RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Note: Photos by Kris Everett
NEW HAVEN – Homestead dominated the New Haven Girls’ Track and Field Sectional Tuesday night, beating runner-up New Haven by 101 points, but that didn’t stop local teams from having a great meet, with lots of season-best performances and several athletes punching tickets for next Tuesday’s regional at Carroll High School.
Heritage scored 76 points to finish fourth, just five points out of second, and the Patriots did it mainly on the strength of their throwers and jumpers. They collected 47 points in the five field events, placing two athletes in the shot put, discus, pole vault, and high jump, along with one in the long jump.
Junior Maya Gerber led Heritage in scoring with 13 points, thanks to a fourth in the shot put and a runner-up finish in the discus with a personal record 118-1. After starting with a couple sub-par throws, Gerber abandoned her usual spin method on her third attempt, which turned out to be her best. “It (the spin) just wasn’t working today,” she said, “so we went for a stand throw, and it turned out to be a really great throw.”
The Pats got a second from Piper Pierce in the long jump (15-6) and two more places in the throws from Madilyn Scheumann (3rd in the shot put, 35-7.5; 5th in the discus, 102-0).
Bellmont finished fifth with 39.5 points, outdistancing Adams County rivals Adams Central (tied for 6th with 38 points) and South Adams (8th with 37 points).
A highlight for the Braves was the third-place finish of their 4X800 relay. Madison Witte (2:37), Keeley Carpenter (2:31), Ellen Scott (2:37), and Sydney Keane (2:33) teamed up to chop 22 seconds off their previous season best to post a 10:20.28. Coach Carl Risch’s 4X800 is known for coming on strong in the tournament, but Risch gives the credit to his runners. “There’s no magic on my part,” he said. “The kids step up in these types of situations. They know what it takes to do that. I’m pretty proud of them.”
Senior thrower Sierra Schmidt placed in both throws (7th in the shot, 32-1; 4th in the discus, 106-1), and classmate Haleigh Wesley in both sprints (5th in the 200, 27.69; 6th in the 100, 13.72). “Nothing new,” Risch said of the four-year varsity duo. “Basically, you go to a meet, and you know they’re going to do something like that.”
Though only the top three finishers automatically qualify for regional, Risch feels that Schmidt, in the discus, and Wesley, in the 200, both have good chances of getting one of the four callbacks in each event, based on the best performances of athletes who didn’t place in the top three in the four feeder sectionals.
Adams Central distance runners Gabi Landis and Madison Gerber gave clutch performances to score big points for their team. Landis qualified for regional with her third-place finish in the 1600-meter run in 5:30.55, a nine-second PR. She also placed fourth in the 800 in 2:30.47.
And then there was Gerber. All she did was drop an astounding 36 seconds from her career best of 12:35, posting an 11:59.54 to take fourth. “It was crazy!” she said, unable to contain her joy. “I think it was really just that I wanted to see what I could really reach, and I’m just so thankful for my team and like three other teams and family and friends cheering me on.”
Adams Central sophomore Madison Hamilton finished three spots ahead of her seeding to place third and qualify for regional in the 300-meter hurdles in 50.14.
South Adams senior Adrienne McKean was the brightest local star, with 22 points and three qualifications for regional. She had runner-up finishes in the 100 meters (13.28) and high jump (5-0) and took third in the 200 (27.23).
The Starfires also got a runner-up finish from freshman Ava Schmit in the 300-meter hurdles.
Coach Clint Anderson was pleased with his team’s performance, especially considering some obstacles they’ve had to overcome. “We did this with a very small team this year,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty proud program that has done a lot of things over the years, and they did nothing to let that fall.”
Other local scorers:
Bellmont—Sydney Keane, 5th in the 400 in 1:03.59; Bre Feasel, 8th in the 3200 in a career-best 14:11; Taylor Louis, 8th in the long jump with a PR leap of 14-1.5; Khia Cannon, 8th in the 200 in 29.44; 4X100 relay (Wesley, Cannon, Louis, Adi Knipstein), fourth in 53.52; Ellen Scott, 6th in the 1600 in a PR 5:50.66; Karah Myers, tie with teammate Addie Kintz for 7th in the pole vault at 7-0 and tie for 8th in the high jump with 4-6; Abigail Rudy, 8th in the 800 in 2:38.34.
Adams Central—4X800 relay, 5th in 10:44.06; 4×400 relay, 6th in 4:24.22; Ashlyn Doster 6th in the high jump at 4-8; Brooke Fruechte, 7th in high jump at 4-8; 4×100 relay, 5th in 55.45
South Adams—Schmit, 6th in 100 hurdles in 17.13; Clancy Hawbaker, 8th in the shot put at 31-11 and 6th in the discus at 101-11.
Heritage—Ava Pilon, 4th in 100 hurdles in 16.86; 4X800 relay, 7th in 10:59; Pierce, 7th in the 100 in 13.83; 4×100 relay, 2nd in 53.45; DiNestee Williams-White, 6th in the 400 in 1:03.85; Pilon, 5th in the 300 hurdles in 50.77; 4×400 relay, 4th in 4:22.48; Jessica Bauer and Sam Bristle, tie for 4th in the high jump at 4-8; Bristle, 5th in pole vault at 7-6; Gabby Roussey, 6th in pole vault at 7-6.
Team Scores: 1. Homestead 182 2. New Haven 81. 3. Huntington North 78.5. 4. Heritage 76. 5. Bellmont 39.5. 6. Tie-Wayne and Adams Central 38 8. South Adams 37. 9. Bishop Luers 30 10. Canterbury 24