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Greencastle captures County titles
Coming into Tuesday night's Putnam County Track Meet at South Putnam, pretty much everyone involved knew both the boys' and girls' competitions were Greencastle's to lose. With that in mind, the bigger themes of the meet were personal (and meet) records and the race for second.
In regards to meet records, a couple of performances did not disappoint.
Greencastle's Caitlin Gannaway threw the shot put 37-feet-11-inches, breaking a county meet record that had stood for 13 years by more than a foot and a half.
"I was glad to see Caitlin broke the county record in the shot put," Greencastle girls' coach Garry Anderson said. "I thought she did real well. It wasn't as long as she would have liked but a good one."
The other record-setter was South Putnam senior Shelby Johnston, who broke her own record from last year in the 100 hurdles, running a 16.32. Johnston also won the 300 hurdles in 48.30 and the long jump with a leap of 15-0.5.
"Shelby is just somebody we can count on in both her hurdles races. And whether it be high jump or long jump, she's somebody we can count on," South Putnam girls' coach Kate Atkinson said.
As for the team performances, GHS performed as expected. In the girls' meet, Greencastle won with 111 points. South was second at 67. Cloverdale came in third with 38 and North Putnam was fourth at 21.
On the boys' side, Greencastle won with a 107. The exciting race was for second, though. North Putnam edged South Putnam in the final event to beat them by a single point in the meet, 47-46. Cloverdale was a close third at 43 points.
The Greencastle girls nine of the 16 events. Laura Weatherford led the way, with wins in all four of her events. She took the 200 (26.90), the 400 (59.64) and was part of both the 400 and 1,600 relay teams.
The 400 relay team of Dee Wood, Weatherford, Jamie Patterson and Laura English won in a time of 49.84. The 1,600 relay team of Melissa Ball, English, Hannah Serlin and Weatherford ran a 4:19.55.
Anderson was especially excited with the 400, in which Ball was a close second to Weatherford.
"Weatherford and Ball had an outstanding 400. I really liked that race," Anderson said. "Laura Weatherford basically had a good night. She won the 200 and 400 as well as those two relays. I'm pretty pleased."
Hannah Serlin picked up a pair of wins for the Cubs, taking the 1,600 in 5:37.76 and the 800 in 2:30.78.
Greencastle's other two winners were Jamie Patterson in the 100 (13.34) and Megan Walkosak in the pole vault (6-6).
"We had some really, really bright spots and we had some really puzzling spots," Anderson said. "But we won the county. It's hard to get these kids up meet after meet after meet."
The coach said he was happy with the championship, but, as his girls know, there is always more work to be done.
"It's a good for now. As the girls say, they never please me. I joke with them, 'When you please me, I'll be done. You won't need me,'" he concluded.
The Tiger Cub boys won 11-of-16 events on their way to the championship. Coach Mike Schimpf came into this year with a less experienced squad than in years past. He was happy that his team was up to the challenge.
"The guys just stepped up and did great. I'm really proud of the individual performances," Schimpf said. "They just did really, really well under some pressure.
"It's always good to win the county meet," he continued. "We've got lots of young guys who had no idea what that felt like. They're going to get some medals and they're going to think 'Wow, that's great.' Hopefully we'll keep a tradition moving along. They kind of picked up the torch. I'm proud of them for that."
Greencastle asserted its dominance in the meet partly by winning all three relays. The 3,200 relay of Luke Smith, Cameron Cash, Ryan Gillespie and Kyle Harlan opened the meet with a victory in 9:01.61. The 400 team of Trevor Teal, Steven Miller, Pat Eiteljorge, and Ashton Marshall won in 45.29.
The 1,600 team of Miller, David Cath, Greg Lilly and Marshall concluded the meet with a 3:41.08.
Individually, Lilly, Marshall and Ben Wilson led the way with two wins each.
Lilly took the 110 hurdles in 16.32 and the 400 in 55.05. Marshall dominated the sprints, winning the 100 in 11.62 and the 200 in 23.87.
Wilson won the 1,600 in 4:51.48 and the 800 in 2:04.72.
In field events, Jordan Hickam won the high jump with a leap of 6-1 and Nick Walkosak won the pole vault at 10-6.
Schimpf is now looking to Friday's conference meet, where the Tiger Cubs will try to repeat what they did Tuesday.
"We're looking forward to a good week this week," he said. "We'll have a couple of good practices and get together for a meal Thursday. Hopefully, we'll get their heads ready."
