Local track athletes moving on to regional

Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Cloverdale's Mariah Oetken won the high jump event at Tuesday's IHSAA Girls' Track Sectional at South Putnam. Oetken posted a height of 5-2 to move on to the regional.

The IHSAA Girls' Track and Field Sectional at South Putnam featured a completely new field Tuesday night, as sectional realignment meant that the Putnam County schools welcomed the likes of the Terre Haute schools instead of Avon and Plainfield, amongst others.

Terre Haute North claimed the sectional title with a team score of 184, followed by Greencastle, who nipped past Terre Haute South 98-95. Cloverdale finished fifth behind Northview, with South Putnam tied for seventh and North Putnam ninth.

The Tiger Cubs won four events, advanced all three relay squads and six individual participants to the regional.

Colleen Weatherford picked up wins in the 800 and 1,600-meter runs, with Weatherford breaking the school record in the 800 with a time of 2:13.36. Paige Pickens won the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter relay squad of Pickens, Kara Birt, Carissa Johnson and Emily Crawley came in first place.

Greencastle also advanced Birt in the 200, Johnson in the long jump, Emily Gill in the 800-meter run, Stephanie Penturff in the shot put, the 3,200-meter relay team of Gill, Weatherford, Kayla Cash and Alex Stoffregen, along with the 1,600-meter relay squad of Cash, Pickens, Crawley and Weatherford.

Greencastle head coach Garry Anderson said that the squad did well Tuesday night.

"We knew coming in that Terre Haute North would be the team to beat and it would take a heck of an effort, one that we couldn't produce, to beat them," Anderson said.

"However, our girls gave it a good shot and we had to wait until the final throw to know who would come in second between us and Terre Haute South, which was outstanding."

"We've got several girls going to the regional along with the three relays and a broken school record in the 800. Not too bad on a sectional night."

Anderson added the next goal was to get more participants past the regional level.

"As soon as we see the times from elsewhere, we'll know more about that. Right now, our times weren't what we wanted in some races and in others they were a lot better. We'll know more tomorrow and hopefully we'll do well enough to put some girls in the big house," Anderson said.

Cloverdale also had a first place finisher in Mariah Oetken, who claimed the high jump on the evening. Oetken also advanced in the 400 meter dash, as did the 3,200-meter relay team of Claudia Monnett, Bailee Stevens, Angelica Manning and Amillia Nally.

Cloverdale head coach Susan Jordan said the squad gutted out results and got a great result from the 3,200-meter relay squad.

"I'm happy with the girls' individual races. This is our third meet here in a week. It's hard on a small team and they're tired," Jordan said.

"We pulled one girl from the 1,600-meter relay squad to save for the regional and whether that helped us or hurt us, I'm still happy with the finish. It's one of the best times they've run this season."

"We're excited that Mariah Oetken's moving on again in both the 400 and high jump, which she did last year, and we're excited that the 3,200 relay squad is advancing," Jordan added.

"This is a group of girls that has worked really hard. They're a young team so they're excited about having this chance and another year to keep working on it."

South Putnam advanced two participants to the regional. Ariel Higgins finished second in the 300-meter hurdles and Jenna Geier placed third in the pole vault.

South Putnam head coach Brandon Welti was impressed with the showing of the squad and the two advancing Eagles.

"It went better than expected, better than we were seeded. We had some great performances from Ariel Higgins in the 300 hurdles and Jenna Geier in the pole vault. She tied the school record tonight," Welti said.

"Deborah Cheatham got fifth in the high jump, Maddie Egold got fifth in a strong 3,200-meter run field. All around the board, we did better than expected."

"Ariel bettered her time by at least a second and a half, which is excellent. We thought Jenna might advance in the pole vault and might clear 8-3 tonight," Welti added.

"We're excited and we thought this was possible. We're glad to see it actually happen. All the training and the long hours put in are paying off for both of them."

North Putnam also had two advancing to the regional. Katie Welch placed third in the discus, while Sam Lucas did one better by placing second in the shot put.

Filling in for head coach Kevin Lutes, boys' head coach Tony Grey praised the effort of the team for sticking through tough times.

"I think it was a really good night for the girls. It's been a tough week with their head coach being ill and there was a little bit of confusion. The guy's coaches jumped in and helped out, and the girls responded pretty well," Grey said.

"We had a lot of personal bests tonight and I'm really happy for them. Katie Welch and Sam Lucas moved on in the disc and shot, so we'll have them to look forward to next week."

"I think they were both focused on next week. I'm not saying they looked over tonight, but I think their best is yet to come."

