MENTONE - Before Tuesday's girls track and field sectional at Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko coach Brian Balsmeyer projected the outcome.

And he had it: Whitko 112, Plymouth 110.

"That's what it was on paper," he said.

On paper, this would have given Whitko its second girls sectional track title, the other coming in 1995.

Problem for Balsmeyer was, the girls still had to perform. As often happens, the performance turned out different than the projection. Plymouth won the 11-team meet with 97 points. The Wildcats, who went 9-4 in the regular season, finished second with 96.

ond with 96.

"We let one get away from us," Balsmeyer said.

One-half of a second away from a first place. A fourth place instead of a fifth place. That's how close Whitko was to winning.

Culver Girls Academy, which finished third with 80 points, won the 400 relay with a time of 54.12 seconds. Whitko finished .5 seconds out of first with a time of 54.62 seconds.

Whitko finished first and fifth in the shot put. Had the Wildcats gone first and fourth, they would have won the meet.

Then there was the 1,600 relay. This was the lone event the Wildcats failed to score any points in.

These were just three events. When you lose by one point, you do what Balsmeyer did. You agonize over where you could have come up with one or two more points.

"We could have done better in a lot of cases," Balsmeyer said. "To pick out one place is impossible. There were several."

Less than a week ago Whitko scored 108.5 points in the Three Rivers Conference meet. Balsmeyer looked back at that meet when he analyzed the sectional.

"It was a night we had to perform as well as we did in the conference meet," he said, "Maybe even if we hadn't performed quite as well, we still would have brought the title home."

All was not lost for Whitko. The top four individuals in each event advance to the Bremen Regional, and the Wildcats move people on in eight different events - the 400 and 1,600 relays, 100 hurdles, 100, 300 hurdles, 200, shot put and long jump.

Whitko won four events. The 1,600 relay team of Amy Till, Jill Adang, Amanda Morford and Heidi Hull won with a time of 4:22.92. Morford won the 100 with a time of 13.16 seconds. Hull won the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.49 seconds and the shot put with a throw of 36-feet, 5-1/2 inches.

Whitko took second in two events and third in one. Landis placed second in the long jump, while the aforementioned 400 relay team of Landis, Morford, Michi Yamano and Loranna Sparks placed second as well. Morford took third in the 200.

Whitko had one fourth, Hull in the 100 hurdles.

Triton finished fourth in the team standings with 68 points and was followed by Tippecanoe Valley (64), Rochester (63), Manchester (40), Caston (30), Northfield (20), Oregon-Davis (12) and Culver Community (11).

The Bremen Regional takes place Tuesday.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY GIRLS

TRACK & FIELD SECTIONAL

1. Plymouth 97, 2. Whitko 96, 3. CGA 80, 4. Triton 68, 5. Tippecanoe Valley 64, 6. Rochester 63, 7. Manchester 40, 8. Caston 30, 9. Northfield 20, 10. Oregon-Davis 12, 11. Culver Community 11

Individual results

(Top four advance to Tuesday's Bremen Regional)

100 -Ê1. Amanda Morford (WHI) :13.41, 2. Kristi Rudd (TV) :13.72, 3. Christie Homes (CAS) :13.78, 4. Yinka Ajirotutu (CGA) :13.88, 5. Shea Sniadecki (PLY) :13.93, 6. Desireia Liggins (CC) :13.97

200 -Ê1. Fanisha Stewart (CGA) :28.49, 2. Christie Holmes (CAS) :29.06, 3. Amanda Morford (WHI) :29.60, 4. Jennifer Weissert (TRI) :29.73, 5. Kristen VanBuskirk (NF) :29.79, 6. Amber Landis (WHI) :30.16

400 -Ê1. Sarah Fischer (PLY) 1:05.78, 2. Kelsey Beckham (PLY) 1:07.12, 3. Sarah Kindig (TV) 1:07.28, 4. Tara Kensinger (OD) 1:07.62, 5. Amy Till (WHI) 1:07.68, 6. Katie Spencer (ROC) 1:07.75

