Central girls track and field has victorious performance at UIC meet
Tori Sylvester, Kaitlyn Wiley, Grace Kuehl and Jaydin Dettman were UIC champions in the 4x200 relay. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Lexi Loan finished fourth in the long jump at the conference meet in Postville.
Keeley Curran hands the baton to Aspen Rork in Central's second place 4x800 relay.
Coral Rork finished seventh in the 3000 meter run at the conference meet.
Central won the 4x400 relay thanks to Jaydin Dettman, Delaney Scherf, Kaitlyn Wiley and Hannah Asche.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
It was a triumphant conclusion to last week for the Central girls track and field team, as the Warriors claimed the Upper Iowa Conference title on May 5, scoring 135 total points—a healthy 15-point margin over second place North Fayette Valley.
But before Central could realize that championship, the team competed at Edgewood-Colesburg on May 2. The meet, typically the final one held before conference championships, is used “to try out several different options that we might use at conference or districts,” coach Martha Bauder said.
That being the case, the sixth place finish can be seen more as a warm up, and even then, the team still managed 21 personal records and eight season best times.
“The weather halfway cooperated and we did accomplish quite a few good things,” Bauder said.
The Warriors had a few top 10s in the sprint races, starting with 10th place in the 100 meter dash for Tori Sylvester, while Haley Mueller came in 15th.
Mueller just missed the top 10 by less than one second in the 200, crossing 13th, and Brooke Tieden came in 20th, but in a personal record time of 32.39 seconds.
Eva Embretson led the way in the 400, finishing ninth in a personal record time of 1:10.47. Staci Herman was close behind in 11th.
The two hurdle events were a mixed bag for the Warriors, as they never threatened in the 100-meter event with respective 15th and 16th place finishes by Lexi Loan and Reese Berns. However, in the 400-meter hurdles, Kaitlyn Wiley ran a personal record to finish fourth, while Berns also ran a personal record to place 11th, less than a half second out of the top 10.
The Warriors added three top 10s in the two distance races in which they competed. That included third place for Delaney Scherf in the 800, who ran a season best time of 2:35.44. Katelyn Scherf finished 18th.
The 1500 featured two personal records as Alexis Thiese claimed eighth and Coral Rork was right behind in ninth.
The field events were also a mixture of results for Central. The long jump featured Loan setting a season best distance of 14-07.00 to place sixth. There was a seventh place tie in the high jump between Loan and Tieden, who set a personal record during the event. The shot put and discus were both headlined by Aly Feickert, who finished 11th in the former and 17th in the latter.
Of course, the Warriors never disappoint in the relays, and the meet at Ed-Co was no different.
The team finished fifth in the 4x100, a little over a second out of first place, then ran a close second in the 4x200, before adding another fifth place in the 4x400. The 4x800 was an atypical sixth place result, but the 800 sprint medley relay was a hard fought second place. The 1600 distance medley was the teams lowest relay finish, as they crossed 10th. Finally, the Warriors ran to sixth in the shuttle hurdle relay.
With that meet over, attention turned to the UIC meet in Postville, and the Warriors were primed and ready. For once, Mother Nature decided to cooperate too.
“First of all, the weather might have been the overall most important factor in our success, as we had planned ahead for a miserable day of rain and cool temps for five hours. How to stay dry, how to warm up and cool down, how to mentally battle each event knowing each race was going to be miserable. So when we had nearly no wind, fairly warm temps and no rain, everyone’s attitude was soaring. Now, so was everyone else, though, so we still had to compete,” Bauder said.
It wasn’t just that the Warriors scored 135 points. They also totaled 16 personal records and eight season best marks, while finishing the meet with three first place finishes, four second places, two third places, seven fourth places and six fifth through eighth places.
“We knew our team would be relying on our potential first and second place events, but that we wouldn’t have a chance unless our third through eighth place people did their jobs as well,” Bauder said. “We knew, on paper, we had a chance to win, but it’s always a gamble. Our girls took advantage of their opportunities and did more than we expected in nearly every event. So we were able to absorb the points we missed out on. It was a complete team effort.”
The Warriors put on a speed display in the sprints, starting with the 100 meter dash, where Tori Sylvester finished fourth in personal record 13.53 seconds, which was less than half a second from winning the race. Brooklyn Amsden finished ninth, also in personal record fashion.
The 200 was one of three Central victories, with Asche taking the title in a personal record time of 26.99. Madelyn Gregerson added a 10th place finish, also running a personal record.
Jaydin Dettman’s second place mark headlined the 400, followed by Embretson in sixth.
It was a pair of top fives in the 100- and 400-meter hurdles, with Loan notching fourth with a personal best time in the 100-meter event and Gracie Cummer a close fifth, also running a personal record. Another personal record was achieved by Wiley in the 400 hurdles, thanks to a 1:11.92 finish for third. Taylor Moser followed in fourth.
The distance races provided more top 10s and points for the Warriors, as Delaney Scherf finished fourth in the 800, while Thiese was ninth in the 1500 in personal record time. Aspen Rork finished the 1500 11th.
The 3000 meter run was more of the same for the Warriors, with Coral Rork running seventh and Katelyn Scherf taking ninth.
Where the Warriors really excelled was in the field events.
“It started out on the right foot with double placing in high jump with nearly triple the points I had penciled in for our potential team score. And it continued with our field events scoring a season high 33 points—double placing in shot put and long jump and then Feickert also placing in the discus,” Bauder explained.
Feickert placed fifth in the discus, as teammate Staci Herman finished 13th. The shot put had Feickert’s mark good enough for fourth, and Delaney Scherf added a fifth place result.
The high jump that got the meet started on the right foot was a fourth place by Tieden and fifth from Loan. Loan continued the strong afternoon with a fourth place long jump, and Cummer added fifth to the team’s tally.
The relays were once again a source of great success, even with an “unfortunate miscue” on the final handoff in the 4x100, which resulted in the team being unable to finish the race.
Despite this uncharacteristic mishap, the Warriors were “able to withstand” it due to the volume of high placements throughout the meet, Bauder said.
Tori Sylvester, Wiley, Grace Kuehl and Dettman coasted to the victory in the 4x200, winning the race by over five seconds. It was a similar story in the 4x400, as Dettman, Delaney Scherf, Wiley and Asche crushed the competition by over 15 seconds.
The 4x800 wasn’t a victory, but a solid second place performance from Embretson, Keeley Curran, Aspen Rork and Thiese. The Warriors also just missed out on the top podium spot in the shuttle hurdle relay, when Loan, Berns, Moser and Wiley finished three seconds out of first place.
It was an even closer second place finish in the 800 sprint medley, when Tori Sylvester, Kuehl, Asche and Delaney Scherf finished less than two seconds out of first.
The Warriors capped the relays off with a fourth place result in the 1600 distance medley.
Central will look to ride the momentum into the district meet at Edgewood-Colesburg on May 12.
