May 18, 2005

Culver Academy dominates

HIGH SCHOOL TRACK SECTIONALS

By TIM CREASON
Tribune Correspondent

ROCHESTER -- It wasn't so much a competition as a coronation.

Culver Academy's victory at the Rochester Sectional girls track meet Tuesday was about as complete as it can get.

The Eagles won eight out of 16 events, finishing 1-2 in four of them, and scored 162 points to dominate the 11-team field at Rochester High School's track.

Freshman Alex Banfich broke a 17-year old record in the 3200-meter run, clocking 11:12.22 to erase the old standard of 11:14.3 held by Kankakee Valley's Celeste Susnis.

Temi Adeniji, Kelly Norton, Kelly Livingston and Banfich each took home a pair of blue ribbons, and the Eagles advanced at least one athlete to next week's regional at Bremen in every event except the high jump, shot put, discus and 100-meter hurdles.

Not bad for a team that used to be happy just finishing in the middle of the pack.

"We have more talented girls than we ever have before, including an influx of good freshmen who have helped us in a lot of events," said Culver Academy coach Mike Chastain. "The older girls on the team have done a good job of getting younger girls to come out.

"Unfortunately, next week it's a whole different world," said Chastain, looking ahead to the regional. "Let's just say the level of competition will be elevated."

Plymouth was a distant second with 118 points, but coach Ben Waymouth felt it was one of the Pilgrims' best efforts of the season, showing just how far ahead of the field the Eagles flew.

"Our team is really, really close, and when we come to a meet like this, we're not just performing for ourselves, we're running for our teammates, too," said Norton, the Culver Academy sophomore who took the long jump by sailing 16-2 3/4 and ran a leg on the winning 400 relay.

"Yeah, after last year, we got a taste of glory, and that's all it took," added Olabisi Ibrahim, who finished second in the 300-meter hurdles and also ran on the 400 relay.

Culver Academy took control of the meet from the start, winning the 3200 relay and getting a 1-2 finish in the pole vault from Livingston and Logan Ashcraft.

"I'm a track athlete who does whatever my team needs me to do," said Livingston, who later won the 300 hurdles in 49.44 seconds.

"I think that's what we're all about," she added. "We do what we need to do."

Plymouth sophomore Elaine Hessel did what she had to do in the shot put, reaching 37 feet, 4 inches to win by almost two feet.

"I'm looking forward to the regional, because I like being pushed by all the other good throwers," said Hessel. "Actually, I feel more pressure when I know I'm supposed to win. I'd rather be in a position where I have to fight for it, like next week."

Rochester discus thrower Cassie Greives finished first with a toss of 112-3 and then placed third in the shot.

"I don't know why, the discus is just my better event," Greives said. "With a good week of practice, I think I can put it all together."

Culver Community freshman Alicia Allen is going to the regional in four events after winning the 200, finishing second in the long jump and 100, and anchoring the third-place 400 relay.

"I'm nervous, but once I get running, I just forget all that," said Allen, who competed despite an injury suffered at last week's Northern State Conference meet.

"Really, a lot of good things happened here tonight," said Waymouth, whose Pilgrims celebrated an exciting come-from-behind victory in the 1600 relay to close the sectional. "It's not a bad way to go into the regional."

Team scores: Culver Academy 162, Plymouth 118, Manchester 83, Northfield 59, Rochester 49, Culver Community 46, Tippecanoe Valley 30, Caston 25, Triton 18, Whitko 18, Oregon-Davis 14.

Top four finishers in each event advance to Bremen regional on Tuesday, May 24.

3200 relay: 1, Culver Academy (Elise Hoover, Hannah Martin, Kiley Trennepohl, Rochelle O'Neil) 10:18.93. 2, Plymouth (Morgan Hite, Chara Ballog, Megan Holzwart, Julie Rodriquez) 10:26.57. 3, Manchester (Alana DeWitt, Elaina Johns, Audrey Johnson, Tassy Winterrowd) 10:31.30. 4, Rochester (Kara Barnett, Jessica Sherbondy, Abby Schwenk, Christine Joyce) 10:51.23. 5, Oregon-Davis 10:57.54. 6, Culver Community 11:55.93. 7, Northfield 12:03.67. 8, Triton 12:35.00.

100 hurdles: 1, Holly Nifong (Ply) :17.07. 2, Bethany Clemens (Triton) :17.20. 3, Jenny Vinson (Cas) :17.37. 4, Erica Lightle (Man) :17.40. 5, Kristen Osbon (Cas) :17.49. 6, Kristal Gearhart (TV) :17.54. 7, Lauren Livingston (CA) :17.87. 8, Evette Lengel (Man) :18.17.

100: 1, Temi Adeniji (CA) :13.18. 2, Alicia Allen (Culver Comm) :13.48. 3, Leslie Swihart (Ply) :13.55. 4, Jessie Kline (NF) :13.69. 5, Allison Osborn (CA) :13.83. 6, Ashley Kennedy (Whitko) :13.88. 7, Katie Knecht (Man) :13.97. 8, Jasmine Crockett (Culver Comm) :14.23.

1600: 1, Alex Banfich (CA) 5:12.18. 2, Evan Hoese (CA) 5:24.22. 3, Nancy Hammel (NF) 5:29.29 (Scratched from regional competition. 5th place finisher advances). 4, Julie Rodriquez (Ply) 5:31.99. 5, Morgan Hite (Ply) 5:37.80. 6, Alana DeWitt (Man) 5:48.69. 7, Sarah Hann (NF) 5:57.33. 8, Abby Schwenk (Roch) 5:59.05.