800 - 1. Jaymi Hartzler (ROC) 2:25.53, 2. Carin Benge (PLY) 2:30.43, 3. Kristin Ware (CGA) 2:36.37, 4. Crystal Sipe (ROC) 2:36.67, 5. Molly Large (PLY) 2:36.77, 6. Cassie Markstahler (MAN) 2:38.58

1,600 - 1. Jaymi Hartzler (ROC) 5:32.61, 2. Shelly Miller (TRI) 5:41.05, 3. Kristin Ware (CGA) 5:45.29, 4. Reghan Kreft (TRI) 5:47.66, 5. Janna Cordes (NF) 5:52.06, 6. Tamar Strohschein (TV) 6:00.94

3,200 - 1. Shelly Miller (TRI) 12:09.83, 2. Jenny Day (TV) 12:16.07, 3. Reghan Kreft (TRI) 12:50.60, 4. Christine Lauridsen (CGA) 13:16.83, 5. Brooke Southworth (WHI) 13:25.17, 6. Tamar Strohschein (TV) 13:29.74

100 low hurdles - 1. Tiffany Kyser (CGA) :15.54, 2. Reannon Roahrig (PLY) :16.54, 3. Tami VanHerk (PLY) :16.77, 4. Heidi Hull (WHI) :16.84, 5. Christy Markstahler (MAN) :16.94, 6. Kristi Rudd (TV) :17.04

300 low hurdles -Ê1. Heidi Hull (WHI) :49.73, 2. Christy Markstahler (MAN) :49.86, 3. Reannon Roahrig (PLY) :51.10, 4. Tami VanHerk (PLY) :51.73, 5. Tiffany Kyser (CGA) :51.93, 6. Katie Parker (MAN) :53.40

400 relay - 1. CGA :54.12, 2. Whitko :54.62, 3. Tippecanoe Valley :55.35, 4. Plymouth :55.39, 5. Culver Community :58.16, 6. Manchester :58.32

1,600 relay - 1. Whitko 4:23.16, 2. Plymouth 4:23.96, 3. Tippecanoe Valley 4:26.73, 4. Culver Girls Academy 4:32.20, 5. Manchester 4:38.41, 6. Triton 4:40.11

3,200 relay - 1. Rochester 10:28.08, 2. CGA 10:32.12, 3. Tippecanoe Valley 10:46.46, 4. Triton 10:52.41, 5. Plymouth 11:32.75, 6. Whitko 12:45.14

high jump -Ê1. Tiffany Kiser (CGA) 5-0, 2. Emily Yankovich (TRI) 4-10, 3. Alisha Ewing (ROC) 4-10, 4. Ashley Thomas (NF) 4-10, 5. Rachel Speicher (TRI) 4-10, 6. Jill Metzger (WHI) 4-8

long jump -Ê1. Jennifer Weissert (TRI) 15-11 1/4, 2. Amber Landis (WHI) 15-6 3/4, 3. Tami VanHerk (PLY) 15-3/4, 4. Katie Parker (MAN) 14-11 3/4, 5. Tara Kensinger (OD) 14-7 1/4, 6. Amy Berg (OD) 14-4 3/4

shot put - 1. Heidi Hull (WHI) 36-5 1/2, 2. Heather Raderstorf (CAS) 35-3/4, 3. Tina McGaughey (ROC) 35-1/2, 4. Sisteen Christian (TRI) 33-2 1/4, 5. Karin Tinkel (WHI) 32-0, 6. Heather Wagner (NF) 28-5 1/2

discus - 1. Sandy Orsund (PLY) 115-3, 2. Natalie Stambaugh (MAN) 99-8, 3. Brenda Rose (TV) 99-3, 4. Tina McGaughey (ROC) 98-7, 5. Jenelle Palmer (PLY) 97-4, 6. Takesha McClane (CC) 97-2 [[In-content Ad]]