For the South Putnam girls, Johnston was the big headline maker, but they also got some other nice performances on their way to a second place finish.
"We set a goal to compete for second, since we finished third last year. We achieved that. Looking at the points from last year, we almost doubled our points," Eagle girls' coach Kate Atkinson said.
The Eagles opened the running events with a big performance in the 3,200 relay as the team of Shannon Egold, Lauren Haynes, Amanda Lund and Rachel Egold ran a 10:32.85 to shatter their own school record by around 20 seconds. They also won the event by 21 seconds.
Shannon Egold also broke her own school record in the 3,200, running a 12:35.34 on her way to the county championship.
The Eagle's other win came from Brittany Cox, who threw 95-10 in the discus.
Atkinson wanted to especially highlight the performance of her middle and long distance runners.
"Coach Jim Helsley has done an amazing job with our mid and long distance. It's a group that I've turned over to him," Atkinson said. "Their performances between this year and last year are night and day. They've been working hard and I think it's showing."
At this point, the coach is just happy to have her team performing well at the right time of the season.
"We're excited about conference and sectional. We seem to be peaking at the right time," Atkinson concluded.
The night was a bit more disappointing for the South boys. Although coach Carl Coons was happy with his team, he was disappointed with letting second place slip away in the final event.
"North Putnam got us there on the last event. It's a sickening feeling when that happens, but it does happen. That's the way this game's played. There's nothing we can do about it," Coons said.
However, the night had its good points for the Cougars. Adam Masters provided the only win on the night, throwing 128-8.5.
Coons was also happy with his 3,200 relay team, which cut a huge amount of time.
"We started out with our 4x800 relay team. They got second place and knocked 22 seconds off their best time," the coach said.
Overall, he thought he had athletes step up where he needed them across the board.
"We just had kids who did what they needed to do tonight. Whether it was in the high jump or the pole vault or a running event, they did what they could do," Coons said. "I really appreciate the effort they put forth and what they did."
Cloverdale collected three wins on the night. Brynlea Mattocks won the high jump (5-2) for the third-place girls. Nick Keefer took the 300 hurdles (42.78) and Raine Young won the long jump (20-7.75) for the boys.
"We had a couple of county champs, so that's exciting," coach Kristen Crabree said. "We had quite a few kids get their personal bests tonight, so that's always good."
With her kids improving right now, Crabtree is beginning to look toward conference and sectional.
"We're excited about Friday. We know some things we need to work on from tonight to get us ready for conference," she said. "There was definitely some good and bad for tonight, so we know right where we need to be for Friday night. Hopefully we'll get more personal bests and a couple more champions.
"With people getting their personal best every meet, that just gets me more excited about what we can do when it comes sectional time next week," she concluded.
The meet was a mixed batch for North Putnam, as the boys took second and the girls finished fourth. Coach Kevin Lutes was pleased with his kids' effort, all around.
"I was very pleased with the effort for the boys and girls," Lutes said. "They went out, and a lot of kids (set personal bests) again. You want to see, as a coach, them getting better with each try. People were racing tonight."
Kenny Quisenberry won the 3,200 for the Cougars with a 11:09.47. Josh Keyt won the shot put with a throw of 42-8.
"Our throwers performed very well tonight, especially on the boys' side. Keyt won the shot put and was second in discus by just a few inches. Hopefully he can progress through that, and Seth Vondersaar as well."
Like everyone else, Lutes is just focused on improvement now.
"Hopefully we can just keep cutting time and adding distance," he concluded.
All four team will be back at South Putnam for the WCC meet at 5 p.m. Friday.
