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AKRON - As Terry Screeton put it, Tippecanoe Valley's girls track team needed the performance it turned in Tuesday night.
One night after losing their only meet of the season, the Vikings hosted Rochester and Triton, running away from the competition and scoring 75 points to win. Triton was second with 53 points, followed by Rochester at 28.
"This was a good performance up and down the line," Screeton, co-head coach along with Jeff Shriver, said. "It's probably the best meet we've had as far as total team effort. The kids ran with more heart tonight."
On a night when a dog made its way on to the track and ran with the competitors, Rochester edged Triton 64-63 in the boys meet. Valley finished with a third-place score of 37.
"We knew coming in that's probably where we would finish at," Screeton said of the boys' third-place effort. "We wanted our boys and girls scores to add up to more than Rochester's or Triton's boys and girls combined score."
In combined scores, Triton's boys and girls scored 116 points, followed by Valley (112) and Rochester (92).
On the girls side of things, Valley took first place in seven of the 15 events, led by two individual wins each by Heather Rathbun and Laura Lash.
Rathbun won the 100 and 200 dashes, while Lash won the distance events, taking the 1600 and 3200.
"Heather Rathbun ran real well for us," Screeton said. "Laura Lash ran well, too. She's really starting to come back from her illness. I thought our high jumpers, Kara Anderson and Rebekah Parker, did well."
Both Anderson and Parker jumped heights of 4-8. Rochester's Merry Horn won with a jump of 4-10.
Other Viking first-place efforts came in the 400 relay, 3200 relay and the 400 with Kara Kramer.
Triton's girls took first in six of the meet's events, winning three fielding events and three running events.
Amber Feldman (discus), Carly Feldman (shot put) and Ashli Senff (long jump) won field events, while Terrin Meister was victorious in both hurdle events. The Trojans' 1600 relay team also crossed the line first.
In the boys meet, Triton came home with wins in seven of the 16 events.
Aaron Trieschman picked up wins in the discus and shot put, while Matt Yankovich bested the field in the pole vault. Trieschman's effort in the discus was 30 feet better than second place.
In boys running events, Triton's Nate Gephart won the 1600 and 3200, while Matt Anders won the 400. The Trojans' 400 relay team also came away with a first-place effort.
The Vikings came away with two firsts on the boys side, in the high jump with Ross Stutzman and in the 800 with Ben Vanlaningham.
"He gave us a good surprise in the 800," Screeton said of Vanlaningham. "He cut a lot off his time and ran determined."
Valley's boys and girls teams will be in action Friday in Oak Hill Relays, while Triton is at Northern State Conference foe LaVille Thursday.
GIRLS - TIPPECANOE VALLEY 75, TRITON 53, ROCHESTER 28
Discus - 1. A. Feldman (T) 113-5 1/2, 2. Car. Feldman (T), 3. McFadden (TV)
Shot put - 1. Car. Feldman (T) 32-0 1/2, 2. Cal. Feldman (T), 3. Stutzman (TV)
High jump - 1. Horn (R) 4-10, 2. Anderson (TV), 3. Parker (TV)
Long jump - 1. Senff (T) 15-0 3/4, 2. Wiley (TV), 3. Kramer (TV)
3200 relay - 1. Valley 10:59.9, 2. Rochester
10 hurdles - 1. Meister (T) :17.0, 2. Parker (TV), 3. Kreft (T)
100 - 1. Rathbun (TV) :13.5, 2. Wiley (TV), 3. Dishman (R)
1600 - 1. Lash (TV) 6:00.9, 2. DuBois (R), 3. Zehr (TV)
400 relay - 1. Valley :52.9, 2. Triton
400 - 1. Kramer (TV) 1:08.2, 2. Kauffman (T), 3. Weaver (TV)
300 hurdles - 1. Meister (T) :49.4, 2. Lindenmier (TV), 3. Wilson (R)
800 - 1. Horn (R) 2:30.8, 2. Rosenstiel (TV), 3. Westafer (T)
200 - 1. Rathbun (TV), 2. Senff (T)
3200 - 1. Lash (TV) 12:59.8, 2. DuBois (R)
1600 relay - 1. Triton, 2. Valley
BOYS - ROCHESTER 64, TRITON 63, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 37
Discus - 1. Trieschman (T) 160-4, 2. Rockey (R), 3. Long (TV)
Shot put - 1. Trieschman (T) 45-0 1/2, 2. Houlihan (T), 3. Fields (TV)
High jump - 1. Stutzman (TV) 5-10, 2. Anders (T), 3. Long (R)
Long jump - 1. DuBois (R) 19-5 1/4, 2. Hurd (TV), 3. Hott (R)
Pole vault - 1. Yankovich (T) 13-3, 2. Hott (R), Byers (R), 3. Stutzman (TV)
3200 relay - 1. Rochester 8:37.8, 2. Triton
110 hurdles - 1. Housouer (R) :15.8, 2. Vanlaningham (TV), 3. Gast (TV)
100 - 1. Cameron (R) :10.9, 2. Anders (T), 3. Long (R)
1600 - 1. Gephart (T) 4:40.2, 2. Felke (R), 3. Kauffman (T)
400 - 1. Anders (T) :50.8, 2. Stutzman (TV), 3. Wise (TV)
300 hurdles - 1. Housouer (R) :42.9, 2. Hammond (T), 3. Hurd (TV)
800 - 1. Vanlaningham (TV) 2:07, 2. Felke (R), 3. Lemler (T)
3200 - 1. Gephart (T) 9:58, 2. Kauffman (T)
1600 relay - 1. Rochester, 2. Triton
