Tiger Cubs compete in Charger Relays

Greencastle's Ben Wilson takes off on the 1,600 meter leg of the distance medley relay. Wilson took what was a close, four-way race and turned it into a runaway win for the Tiger Cubs during his final lap.

Crawfordsville -- In a long-standing tradition at North Montgomery High School, the Charger Relays have been going on for 36 years.

Each year, teams gather in this fun event not only to test themselves in normal relays like the 400 and 1,600 meters, but also to take part in some less conventional relays like medleys and the shuttle hurdle relays. Runners are taken out of their normal comfort zones as even distance runners, hurdlers and the field event participants get to take part in relays of their own.

Greencastle's boys' and girls' track teams took part in this unofficial event this year. While the coaches and athletes take their times and distances very seriously, the event does not count on teams' records and there is no team score.

For their part, the Tiger Cub girls brought home first in three events. The 800 meter relay of Megan Clodfelter, Laura Weatherford, Jamie Patterson and Laura English broke the meet record in the event. The 1,600 meter team of Clodfelter, Bethany Schroeder, Hannah Serlin and Weatherford took the victory.

The team of Caitlin Gannaway and D'Aundrea Williams took first in the shot put.

Coach Garry Anderson had mixed feelings about his girls' performances.

"We had some surprises, and we had some unpleasant surprises. We had some good times," Anderson said.

On the boys' side, Coach Mike Schimpf's team took four firsts. The team of Joey Crank, Ashton Marshall, Andrew Birt and Joel Bottom claimed the victory in the 400 meters and in the 800 meters. The freshmen 800 meter team of Ryan Payne, David Cath, Jordan Hickam and Todd Fenwick took first in their event.

In the long jump, Joel Bottom and Ryan Payne took the victory.

"I'm very pleased. We had some very good performers," Coach Mike Schimpf said.

While the event is unscored and considered just for fun, neither Greencastle coach was willing to write off the night.

"It was a regular meet to us. Some of the events are the same ones we runs in regular meets," Anderson said.

"It's still a testing ground," Schimpf said. "I just had a guy (Stephen Miller) come over from the JV baseball game and run the fastest 400 we've had."

The Tiger Cubs return to action April 19 against Crawfordsville and North Putnam.