Greencastle wins 13th consecutive county title

Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Greencastle girls' track team won its 13th straight Putnam County title Tuesday at South Putnam. Junior Colleen Weatherford posted a record-setting time in the 800-meter run. The team of Emily Gill, Weatherford, Kayla Cash and Alex Stoffregen also set a record in the 3,200-meter relay.

Greencastle's Colleen Weatherford broke a record that stood for 30 years at Tuesday night's Putnam County Track meet at South Putnam. Weatherford set the new mark in the 800-meter run. She was also part of a record-setting 3,200-meter relay team.

Greencastle rode the two record-setting performances to its 13th straight county title. Greencastle was first with a 105, followed by Cloverdale with 65 and South Putnam with 52. North Putnam placed fourth on the day with 21.

"It was a heck of a night. I didn't expect this considering the workout we did last night. The girls complained at workout time, but I think now they'll take it back," GHS head coach Garry Anderson said.

Weatherford posted a 2:19.30 in the 800-meter run, breaking Julianna Rainbolt's mark of 2:22 set in 1982. Weatherford also won the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:30.33, 28 seconds ahead of second place.

Weatherford teamed with Emily Gill, Alex Stoffregen and Kayla Cash to set a record in the 3,200-meter relay. The quad ran a 10:04.59, eclipsing the previous record by 21 seconds.

Gill captured the 3,200-meter run with a time of 12:44.78, while Paige Pickens edged teammate Kara Birt to win the 200-meter dash in a time of 27.11. Birt won the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.36. Carissa Johnson won the long jump with a distance of 14-10, while Stephanie Penturf won the shot put with a toss of 36-10.25.

GHS also posted wins in the 400 and 1,600-meter relays. The 400-meter relay team of Birt, Johnson, Pickens, and Emily Crawley won with a time of 52.10, while Gill, Crawley, Pickens and Weatherford won the 1,600-meter relay in a time of 4:19.97.

Cloverdale recorded three wins on the night, capturing two races and a field event victory.

Brooke Gray won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.64. Mariah Oetken captured two events on the night by winning the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:02.62 and the high jump with a height of 5-3.

The host Eagles won two events Tuesday. Jenna Geier took honors in the pole vault with a height of 8-0. Ariel Higgins posted the only win by a freshman on the night, coming from behind to win the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 50.65.

North Putnam's Katie Welch won the discus with a distance of 102-05 to account for the Cougars' only win.

The teams will return to South Putnam for the West Central Conference meet Friday at 5 p.m. Anderson knows it's the start of the a very busy time for local track teams.

"It won't let up now. Not much rest, but we will start a little bit of a taper now. We're going to have to and get ourselves to heal up the nicks and bangs. I just can't get over our girls and how they performed. I didn't expect this tonight. I was hoping for it for Friday night, but tonight kind of caught me off guard," Anderson said.

Full agate for the 2012 Putnam County track meet will be in Thursday's edition of the Banner Graphic.