Wildcat track teams improve at Redbud Relays

By Andy Brown
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Updated: May 10, 2016

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg junior Chloe Renner lands in the sand pit during an attempt in the long jump Friday at the Redbud Relays in Wellsville. In the 14-team team meet, both Wildcat track teams finished seventh overall.

WELLSVILLE – It may not have shown in the team standings, but the Louisburg High School track and field teams made strides in different areas during the Redbud Relays on Friday in Wellsville.

Both the boys and girls teams finished seventh in the 14-team meet with 34 and 25 points, respectively, but the Wildcats had several athletes who earned medals.

The Louisburg boys saw a pair of freshmen sprinters run toward the top of the pack with a couple strong showings. Freshman Brandon Cooper was the top finisher on the track as he was second in the 100-meter dash in 11.44 seconds.

Fellow freshman Chris Williams turned in his best time of the season in the 400-meter dash. Williams came in third in 51.14 and was just edged out for second by Baldwin’s Dakota Helm by .02 seconds.

Freshman hurdler Jonathan Ventre also hung in with some good competition. Ventre ran a 42.74 in the 300-meter hurdles to finish fourth and a 17.11 in the 110-meter high hurdles to come in seventh.

“I thought we competed a lot better this week as it was a tough meet,” Louisburg boys coach Gary Griffin said. “Chris ran a great race and I think he still has better races ahead of him this year. Brandon ran a good 100 meters and competed really well. I am looking for him to put together a better 200 this week.

“Jonathan is running well right now. I think he is gaining confidence and that will only help him in the next couple of weeks.”

The 4×400-meter relay of Quinn Rigney, Chris Williams, Blue Caplinger and Michael Minster ran a time of 3 minutes and 38 seconds to finish fourth and lead the three relay teams.

Cooper, Williams, Ben Minster and Rigney ran a 45.37 to come in sixth in the 4×100 relay, while Wyatt Reece, Michael Minster, Ben Hupp and Tanner Belcher ran a time of 9:06 to come in eighth in the 4×800 relay.

Ben Minster (24.47) and Michael Minster (2:10) came in seventh in the 200-meter dash and 800-meter run, respectively.

In the field events, senior Jarod Woodward continues to thrive in the shot put as he threw over 50 feet once again. Woodward’s best toss of 51 feet, 1 inch was good for third overall.

Freshman Chris Williams races down the track in the final stretch of the 400-meter dash Friday at the Redbud Relays in Wellsville.

Freshman Chris Williams (left) races down the track in the final stretch of the 400-meter dash Friday at the Redbud Relays in Wellsville.

Junior T.J. Dover also had one of his better days of the season in discus as he took fifth with a toss of 141-7 and teammate Garrett Lowry was eighth at 125-9.

“Woody got off a nice shot put and T.J. is starting to put it together in the discus, which is really good to see,” Griffin said.

Cooper, who ran well on the track, also recorded a season best mark in the triple jump. Cooper had a leap of 39-2 to take fifth overall.

Sophomore Kristopher Light was sixth in the high jump after he cleared 5-6. Freshmen Ian Combs (10-6) and Caplinger (10-0) were seventh and eighth, respectively, in the pole vault.

On the girls’ side, sophomore Isabelle Holtzen had the Lady Cats’ highest finish of the day as she continues to score well in the pole vault. Holtzen cleared 9-6 to come in second overall.

“I thought the girls did a great job competing with the other girls,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “It was our first meet with prelims and finals so this will help us in the next couple of weeks.

“Isabelle is still competing well and should be making improvement as she keeps working on her new pole.”

Junior Chloe Renner came in fourth in the high jump after she cleared 4-8 and freshman teammate Eileen Benne was fifth at 4-8 as well. Renner also came in seventh in the long jump (14-6.75) and triple jump (31-2).

Sophomore Kaitlyn Urban (30-9.75) and senior Morgan Strumillo (31-10) finished eighth in the triple jump and shot put, respectively.

The Lady Cats’ 4×400-meter relay of Mikayla Quinn, Megan Lemke, Kaitlyn Gaza and Reilly Alexander had their best day of the season as they shaved nearly eight seconds off their previous best time to take fourth in 4:24.

Gaza, Lemke, Hanna Becker and Jordon Leach helped the 4×100 team to a time of 54.45 to take fifth, while Shaylor Whitham, Lauren Becker, Liz Hildreth and Holtzen ran a 9:06 to take eighth.

“I thought all our relay teams did well,” Darrington said. “The 4×100 will do better with more practice on their hand offs. The 4×400 and 4×800 relays are getting better each week. All the girls are finally getting out of their comfort zones and should get better.”

Junior Klara Riester had a good day as she took fifth in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.76 seconds and seventh in the 300 hurdles in 51.95 seconds.

Hildreth also earned points for the Lady Cats in the 800-meter run in 2:38 and Quinn was sixth in the 400-meter run in 1:05. Leach made the finals in the 100-meter dash and finished eighth in 13.69.

Louisburg returns to the track Thursday when it travels to De Soto for the Frontier League meet. Field events are set to begin at 3:30 p.m.

“I’m excited to see how we will compete at league this week,” Darrington said. “That will tell me who is ready for our regional meet.”

Other Wildcat results are:

GIRLS

100 dash: Hanna Becker, 17^th, 14.15

200 dash: Kaitlyn Gaza, 12^th, 29.11; Jordon Leach, 13^th, 29.23

400 dash: Gaza, 10^th, 1:06; Reilly Alexander, 11^th, 1:07

800 run: Lauren Becker, 14^th, 2:54

1,600 run: Shaylor Whitham, 18^th, 6:25; Madelynn Yalowitz, 20^th, 6:33

3,200 run: Whitham, 10^th, 14:17; Yalowitz, 13^th, 14:42

Long jump: Megan Lemke, 13^th, 13-11; Kaitlyn Urban, 21^st, 12-10.25

Discus: Lexie Reece, 11^th, 90-10; Ellie Katzer, 13^th, 90-5