At South Putnam

Girls' Track Sectional

1. Terre Haute North 184, 2. Greencastle 98, 3. Terre Haute South 95, 4. Northview 50, 5. Cloverdale 47, 6. West Vigo 36, 7. Riverton Parke 27, 8. South Putnam 27, 9. North Putnam 21, 10. Sullivan 19, 11. Clay City 14, 12. South Vermillion 5, 13. North Central (Farmersburg) 1

3,200 Meter Relay -- 1. Terre Haute North 9:54.79; 2. Greencastle 10:21.08; 3. Terre Haute South 10:30.76; 4. Cloverdale 10:33.29; 5. Northview 11:12.87; 6. South Vermillion 11:20.97; 7. Clay City 12:00.88; 8. South Putnam 12:16.40

100 Meter Hurdles -- 1. Porter (THN) 15.82; 2. Brewer (THS) 16.40; 3. Gray (CL) 16.3; 4. Geswein (N) 16.83; 5. Lucas (WV) 16.97; 6. Gruener (CL) 17.03; 7. Thomas (THN) 17.30; 8. Crawley (G) 18.06

100 Meter Dash -- 1. Knight (N) 13.12; 2. Johnson (THN) 13.18; 3. Fears (THN) 13.36; 4. Birt (G) 13.37; 5. White (WV) 13.56; 6. Johnson (G) 13.63; 7. Tatum (THS) 13.96; 8. Rivera (THS) 14.03

1,600 Meter Run -- 1. Weatherford (G) 5:16.71; 2. Thiede (THS) 5:21.75; 3. Loebker (THN) 5:25.72; 4. Mullican (THN) 5:28.29; 5. Wright (CC) 5:42.80; 6. Cash (G) 5:43.00; 7. Hudson (WV) 5:46.01; 8. Shanks (THS) 5:59.05

400 Meter Relay -- 1. Greencastle 51.45; 2. Northview 53.39; 3. Sullivan 53.50; 4. Terre Haute South 53.72; 5. West Vigo 54.36; 6. Cloverdale 54.98; 7. Clay City 58.30; 8. North Putnam 58.81

400 Meter Dash -- 1. Conley (THN) 1:00.38; 2. Dickey (RP) 1:00.55; 3. Oetken (CL) 1:01.78; 4. Ellis (THS) 1:02.75; 5. Nasser (THS) 1:03.98; 6. Sparks (WV) 1:05.30; 7. Cotterman (THN) 1:05.55; 8. Lambert (SP) 1:06.12

300 Meter Hurdles -- 1. Lucas (WV) 47.06; 2. Higgins (SP) 49.12; 3. Gomes-kuehner (THN) 49.62; 4. Brewer (THS) 49.82; 5. Gutish (THN) 52.03; 6. Geswein (N) 52.63; 7. Walker (NP) 53.92; 8. Shrum (CL) 53.93

800 Meter Run -- 1. Weatherford (G) 2:13.36; 2. Goatee (THN) 2:16.37; 3. Dickerson (THN) 2:19.34; 4. Gill (G) 2:28.38; 5. Monnett (CL) 2:30.71; 6. Stevens (CL) 2:31.85; 7. Hudson (WV) 2:33.88; 8. Waldrop (SV) 2:34.59

200 Meter Dash -- 1. Pickens (G) 27.00; 2. Wilkes (S) 27.20; 3. Birt (G) 27.30; 4. Falls (RP) 28.23; 5. Grim (THN) 28.30; 6. Bennett (THS) 28.73; 7. Pitt (THS) 28.87; 8. Stearley (THN) 28.97

3,200 Meter Run -- 1. Mundy (THN) 11:23.27; 2. Thiede (THS) 12:2.78; 3. Sanders (THN) 12:12.99; 4. Stephens (THS) 12:16.06; 5. Egold (SP) 12:54.76; 6. Douglas (NP) 13:18.99; 7. Tolerson (WV) 13:25.79; 8. S. Haynes (G) 13:36.80

1,600 Meter Relay -- 1. Terre Haute North 4:14.51; 2. Terre Haute South 4:17.86; 3. Greencastle 4:23.53; 4. West Vigo 4:25.63; 5. Cloverdale 4:31.54; 6. South Putnam 4:35.51; 7. Clay City 4:48.19; 8. Northview 4:48.42

High Jump -- 1. Oetken (CL) 5'2"; 2. Smith (THN) 5'2"; 3. Thomas (THN) 5'1"; 4. Pink (THS) 5'; 5. D. Cheatham (SP) 4'11"; 6. Goethel (THS) 4'10"; 7. Nally (CL) 4'8"; 8. Webb (S) 4'8"

Long Jump -- 1. Knight (N) 16'11.5"; 2. Porter (THN) 15'11" 3. Johnson (G) 15'11"; 4. Gomes-kuehner (THN) 15'9"; 5. Falls (RP) 15'8.5"; 6. Tatum (THS) 15'7"; 7. Rivera (THS) 14'9.5"; 8. Healey (NP) 14'8"

Shot Put -- 1. Dickey (RP) 39'4" 2. Lucas (NP) 37'2"; 3. Penturff (G) 36'8"; 4. Turpin (THN) 36'3"; 5. Lenihan (G) 35'11"; 6. Fendrick (THS) 33'7.75"; 7. Larsen (THN) 32'4.5"; 8. Holland (SV) 30'9"

Discus -- 1. Turpin (THN) 107'11"; 2. Burgess (THN) 104'; 3. Welch (NP) 102'9"; 4. Fendick (THS) 99'3"; 5. Jeffers (CC) 93'9"; 6. Jett (THS) 93'6" 7. Bex (N) 93'1"; 8. Evans (NCF) 89'7"

Pole Vault -- 1.Gutish (THN) 10'6"; 2. Goatee (THN) 8'6"; 3. Geier (SP) 8' 4. Holt (N) 7'6"; 5. Siscoe (S) 7'6"; 6. Fauvergue (G) 7'6"; 7. Deighton (N) 7'; 8. Humphreys (G) 7'