At South Putnam
Putnam County Track Meet
Girls' Results
Greencastle 111, South Putnam 67, Cloverdale 38, North Putnam 22
3,200 relay -- 1. SP (S. Egold, Haynes, Lund, R. Egold) 10:32.85, 2. GHS (Serlin, Wood, Martinez, Culler) 10:53.78, 3. CHS (Lewis, Lyons, Williams, Bettis) 12:05.94, 4. NP (High, Small, McGaughey, Robinson) 13:54
100 H -- 1. Johnston (SP) 16:32*, 2. Koosman (CHS) 17.49, 3. Mattocks (CHS) 17.73, 4. Soster (GHS) 18.37, 5. Good (GHS) 18.83, Mimms (NP) 19.83
100 -- 1. Patterson (GHS) 13.34, 2. D. Wood (GHS) 13.39, 3. Butts (SP) 14.45, 4. Brock (NP) 14.48, 5. Gibson (SP) 15.45, 6. Pina (CHS) 15.71, 7. Hodgkiss (CHS) 16.56
400 relay -- 1. GHS (Weatherford, Wood, English, Patterson) 49.84, 2. NP (Stinson, Brock, McGaughey, Mimms) 55.78, 3. CHS (Rightmyer, Pina, McCammon, Hodgkiss) 58.61, 4. SP (Gibson, Daniels, Douglas, Butts) 1:18
400 -- 1. Weatherford (GHS) 59.4, 2. Ball (GHS) 49.54, 3. Koosman (CHS) 49.84, 4. Good (GHS) 53.77, 5. McCammon (CHS) 57.28, 6. Mimms (NP) 59.18, 7. Daniels (SP) 1:03.12
800 -- 1. Serlin (GHS) 2:30.78, 2. Martinez (GHS) 2:39.89, 3. R. Egold (SP) 2:48..40, 4. Stephenson (NP) 2:52.97, 5. Hughes (SP) 2:57.74, 6. Small (NP) 3:01.38, 7. Williams (CHS) 3:18.86, 8. Robinson (CHS) 3:26.74
200 -- 1. Weatherford (GHS) 26.90, 2. Wood (GHS) 28.41, 3. Brock (NP) 29.94, 4. Rightmyer (CHS) 30.61, 5. Butts (NP) 31.64, 6. Stinson (NP) 32.01, Pina (CHS) 32.38, 8. Franklin (SP) 22.58
3,200 -- 1. Egold (SP) 12:35.34, 2. Murtagh (GHS) 13:17.47, 3. Lund (SP) 13:18.03, 4. Culler (GHS) 13:23.22, 5. Lewis (CHS) 13:52, 6. Lyons (CHS) 14:06.81, 7. High (NP) 14:34.60
1,600 relay -- 1. GHS (Ball, Serlin, English, Weatherford) 4:19.55, 2. CHS (Bettis, Mattocks, Koosman, Pina) 4:39.24, 3. NP (McGaughey, Brock, Buchanan, Stinson) 4:51.15, 4. SP (Haynes, Franklin, Zimmerman, R. Egold) 4:53.28
Long jump -- 1. Johnston (SP) 15-00.5, 2. English (GHS) 14-05.5, 3. Norlin (GHS) 14-05, 4. Butts (SP) 14-02.5, 5. Rightmyer (CHS) 13-02.5, 6. Robinson (NP) 11-09.75, 7. Lewis (CHS) 11-05
High Jump -- 1. Mattocks (CHS) 5-02, 2. Johnston (SP) 5, 3. Koosman (CHS) 4-11, 4. Good (GHS) 4-08, 5. Preecs (NP) 4-08, 6. Coffin (GHS) 4-04, 7. Robison (NP) 4-02, 7. Russel (SP) 4-02
Discus -- 1. Cox (SP) 95-10, 2. Collins (GHS) 89-03, 3. Deer (GHS) 84-07, 4. Cheatham (CHS) 83-01, 5. Leroy (SP) 72-08.5, 6. Preecs (NP) 64-07, 7. Denny (NP) 63-05, 8. Williams (CHS) 44-01
Shot Put -- 1. Gannaway (GHS) 37-11*, 2. Williams (GHS) 35-05, 3. Cheatham (CHS) 35-03.25, 4. C. Preecs (NP) 29-07, 5. Searles (SP) 28-11, 6. M. Preecs 27-08.25, 7. Hacker (SP) 26-09
Pole Vault -- 1. Walkasak (GHS) 6-06, 2. Franklin (SP) 6
Boys Results
Greencastle 107, North Putnam 47, South Putnam 46, Cloverdale 43
