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April 18, 2010 Alex continues a preview of some of NHS’ spring sports with a look at the baseball team, coached by Rick Green, and the track team, coached by Sean Payton. Men’s Baseball Preview The men’s baseball heads into the2010 season with experience on its side. 11 players return for their senior season this year, making experience a major advantage for this baseball team. 5 of the 11 senior returnees are pitchers, and the Wildcats will rely on a strong pitching staff all year. Kevin Zak, Adam Paulk, Nick Regnier and Alex Karas will all see time on the mound and should be major contributors. Meanwhile, Masaru Nagomi and Chris Slack will look to anchor a Wildcat lineup that will see some new faces. One familiar face that hasn’t been seen for a while belongs to Ricky Enright. The senior Enright has missed a year and a half of baseball due to leukemia treatment and rejoins the team this year as an outfielder and catcher. As is the case for all Novi teams in the still-new KLAA, beating Northville is a primary goal for the baseball Wildcats. If this Wildcat team takes down Northville, Coach Green predicts they will be title contenders in their division of the KLAA. If that happens, the team will have the confidence Green thinks is necessary to make big waves in the state playoffs. Next Game- Monday April 19, @ Canton Save the Date- Wednesday April 28 vs. Northville- Coach Green has this date circled on his calendar as a good barometer for how his team will fare down the stretch. Post-season Begins- Wednesday May 26 @ KLAA Championships Men’s Track and Field Chris Payton returns for his third season as Novi Men’s Track and Field coach since the legendary Bob Smith retired following the 2007 season, and he looks to field a well-rounded and competitive team. The team returns two state qualifiers- Seniors Brett Kuhn (sprints and long jump) and Mike Blaszczyk (distance). Blaszczyk will be joined by his cross country cohorts Dan Egner (Middle Distance), Brett Giampa, Joe Schubring, Steve Pravato, Geoff Giese, and Alex Minghine in a distance squad that should be a major strength of the team. The sprint crew returns junior letter-winners DeAndre Fordam-Johns, Mike Brant, Jim Pitcher and Derek Kim, along with senior letter-winner Mark Zheng. In field events, Kevin Pasquale (So.) looks to hold down shot put, Andy Ye (Jr.) looks to be the top discus thrower and Dave “rainman” Groechel (Sr.) leads the pole vaulting crew. The future is bright for this Novi track team as a great group of young talent that won the 2009 Freshman County meet returns for their sophomore seasons. Derek Cingel (hurdles, high jump), Lance Lilla (hurdles, sprints), Zach Masserant (mid-distance, sprints) and Mike Jocz (sprints) have made Coach Payton’s high expectations for future success more and more realistic. Next Meet- Tuesday April 20 vs. Salem Save the Date- Tuesday April 27 @ South Lyon- These former KVC rivals have had many close dual meets, including one that came down to the last 50 meters of the last leg of the last event (4x400) in 2007. Post-Season Begins- May 21, Regional Meet @ Milford High School (c) 2010 Novi
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