourth.

Other scorers were: Fifth: Trenton Daniels in the 800 (2:07.48) and 400 (54.12), Wesley Vann in the 1,600 (4:44.98), Scott Douglas in the pole vault (11-6); Sixth: Copeland in the high jump (5-8); Seventh: James in the 55 dash (7.98), Garth Post in pole vault (11-0); Eighth: Andrew Pelto, 3200 (10:39.31) and Jon Kalupa, shot put (43-9½).

"We used only five seniors on the night. We are young," Steiner said. "I'm not sure this group knows that they too could be special like the teams before them. We are in a very tough conference, but these battles will only make us stronger as we move forward. They raised the bar this week. The expectations never change.

"We have some lofty goals this year and Tuesday night was just a small step in the journey. They left a footprint in the sand that will never be erased."

GMC BOYS RESULTS

April 3, at West Allis Central

1) Brookfield East (165)

2) Brookfield Central (99)

3) Marquette (89)

4) West Allis Central (79)

5) Hamilton (75)

6) Menomonee Falls (65)

7) West Allis Hale (43)

8) Wauwatosa East (27)