3,200 relay -- 1. GHS (Smith, Gillespie, Cash, Harlan) 9:01.61, 2. SP (Weaver, Hayes, Heavin, Toland) 9:13.90, 3. CHS (Stout, Clark, Green, Bain) 10:03.66
110 H -- 1. Lilly (GHS) 16.32, 2. Keefer (CHS) 16.95, 3. Deer (GHS) 17.89, 4. Mason (NP) 18.16, 5. Smiley (SP) 18.66, 6. Fidler (CHS) 19.29, 7. Williams (SP) 19.31
100 -- 1 Marshall (GHS) 11.62, 2. Ban (NP) 11.65, 3. Miller (GHS) 11.85, 4. Couse (CHS) 12.19, 5. Boller (CHS) 12.20, 6. Parker (SP) 12.39, 7. Nelson (SP) 12.42
1,600 -- 1. Wilson (GHS) 4:51.48, 2. Quisenberry (NP) 4:57.35, 3. Heavin (SP) 5:06.49, 4. Gillespie (GHS) 5:07.43, 5. Fidler (CHS) 5:32.72, 6. Clark (CHS) 5:37.08
400 relay -- 1. GHS (Teal, Eiteljorge, Miller, Marshall) 45.29, 2. CHS (Boller, Gray, Couse, Young) 46.12, 3. NP (Mason, Ryu, Everts, Ban) 47.12, 4. SP (Smiley, Nelson, Parker, Cook) 48.15
400 -- 1. Lilly (GHS) 55.05, 2. Payne (GHS) 55.15, 3. Bowen (SP) 56.42, 4. Toland (SP) 57.45, 5. Couse (CHS) 58.75, 6. Ryu (NP) 59.99, 7. Breen (NP) 1:01.29
300 H -- 1. Keefer (CHS) 42.78, 2. Mason (NP) 43.38, 3. Deer (GHS) 43.81, 4. Cath (GHS) 44.44, 5. Smiley (SP) 45.14, 6. Everts (NP) 48.49, 7. Fidler (CHS) 51.10, 8. Williams (SP) 51.98
800 -- 1. Wilson (GHS) 2:04.72, 2. McLaughlin (NP) 2:11.29, 3. Weaver (SP) 2:14.63, 4. Harlan (GHS) 2:16.56, 5. Dean (CHS) 2:18.77, 6. Paul (NP) 2:20.80, 7. Green (CHS) 2:22.77, 8. Hayes (SP) 2:40.15
200 -- 1. Marshall (GHS) 23.87, 2. Miller (GHS) 24.38, 3. Boller (CHS) 24.92, 4. Parker (SP) 26.11, 5. Nelson (SP) 26.14, 6. Breen (NP) 27.91, 7. Mader (CHS) 27.95, 8. McGaughey (NP) 27.98
3,200 -- 1. Quisenberry (NP) 11:09.47, 2. Gillespie (GHS 11:17.72, 3. Heavin (SP) 11:33.50, 4. Cash (GHS) 11:51.65, 5. Dean (CHS) 12:00.31, 6. Clark (CHS) 12:38.79, 7. Kelly (SP) 12:58.81
1,600 relay -- GHS (Miller, Lilly, Cath, Marshall) 3:41.08, 2. CHS (Gray, Young, Keefer, Couse) 3:43.08, 3. NP (Ryu, Mason, Ban, McLaughlin) 3:44.88, 4. SP (Bowen, Toland, Weaver, Gould) 3:52.79
Long Jump -- 1. Young (CHS) 20-07.75, 2. Ban (NP) 20-07, 3. Hickam (GHS) 20-04, 4. Payne (GHS) 18-11, 5. Keefer (CHS) 18-10, 6. Ryu (NP) 17-01.5, 7. McKinney (SP) 15-01.5
High Jump -- 1. Hickam (GHS) 6-01, 2. Young (CHS) 6, 3. Lewis (GHS) 5-10, 4. Miliano (SP) 5-08, 5. Smiley (SP) 5-08, 6. Adams (NP) 5-08
Discus -- 1. Masters (SP) 128-08.5, 2. Keyt (NP) 128-03, 3. Vondersaar (NP) 114-05, 4. Moore (CHS) 102-11.5, 5. Harrison (GHS) 99-03.5, 6. Davis (CHS) 88-00.5, 7. Walker (GHS) 84-00.5, 8. Gould (SP) 82-10
Shot Put -- 1. Keyt (NP) 42-08, 2. Masters (SP) 42-03, 3. Frame (SP) 40-01, 4. Vondersaar (NP) 39-10.5, 5. Harrison (GHS) 36-10.5, 6. Swenson (CHS) 35-08.5, 7. Moore (CHS) 35-07, 8. Guffey (GHS) 34.-01.5
Pole Vault -- Walkosak (GHS) 10-06, 2. Nelson (SP) 9-06, 3. McKinney (SP) 9, 4. Barger (GHS) 8-06