Picazo continues tradition
By Lenny Sementi
CJ Picazo is another prodigy of long time throw coach legend Stan Wienke.
The senior who qualified for state last year in the discus is carrying the torch for the perennial power Tuscola Warriors in the throwing events this season and this past Tuesday in Paris he made his coaches proud by taking two firsts while helping the head track coach Ryan Hornaday’s squad to a second place finish overall at the Paris Quadrangular. Tuscola was a mere eight points back of the much larger host Tigers ending the night with 64 points, 16 of which came from Picazo and his partner in crime Josh Dyer.
Picazo and Dyer both posted personal bests in the shot to sweep the top two spots with tosses of 47-feet 8 3/4 inches and 46 feet 9 1/2 inches, respectively. The duo posted season records in the discus, as well, for coach Weinke. Picazo took home first place honors with a season best 143 feet 2 inches outing, while Dyer landed in second with a PR of 112 feet 3 inches. Wienke’s crew dominated the event capturing five of the top seven spots. Hans Goodmann ended the day in third, Cade Morgan tied for fifth with a 98 feet 4 inches PR, and Bradly Mast posted a seventh place effort with a season best toss of 96 feet 10 inches.
Brandon Douglas did his share of the damage in the field events, also. The junior won both the high jump and the pole vault to collecting 10 points. He cleared a personal best 5 feet 8 inches in the high jump and cleared 12 feet flat in the pole vault. Coulson Poffenberger was a near miss in the long jump taking third with a PR leap of 18 feet 2 inches. Freshman Logan Wallace and sophomore Grant Hardwick set personal bests as well taking sixth and seventh places with leaps of 16 feet 4 inches and 16 feet 5 inches, respectively.
Hornaday’s horde came up big in the distance and middle distance open races. Seniors JD Barrett and Noah Woods swept the 1600- and 3200-meter runs, taking top spot honors in both. Barrett turned in a 5-minute-10-second effort in the 1600, while Woods set a personal record in the 3200 meter, posting a 12:08. Tuscola captured 8 of the top 10 places in the 1600 with four runners posting personal records. Zach Mattingly was third with a PR, Marcus Holmes fourth, Tanner Campbell fifth, Dustin Hale sixth with a PR, Riley Nolan seventh and a PR, and Caleb Haste eighth with a PR. Campbell doubled up PR’ing in the 3200 as well with a time of 13:58.
Mason Day was the man on a mission in the middle distance. The third year runner won the 800 by more than five seconds to set a season best time of 2:14. Barrett ended the race in fourth, while Jordan Middleton turned in a SR 2:29 to take fifth.
The full story can be found in the April 17, 2019 edition of The Tuscola Journal.