Lady Cats take Prairie View title to win third straight meet

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 30, 2019

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg’s Sydni Keagle takes the handoff from teammate Jordan Leach during the 4×100-meter relay Thursday at the Prairie View Invitational.

LA CYGNE – The Louisburg girls track team ran right past its competition Thursday during the Prairie View Invitational.

Louisburg won seven events on the day, including a sweep of the sprints and two relay victories. However, the most important one came later as the Lady Cats won the team title with 135 points and edged runner-up Prairie View, which finished with 111.

It was the third consecutive team title victory for the Lady Cats as they continue to see their times and distances improve.

“It was nice to get another team victory,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “All in all it was a good meet with a few athletes improving upon their best marks. I can’t wait to get in a meet that does not have a 20-plus mph wind and/or cool temperatures. But the conditions are the same for all so there can be no excuses.”

Freshman Delaney Wright continued her success on the track as she finished the day with three golds. Wright won both the 200 and 400-meter dashes and later helped the 4×400-meter relay of Carlee Gassman, Rain Pugh and Shaylor Whitham to a first-place finish in 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

Wright recorded a season-best time of 1:02 in the 400-meter dash and also had a season-best mark in the 200 dash in 26.52.

Senior Jordon Leach also had a strong performance in the sprints. Leach took gold in the 100-meter dash in 12.82 seconds and was second in the 200 in 27.37. Pugh, a freshman, was third in the 100 in 13.31.

“Jordon again improved on her personal record in the 100 and is setting herself up to make a run at qualifying for state as an individual,” Reece said. “Her 200 time is also getting better and that is great to see.”

Leach, along with Pugh, Sydni Keagle and Gassman, won the 4×100-meter relay in 52.10 seconds to complete the Lady Cats’ dominance on the track.

In the hurdles, Louisburg had two runner-up finishes. Keagle recorded a time of 16.36 in the 100-meter hurdles to take second, while Gassman was second in the 300 hurdles in 49.14.

**Junior Carlee Gassman clears a hurdle during the 300-meter hurdle race Thursday at Prairie View.**

Louisburg also won a pair of field events and scored points in several others.

Gassman won the long jump for the first time this season as she recorded a mark of 16 feet, 2.5 inches as the participants jumped in to stiff wind most of the day. Wright was second in the event in 15-9.5 and Keagle was sixth at 14-5.5.

“Carlee did not let the headwind stop her from winning the long jump,” Reece said. “It was her best mark, but she was very consistent in tough conditions.”

Junior Avery Graham also had another good showing in the pole vault as she took gold after clearing 9-6.

Senior Eileen Benne had a pair of runner-up finishes for the Lady Cats in the high jump (4-6) and triple jump (28-8.5).

Louisburg also scored points in the throws as sophomore Shea O’Hara was fourth in the shot put with a toss of 29-11. Sophomore Aiyana Penca (88-1.25) and senior Melia Rice (85-10.75) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the discus.

The Lady Cats will see their competition rise Friday when they travel to the Redbud Relays in Wellsville. The meet is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

“The best is yet to come with these girls and our efforts are showing it,” Reece said. “Wellsville is a big meet that will give us a good barometer on how we will do as league and regionals draw near. We are in a good spot in many events, but we are not content with that. We are working to be the best and doing so, I hope we make some noise when we get to state.”

Other results are:

100 dash: Andrea Gaza, 10^th, 14.54

200 dash: Gaza, 11^th, 31.60

400 dash: Gaza, 8^th, 1:15

1,600 run: Shaylor Whitham, 8^th, 6:27

100 hurdles: Kristen Bell, 10^th, 18.80

300 hurdles: Sydni Keagle, 7^th, 58.97; Bell, 9^th, 1:05

Shot put: Cayden Forrester, 9^th, 27-5; Eden Strumillo, 12^th, 26-2.25

Discus: Forrester, 12^th, 74-8.5;