May 10, 2008 12:21 am
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ANKENY A mix of youth and experience led the Ottumwa girls track team to an impressive day at the Class 4A district track meet in Ankeny on Friday.
Freshman Sarah Ryan flashed her immense talent. Senior Katherine Person added another accolade to her career list. And senior Kendra Spurgeon showed plenty of grit.
The all-around effort gave the Bulldogs 50 points and a sixth place finish. West Des Moines Dowling won the district with 139 points.
It was a remarkable evening, Ottumwa coach Steve Green said. We had a lot of amazing things happen.
The Ottumwa boys team finished sixth at the district and the Bulldogs will send five events to the boys state meet next weekend. Ottumwa coach Jim Nickerson was very pleased with the results, as the Bulldogs set personal best records in more than 20 events.
We really peaked at the right time, said Bulldog coach Jim Nickerson. This was by far the best meet we had time-wise, and we all really came together as a team.
Headed to state for the Bulldog boys are Kurt Hopkins, who placed fourth in the shotput (48-7), Jordan Conley, who took third in the 110 hurdles (15.67), Clint Utter, who placed fourth in the 400 dash (51.02), and the Bulldog shuttle hurdle (59.9) and 4x400 (3:23.78) relay teams.
The 4x400 team was a delight for Ottumwa, as Alex Kelly and Tim Easton each broke 50 seconds in their splits to spur the Bulldogs to a second-place finish. Utter and P.J. Schaeffer joined Kelly and Easton for the personal-best time.
Im so proud of this team, said Nickerson. With all the injuries and scheduling problems we had this season, they all really came through when it counted. Im very pleased with this teams accomplishments.
The shuttle hurdle team consisted of Drake Bittner, Tyler Craff, Jacob Morrissey and Conley and finished fourth.
For the girls, Ryan pushed her freshman campaign to historic heights on Friday, qualifying for the state meet in both the long jump and the 100 meter dash. Ryan won the long jump with a leap of 17-3.5. She later followed that with a time of 13.0 in the 100 meter dash to punch her ticket for Des Moines in that event.
Sarah Ryan by tomorrow morning could go to state in four events as a freshman, Green said. Thats one of the first regional champs weve had as freshman since Ive been here. This is a rarity.
Katherine Person earned an automatic berth in the state meet with her second place finish (15.98) in the 100 meter hurdles. It will be her fourth trip to Des Moines.
Katherine Person had an outstanding night as a senior, Green said. She just does a wonderful job with leadership. Her performance on the track speaks for itself.
Maybe the most impressive performance Friday came from Kendra Spurgeon. After falling during her leg of the shuttle hurdle relay, Spurgeon bounced back to run three personal best times on Friday. Spurgeon took fourth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 28.29 to give herself a shot at state.
The Bulldog girls are still in contention to make the state meet in the 200 meter dash, 4x100, 4x200, sprint medley, 4x800 and shuttle hurdle relay, according to Green. Selections will be made available on the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Unions website sometime today.
Class District Track Meet
at Ankeny, 5-9-08
GIRLS
Team scores 1. West Des Dowling 139; 2. Ankeny 136, 3. Southeast Polk 88; 4. Indianola 78; 5. Oskaloosa 53; 6. Ottumwa 50; Des Moines North 29; 8. Des Moines Lincoln 6.
Ottumwa Results
Discus 1. Ali Gerths (Ank) 102-6.25; 4. Whitney Reber (Ott) 90-5.5.
Long jump 1. Sarah Ryan (Ott) 17-3.5.
3,000 run 1. Katie Flood (WDD) 10:00.50.
100 hurdles 2. Katherine Person (Ott) 15.98.
100 dash 1. Brooke Montegomery (Ind) 12.90; 2. Sarah Ryan (Ott) 13.00.
4x800 1. Dowling 9:41.50; 5. Ottumwa 10:27.10 (Kaitlin McElroy, Courtney Wagner, Victoria Swamstrom, Emily Cook).
200 dash 1. Katelyn Odgen (SEP) 26.64; 4. Kendra Spurgeon (Ott) 28.29.
1,500 run 1. Betsy Flood (WDD) 4:44.15.
4x200 1. Southeast Polk 1.46.79; 4. Ottumwa 1:48.52 (Sarah Ryan, Allison Sedore, Akiya Pope, Kendra Spurgeon).
400 dash 1. Emily Roberts (Ank) 59.40.
400 hurdles 1. Emily Roberts (Ank) 64.59.
Sprint Medley 1. Ankeny 1:52.23; 5. Ottumwa 1:56.79 (Katherine Person, Akiya Pope, Allison Theodore, Kaitlyn McElroy).
Shuttle Hurdle Relay 1. Ankeny 1.05.1; Ottumwa 1.09.0 (Katherine Person, Kendra Spurgeon, Chelsea Kelly-Celania, Kaitlin McElroy) .
Distance Medley 1. Dowling 4:13.00.
800 run 1. Betsy Flood (WDD) 2:15.85.
4x100 1. Indianola 51.64; 3. Ottumwa 51.99 (Sarah Ryan, Akiya Pope, Kendra Spurgeon, Katherine Person).
4x400 1. Dowling 4:03.10.
BOYS
Team scores 1. Ankeny 130.5; 2. Indianola 127.5; 3. Dowling 85; 4. Des Moines North 71; 5. Southeast Polk 59; 6. Ottumwa 39; 7. Oskaloosa 33; 8. Lincoln 13.5.
Ottumwa Results
Shot put 4. Kurt Hopkins 48-7.
High jump 5. Tim Easton 5-8.
3,200 run 6. Kevin Lewis 10:16.40.
110 hurdles 3. Jordan Conley 15.67.
4x800 5. Ottumwa 8:29.4 (Jesse Hinebaugh, Jimmy Bates, Garret Crosby, Arnoldo Montoya).
200 dash 6. Alex Kelly 23.52.
4x200 6. Ottumwa 1:38.15 (Victor Salcido, Nathan Phillips, Alex Stevens, Mark Estes.
400 dash 4. Clint Utter 51.02, 6. Tim Easton 51.21.
400 hurdles 5. John Lawrence 59.01; 6. Drake Bittner 59.58.
Shuttle Hurdle Relay 4. Ottumwa 59.9 (Drake Bittner, Tyler Craff, Jacob Morrissey, Jordan Conley).
Distance Medley 6. Ottumwa 3:59.26 (Mark Estes, Nathan Phillips, Nathan Jay, Jimmy Bates).
4x100 6. Ottumwa 47.05 (Victor Salcido, Nathan Phillips, Alex Stevens, Mark Estes).
4x400 2. Ottumwa 3:23.78 (Clint Utter, Alex Kelly, P.J, Schaeffer, Tim Easton).
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