South Finishes First, Second at District
J. C. Tilton
Saturday was close to perfect weather for a track meet. It was a powder blue sky, light breeze and temps in the high 60's - not too hot, but not to cool. The athletes responded well - Dixie's Johnny Adams continued his success winning the 100m dash, high jump and long jump. Kate McCollum of TVS qualified for the third straight year, winning the high jump. South's Jennifer Bambeck won the 400m run. The 4X200m relay team consisting of Kate McCollum, Jennifer Bambeck, Ashley Groff, and Amber Niswonger also garnered a first place finish. The South boys did not have many first place finishes, but still managed to score points.
North had a tough go of it in the district meet. Rachel Brooks from TCN was ill and was unable to compete, she had qualified in the preliminaries but was not able to run in the finals. North's woes did not end there as the boys team was also handicapped as a few athletes were disciplined by the school for violating rules and could not compete.
The South boys team won the district championship for a third year in a row. The South girls team were runners up this year. Locally the Dixie girls team finished 9th while TCN finished 11th. The Dixie boys team finished a respectable 4th while TCN finished 8th. The top 4 finishers in each event get to compete next week at the regionals located in Piqua.
TVS's Coach Mabry was asked to comment on senior Kate McCollum, “She has been my most consistent high jumper. We can always count on her going 5 foot all year. That was her third time in a row winning the district championship. She also lead off our 4X200m relay team and score points in two hurdle events.” Next he was asked about the winning 4X200m relay team, “We have been trying to pull that together all year. We've been trying to keep everyone healthy. Originally we did not know which way to go with these girls. We tried them on the 4X100m, 4X200m, and 4X400m. We looked at some of the teams and what they had and this is what we decided to go with. Our times will have to drop a little bit for next week. Most of them will be pretty fresh going into that race.
Next question was about Jennifer Bambeck's win in the 400m dash. “Originally we had her in the open 800m run, and she was having some good times. She could have finished second or third, but I looked at the times from up North and she was probably not going to have a chance at regional. So I said let's try the 400m and dropped her down - she ran a 63 her first time out. Then we ran her in the 200m in a small meet at North and she won that. So we ran her in the 200m today and she got 4th and qualified for regionals in that too. She also qualified with the 4X200m team and the 4X800m team (also: Katie Glander, Brianna Combs, Elizabeth Bambeck).” Coach Mabry also mentioned Kait Ervin, “She qualified in the discus and shot. She didn't throw as well as she wanted to, but she made the top four and can go on. We are expecting good things out of her at regionals. The team qualified in 9 events and we are proud of that. It was a solid effort.”
The South boys did have one first place finish, the 4X200m relay team; Daniel Donaldson, Ben Anspaugh, Joe Maleski and Brandon Scott. Coach Farenholtz commented that this was their best time by over a second. “They can still do a lot better than that I think. They do have a shot next week at regionals. But there will be a lot of good teams there.” Next he commented on Jesse Simpson, “He qualified in two events the shot and discus. He can throw the shot over 50 feet, and if he does then he will have a chance next week. He's certainly capable. JT Stone is capable of 48 feet, and last year Simpson placed 5th at regional with a 48 foot throw. Also today Steven Taubee ran a personal best to qualify for regionals in the 1600m. He placed in the 800m too, so for a sophomore that is great. Joe Maleski was second in the 100m and second in the 200m dashes.”
Lastly Coach Farhenholtz was asked to comment on the win, “I'll tell you it is really sweet to win the districts for the third year in a row. I like these trophies. The most challenging was last year when we only won by a point. This year we won a little more easily because there were so many good teams here. Even the teams that were not good had some good individual performers. Looking ahead, it is going to be tough to get out of the region, because it is going to be one of the best. Waynesfield-Goshen will be there and they probably have the best team in the state.”
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