400 relay: 1, Culver Academy (Temi Adeniji, Kelly Norton, Olabisi Ibrahim, Allison Osborn) :52.08. 2, Plymouth (Taylor Hampton, Holly Nifong, Meredith Barron, Leslie Swihart) :52.79. 3, Culver Community (Samantha Mersch, Brianna Wilson, Cathleen Klausing, Alicia Allen) :54.36. 4, Manchester (Katie Knecht, Whitney Carver, Sarah Purdy, Cami Naragon) :54.38. 5, Tippecanoe Valley :56.19. 6, Northfield :57.15. 7, Triton :57.18. 8, Rochester :57.96.

400: 1, Sarah Purdy (Man) 1:01.77. 2, Friederike Benning (CA) 1:02.91. 3, Leslie Swihart (Ply) 1:03.22. 4, Christine Joyce (Roch) 1:04.68. 5, Whitney Haupert (NF) 1:05.18. 6, Jessica Hoeffler (Ply) 1:06.12. 7, Tassy Winterrowd (Man) 1:06.92. 8, Rachel Corwin (O-D) 1:07.39.

300 hurdles: 1, Lauren Livingston (CA) :49.44. 2, Olabisi Ibrahim (CA) :49.63. 3, Meredith Barron (Ply) :50.12. 4, Kristal Gearhart (TV) :51.72. 5, Erica Lightle (Man) :51.88. 6, Natalie Unger (NF) :52.36. 7, Janelle Doody (TV) :52.66. 8, Holly Nifong (Ply) :53.27.

800: 1, Angie Juricak (Whitko) 2:24.60. 2, Nancy Hammel (NF) 2:28.25. 3, Evan Hoese (CA) 2:29.02. 4, Rochelle O'Neil (CA) 2:30.68. 5, Audrey Johnson (Man) 2:30.71. 6, Megan Holzwart (Ply) 2:35.86. 7, Sarah Craig (TV) 2:42.45. 8, Whitney Trent (O-D) 2:42.83.

200: 1, Alicia Allen (Culver Comm) :28.07. 2, Jessie Kline (NF) :28.08. 3, Kelly Norton (CA) :28.31 (Scratched from regional competition. 5th place finisher advances). 4, Heather Rathbun (TV) :28.41. 5, Mercedes Lockhart (Man) :29.01. 6, Cathleen Klausing (Culver Comm) :29.21. 7, Taylor Hampton (Ply) :30.78. Temi Adeniji (CA) DNF.

3200: 1, Alex Banfich (CA) 11:12.22 (MEET RECORD. Previous record 11:14.30 by Celeste Susnis, Kankakee Valley, 1988). 2, Kiley Trennepohl (CA) 12:02.57. 3, Morgan Hite (Ply) 12:03.35. 4, Sarah Konkey (O-D) 12:36.28. 5, Julie Rodriquez (Ply) 12:42.95. 6, Alana DeWitt (Man) 12:45.05. 7, Abby Schwenk (Roch) 12:49.15. 8, Caitlyn Schaeffer (NF) 13:13.58.

1600 relay: 1, Plymouth (Jessica Hoeffler, Meredith Barron, Megan Holzwart, Leslie Swihart) 4:17.73. 2, Culver Academy (Kelly Norton, Friederike Benning, Olabisi Ibrahim, Lauren Livingston) 4:18.26. 3, Northfield (Whitney Haupert, Natalie Unger, Hannah Philippsen, Nancy Hammel) 4:19.13. 4, Manchester (Tassy Winterrowd, Mercedes Lockhart, Audrey Johnson, Sarah Purdy) 4:28.27. 5, Whitko 4:38.17. 6, Oregon-Davis 4:49.33. 7, Caston 4:52.85. 8, Triton 5:25.97.

High jump: 1, Brittney Lafferty (Ply) 5-1. 2, Erin Huntington (Man) 4-10. 3, Andrea Clampitt (TV) 4-10. 4, Cami Naragon (Man) 4-10 (Scratched from regional competition. 5th place finisher advances). 5, Whitney Haupert (NF) 4-10. 6, Janelle Doody (TV) 4-6. 7, Jessica Measels (Culver Comm) 4-6. 8, Brianna Wilson (Culver Comm) 4-4.

Long jump: 1, Kelly Norton (CA) 16-2 3/4. 2, Alicia Allen (Culver Comm) 15-6. 3, Dari Oni (CA) 15-5 3/4. 4, Mercedes Lockhart (Man) 14-10 3/4. 5, Lindsey Overmyer (Roch) 14-5 1/2. 6, Bethany Clemens (Tri) 14-4. 7, Brianna Wilson (Culver Comm) 14-4. 8, Jessica Miles (Whitko) 14-3 3/4.

Shot put: 1, Elaine Hessel (Ply) 37-4. 2, Kayley Cress (Cast) 35-5. 3, Cassie Greives (Roch) 32-4. 4, Christa Peden (Man) 31-9. 5, Karla Coble (Man) 31-2. 6, Annie Swihart (Ply) 31-2. 7, Val Hinds (Culver Comm) 30-10. 8, Caci Budde (CA) 30-9.

Discus: 1, Cassie Greives (Roch) 112-3. 2, Skyler Hoge (Roch) 103-5. 3, Elaine Hessel (Ply) 102-3. 4, Kayley Cress (Cast) 101-10. 5, Caci Budde (CA) 98-1. 6, Risa Marks (Tri) 93-6. 7, Christa Peden (Man) 91-7. 8, Kimmy Burnam (Ply) 90-10.

Pole vault: 1, Lauren Livingston (CA) 9-3. 2, Logan Ashcraft (CA) 9-0. 3, Brittany Lee (Ply) 7-0. 4, Kara Barnett (Roch) 7-0. 5, Tie between Hannah Philippsen (NF) and Jessie Kline (NF) 6-6. 7, Margit Klinghammer (Roch) 6-6. No eighth place.