Local track athletes moving on to regional

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Greencastle's Emily Crawley

Track athletes battled chilly temps, but prevailed in Tuesday's sectional at South Putnam. In all, Putnam County will be represented in nine events -- seven from Greencastle and one each from North Putnam and Cloverdale.

Greencastle was fourth overall with 77 points, with Cloverdale placing eighth with 22, North Putnam 10th with 12 and South Putnam 13th with two points.

"I'm ecstatic, I really am," GHS head coach Garry Anderson said. "I just can't believe what we did tonight. We did not run as well we should have or could have in the WCC, but tonight I can't say enough -- I can't point out one individual. We had some spectacular stuff come out of several girls and the relays."

Cloverdale's Mariah Oetken

The Tiger Cubs got some big performances as each of its relay teams will be moving on to the regional. The team of Emily Gill, Colleen Weatherford, Alex Stoffregen and Kayla Cash was second in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 10:07.85. Kara Birt, Paige Pickens, Olivia Humphreys and Brittany Girton were second in the 400-meter relay with a time of 51.96.

The 1,600-meter relay team of Gill, Pickens, Weatherford and Emily Crawley were third overall with a time of 4:11.42.

A major bright spot for the Tiger Cubs and Anderson came in the 300-meter hurdles. Junior Emily Crawley, a relative newcomer to the event, took the top spot with a time of 49.07. Also recording a first place finish for the Tiger Cubs was Weatherford in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:16.70.

Greencastle will also have two athletes advancing in field events. Braden Amis will be advancing in the discus with a toss of 96-7, good enough for fourth place. Stephanie Penturf placed third overall in the shot put with a distance of 34-9.

Following the meet, Anderson was beaming about his team's performance.

"My gosh, that 4x800, that was just simply beautiful," Anderson said. "Then one of the most remarkable things is in the 300 hurdles. Emily Crawley has only been doing those seven weeks and for her to win the sectional, that's incredible. And Colleen's race in the 800-meters is exactly how we talked about it.

"Our field events, golly, we got Amis going in the discus and Penturf in the shot put, so I'm very, very happy tonight. It's just one of those things you dream about and want to talk about and now we have something to talk about and dream about again. It's fantastic. I'm one pleased coach tonight," he added.

Cloverdale will be advancing an athlete out in two events. Mariah Oetken was second in the high jump with a season-best height of 5-2. She also placed sixth overall in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:04.53, but will be advancing due to two scratches in the event.

Cloverdale head coach Susan Jordan commended Oetken on her feat in the high jump, noting she'd been going for it all season and finally got it. She was also overall pleased with the effort her team gave on the night.

"I'm real happy," Jordan said. "We're so small this year and we're young -- we've just got a group -- I'm thrilled with how they did. Amillia Nally really kicked it up at conference the other night to take first in the 1,600-meters, so tonight she was exhausted and it showed."

North Putnam's Sam Lucas will be making another trip to regional after placing second in the shot put with a throw of 37-8.5. Lucas was giving the stage and she didn't disappoint, eclipsing the school mark in her sophomore year.

"We have a lot of young girls this year," head coach Kevin Lutes said. "Our only girls who got out again was Sam Lucas, which as a freshman last year got out. This year she had her biggest throw -- she actually broke the school record tonight. I'm very proud of her.

"Our volunteer assistant coach Brent McColgan -- he knows everything about throwing and has worked with her and is great with all the kids," he continued. "Most people had their PRs tonight, so I was very happy about that in a very tough sectional. They're doing their best so I proud of them."

South Putnam failed to advance anyone to regional and received their best performance from pole vaulter Aisa Terry. Terry ended her night with a height of 7-0 in the event for seventh place overall.

Those advancing will compete at the West Lafayette Regional next Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Complete results will be available in Thursday's edition of the Banner Graphic.