Pilgrims Find Little Competition

AKRON - Triton girls track coach Jason Hunter summed up the competition at Tuesday's Tippecanoe Valley Sectional about as well as anyone could.

"Plymouth is a powerhouse," Hunter said. "They probably qualified their whole team."

In a meet where the top four team's or individuals in each event advance to Tuesday's Bremen Regional, Plymouth advanced in 11 of the meet's 15 events. The Pilgrims took first in seven events.

For Plymouth, there was no competition.

The Pilgrims scored 140 team points, running away from second-place Tippecanoe Valley by 55 points. Culver Girls Academy finished third with 80, followed by Rochester (62), Manchester (54), Triton (48), Northfield (44), Oregon-Davis (29), Whitko (26) and Culver Community (6).

"Coming in we didn't think anybody had a chance against Plymouth," Tippecanoe Valley coach Terry Screeton said. "It's not just one event, it's all the way through."

This is how impessive Plymouth was - its 3200 relay team crossed the finish line in a time of 9:51.69, 41 seconds ahead of second-place Rochester. There were only 16 seconds separating Rochester and sixth-place Triton. Though she finished second last night with a throw of 131 feet 11 inches, Plymouth's Sandy Orsund came to the sectional seeded No. 1, with her best throw this year being 143-10. Comparatively speaking, Rochester's Dustin Burkett won the boys Three Rivers Conference meet with a throw of 133-4.

Yes, Plymouth was impressive. And Screeton said he was more than happy with a second-place finish.

"I'm really happy," Screeton said. "We performed the best we possibly could have. There's nothing wrong with finishing second behind Plymouth."

Valley will be represented in nine events at Tuesday's Bremen Regional. The Vikings' lone first came in the 400 relay (Kristi Rudd, Holly Green, Wilcox, Tara Pratt) with a time of 53.38 seconds. Valley will also advance in the 1600 relay (second) and 3200 relay (third).

Lynette Wilcox advanced individually in two events, the 200 (second, 27.83 seconds) and the long jump (second, 15-5).

"We had good performances from top to bottom," Screeton said.

Holly Green (100, fourth), Sarah Kindig (400, third), Dana McFarren (100 hurdles, fourth) and Amber Drudge (high jump, fourth) also advanced to the regional.

Triton finished the evening with two seconds and two thirds. Emily Yankovich's leap of 5-0 in the high jump was good enough for second. Teammate Rachel Speicher was third with 4-10. Freshman Ashli Senff will move on in the long jump after her third-place jump of 15-3 3/4. Junior Betsy Salyer finished second in the shot put with a throw 34-9 1/2.

"Going in I thought we might qualify one," Hunter said. "The sectional is a little stronger than in the past. Salyer had a personal best in the shot put. That's good to see. She's been struggling with 33 (feet)."

Manchester advanced in five events, and sophomore Ann Harms will be in three of them.

Harms took second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.69 seconds after hitting the second-to-last hurdle. Rochester's Sarah Eiler won with a time of 16.36 seconds. Harms was second to Eiler in the 300 hurdles as well, with a time of 49.62 seconds. Harms took first in the long jump with a leap of 15-8 1/2. Sophomore Lydia Flora was the only other individidual to advance for the Squires, with a fourth-place time of 12:30.57 in the 3200. Manchester's 3200 relay team took fourth with a time of 10:42.14.

Two Whitko girls advanced in a total of three events. Junior Karin Tinkel moves on with a third-place throw of 114-2 in the discus and a fourth-place throw of 33-3 in the shot put. Angel Puckett moves on after finishing fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:38.01.

The regional round of the state tournament will be Tuesday at Bremen.

2000 TIPPECANOE VALLEY GIRLS

TRACK SECTIONAL

Team scores - 1. Plymouth 140, 2. Tippecanoe Valley 85, 3. Culver Girls Academy 80, 4. Rochester 62, 5. Manchester 54, 6. Triton 48, 7. Northfield 44, 8. Oregon-Davis 29, 9. Whitko 26, 10. Caston 11, 11. Culver Community 6

Abbreviations - Plymouth (P), Tippecanoe Valley (TV), Culver Girls Academy (CGA), Rochester (R), Manchester (M), Triton (T), Northfield (NF), Oregon-Davis (OD), Whitko (W), Caston (C), Culver Community (CC)

The top four teams or individuals in each event advance to the regional.

100 - 1. Mary Whitehead (CGA) :13.37, 2. Amanda Harris (OD), 3. Kristen VanBuskirdk (NF), 4. Holly Green (TV), 5. Tina French (M), 6. Sarah Craig (P)

200 - 1. Whitehead (CGA) :27.66, 2. Lynette Wilcox (TV), 3. Harris (OD), 4. French (M), 5. Craig (P), 6. Green (TV)

400 - 1. Sarah Fisher (P) 1:02.39, 2. VanBuskirk (NF), 3. Kindig (TV), 4. Horton (CGA), 5. Miriel Speicher (M), 6. Tara Pratt (TV)

800 - 1. Morgan Uceny (P) 2:25.20, 2. Carin Benge (P), 3. Katie Spencer (R), 4. Angel Puckett (W), 5. Emily Schenkel (NF), 6. Jeanne Chuman (CGA)

1600 - 1. Uceny (P) 5:18.97, 2. Jaymi Hartzler (R), 3. Kourtney Beckham (P), 4. Kristin Ware (CGA), 5. Puckett (W), 6. Andrea Leland (NF)

3200 - 1. Beckham (P) 12:14.12, 2. Kristin Ware (CGA), 3. Leland (NF), 4. Lydia Flora (M), 5. Carrie Kauffman (TV), 6. Sara Zehr (TV)

100 hurdles - 1. Sarah Eiler (R) :16.36, 2. Ann Harms (M), 3. Tami VanHerk (P), 4. Dan McFarren (TV), 5. Jenny Lewis (P), 6. Darci Eby (CGA)

300 hurdles - 1. Eiler (R) :48.32, 2. Harms (M), 3. VanHerk (P), 4. Danielle Ross (NF), 5. Melody Kuhn (T), 6. Laura Kensinger (OD)

400 relay - 1. Tippecanoe Valley (Wilcox, Holly Green, Kristi Rudd, Tara Pratt) :53.38, 2. Plymouth, 3. Oregon-Davis, 4. Caston, 5. CGA, 6. Culver

1600 relay - 1. Plymouth 4:12.53, 2. Tippecanoe Valley, 3. Rochester, 4. Oregon-Davis, 5. CGA, 6. Whitko

3200 relay - 1. Plymouth 9:51.69, 2. Rochester, 3. Tippecanoe Valley, 4. Manchester, 5. CGA, 6. Triton

High jump - 1. Alisha Ewing (R) 5-2, 2. Emily Yankovich (T), 3. Rachel Speicher (T), 4. Amber Drudge (TV), 5. Tara Pratt (TV), 6. Allison Turney CGA)

Long jump - 1. Harms (M) 15-8 1/2, 2. Wilcox (TV), 3. Ashli Senff (T), 4. Jamie Ayers (C), 5. VanHerk (P), 6. Kindig (TV)

Shot put - 1. Sandy Orsund (P) 37-7, 2. Betsy Salyer (T), 3. Molly Engstrom (CGA), 4. Karin Tinkel (W), 5. Turney (CGA), 6. Jessica Fox (TV)

Discus - 1. Engstrom (CGA) 134-10, 2. Orsund (P), 3. Jenelle Palmer (P), 4. Karin Tinkel (W), 5. Monica Minnix (M), 6. Amber Feldman (T)