Phebus, Turk shatter records

Burlington Central's 2-mile track records have stood for over 30 years.

They stand no more, thanks to Ryan Phebus and Markelle Turk.

Phebus shattered a 30-year old record set by Dr. Mark Drendel in 1978 when he ran a 9:36.5 Saturday at the Batavia Invitational. Drendel's record was 9:37.0.

"It was a very cool day for Ryan," said BC coach Mike Schmidt of his senior standout, who usually competes in the 800 and 1,600 meters but not the 3,200.

"That's probably the only time he'll run (the 3,200) all year. We wanted to get him out there in this meet because it's kind of a laid back meet and see if he could get the record."

The Rockets' Dan Hagberg also had a record day at Batavia Saturday.

The Cornell-bound senior broke the meet record in the high hurdles with a time of 14.96, and also won the low hurdles in 44.5.

Turk, meanwhile, ran a 12:08.82 at the Kaneland Invitational to shatter the Central record set in 1977. The old record was 12:09.6 but the name of the runner who set it was not available Saturday night.

Turk also placed in the 1,600, ending her day on a solid note after being narrowly edged for second in the 3,200.

"I broke our school record, so I'm happy," said Turk. "That's what I was going for today."

Burlington Central senior Karolynn Bush had a breakthrough day in the two throwing events to propel the Rockets' field-event leaders.

Bush exceeded 100 feet for the first time to finish second in the discus and later added a third-place result in the shot put.

"I like the discus better," Bush said. "(The release on the runner-up throw) felt like it's supposed to."

On the track, Central was paced by its middle and long-distance runners as well as hurdler Vanessa Perez.

Maggie Gannon anchored the Rockets' fourth-place 3,200 relay quartet, and the sophomore later duplicated the finish in the open 1,600 meters.

"The mile is my race," said Gannon, who was two slots behind Dundee-Crown's Kelsey Seiler at 5:34.13. "I tried to use my kick to my advantage."