Lady Cats capture home meet; Renner wins three events

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 26, 2017

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg freshman Sydni Keagle (right) and Haley Cain battle it out in the 100-meter hurdles Thursday during the Louisburg Invitational at Wildcat Stadium. Keagle won the event and Cain finished second.

The Louisburg High School girls track and field team picked a good time to put on one of its best performances of the season and the Lady Cats did it in front of their home fans.

The Lady Cats won their home meet Thursday at Wildcat Stadium as they racked up 200 points to win the Louisburg Invitational and finished 69 points ahead of runner-up Spring Hill.

Individually, Louisburg captured gold in nine events, including its three relays and all four jumping events.

“This was a good meet for the girls,” Louisburg girls coach Greg Darrington said. “They went out and performed well and even pushed each other in the jumping events. I really like how hard these girls are working and how much fun it is this year to coach them.”

Senior Chloe Renner jumped her way to three first-place finishes in the jumps as she won all three of her events. Renner won the high jump after she cleared 4 feet, 10 inches, took first in the long jump with a mark of 15-6.5 and also won the triple jump title with a leap of 32-4.5.

Senior Chloe Renner lands in the sand pit during an attempt in the long jump Thursday Renner won the long, triple and high jump.

Junior Isabelle Holtzen also found success in the pole vault after she tied a personal best. Holtzen cleared 10 feet and won the competition by more than a foot.

Several other Lady Cats scored points in the jumping events as well. Sophomore Eileen Benne (4-8) and freshman Haley Cain (4-6) came in second and third, respectively, in the high jump.

Freshman Sydni Keagle recorded a mark of 14-11 in the long jump to finish second, while junior Kaitlyn Urban was fourth with a leap of 13-9. Urban also finished runner-up (31-11.75) in the triple jump and Benne (29-0.5) took fourth.

“I thought Chloe did a good job coming off her injury and taking a few days off,” Darrington said. “We need her to make a strong squad in the jumping events.”

Also in the field events, junior Lexie Reece recorded a third-place finish in the discus with a toss of 94-8 and senior Ellie Katzer was fourth at 91-4.5. Sophomore Melia Rice (63-6) also took fifth in the javelin.

On the track, all three Lady Cats relays were able to cross the finish line first.

The 4×800-meter relay of Payton Shaffer, Alex Miller, Shaylor Whitham and Mikayla Quinn won with a time of 11 minutes and 35 seconds. Keagle, Jordon Leach, Cain and Urban helped the 4×100 relay to a first-place finish in 54.25 seconds.

Louisburg senior Kaitlyn Gaza (right) sprints to the finish with teammate Mikayla Quinn right behind her in the 400-meter dash Thursday.

The Lady Cats ended the meet on a strong note as Kaitlyn Gaza, Quinn, Urban and Holtzen won the 4×400 relay in 4:31.68.

“I think the relay teams are doing a nice job and beginning to build a bond as a unit,” Darrington said. “I am excited to see how they all finish this year in the league and regional meets.”

Earlier in the meet, Gaza won her first individual race as she took first in the 400-meter dash in 1:05.15, while Quinn (1:06.58) and Holtzen (1:09) finished second and third respectively.

Keagle and Cain found success in the two hurdles races as the Louisburg freshmen both earned medals. Keagle won the 100-meter hurdles in 17.61 and Cain was second in 19.14. Cain also took second (53.48) in the 300 hurdles and Keagle (57.35) was third.

Leach fared well in the sprints as she was runner-up in the 100-meter dash in 13.70 seconds and third in the 200 dash in 28.46. Shaffer, a freshman, came in third in the 800-meter run in 2:47.

Louisburg returns to action Thursday when it travels to the Prairie View Invitational .

Other results are:

800 run: Alex Miller, seventh, 3:03.53; Shaylor Whitham, eighth, 3:03.98

1,600 run: Miller, eighth, 7:05

Long jump: Eileen Benne, 10^th, 12-9.75

Shot put: Ellie Katzer, eighth, 28-1; Lexie Reece, 10^th, 25-11