Track teams both have pair of good showings

GREENVILLE – Battling harsh weather conditions last Friday, both Vandalia High School track teams placed third at the Comet Relays.

Despite temperatures in the 40s, blustery winds and pockets of drizzle, all of Vandalia’s athletes were there to compete, and several of them were rewarded with personal-best times.

Junior Austyn Krueger had two of them, running her leg of the 4X800-meter relay in 2:43 and her leg of the 4X400-meter relay in 1:08.

Also setting personal bests for the girls included Ali Sasse, with a 1:06 in the 400 and Kendall Leander, with a 2:55 in the 800.

“It’s not unheard of,” said girls coach Gena Nance, “but after going from such warm weather to cold weather, you don’t typically see that.”

Nance said she encouraged her athletes to spend more time warming up for their events, noting that most of the personal records came later in the meet, after athletes had gone through several races.

For example, Krueger’s and Sasse’s 400s came in the final event of the afternoon.

“You have to warm up a lot more when it’s colder outside, and I think the girls started to realize that,” she said. “Later in the meet, they were keeping better splits.”

The personal bests kept coming on Tuesday during a meet at Cumberland.

Vandalia placed fifth in the event, but Sasse and freshman Johanna Walton placed and had personal records, and junior Sierah Ruffner tied a school record.

Ruffner's leap of 5 feet, 3 inches in the high jump tied her own school record, which she set as a freshman. She placed second at the meet only because she had more misses than the winner at 5 feet, 2 inches.

Sasse had the lone first-place finish, running the 200-meter dash in 27.78 seconds, and Walton cleared 5 feet in the high jump to finish in a tie for third place.

Kelsey Rubin finished sixth in the 3,200-meter run in a personal-best time of 15:53.18, and freshman Nicole Wells took eighth in the 1,600-meter run in a personal-best time of 8:09.68.

For the boys, coach Jane Bell said everyone was out in the conditions to compete, citing freshman Ben Strobel’s sub-5:00 mile and junior Brent DeSherlia's efforts.

She also got strong performances from regular top finishers like senior Quenten Austin and juniors Ryan Ambuehl, Wade Cowger and Zach Jackson.

“It’s always important to be able to compete in every weather, because you don’t know what it’s gong to be like at conference, sectionals or state,” Bell said. “You have to know how to warm up and make sure you have all your gear.

“Nobody said they were going to run bad because it’s raining,” she said. “Everybody went out there and tried to hit the times they wanted.”

Vandalia picked up wins in the 800-meter medley relay, with Cowger passing a Greenville runner on the final straightaway, and the 110-meter hurdle relay, with Austin and Ambuehl posting the two fastest individual times.

At Cumberland, Austin took first place in both hurdle races to lead the Vandals to a third-place finish.

He beat both of the Vahling brothers from Teutopolis. The three have been rivals in the hurdles for three years and will race again at the sectional meet.

Vandalia narrowly missed placing second, but Cumberland edged the Vandals by one point.

The two meets were some of the final regular events for Vandalia, and this coming week is a big one for both of the teams.

Next Tuesday, the Lady Vandals will travel to Carlinville for the South Central Conference meet, and next Thursday, the boys team will be at home, hosting the second high school meet on the all-weather track.

BOYS RESULTS
Tuesday, April 24
at Cumberland
First-place finishers
•Austin, 110-meter hurdles, 0:15.55
•Austin, 300-meter hurdles
Second-place finishers
•Austin, discus, 133 feet, 8 inches
•Luke Hollinshead, shot put, 38 feet, 11 inches
•Strobel, 1,600-meter run, 5:05.52
•4X800-meter relay (Z. Jackson, Strobel, Cowger and Ambuehl)
Third-place finishers
•Ambuehl, 100-meter dash, 0:11.75
•Ambuehl, 110-meter hurdles, 0:15.74
•Cowger, high jump, 5 feet, 10 inches
Fourth-place finishers
•Z. Jackson, pole vault, 10 feet, 6 inches
•Austin, shot put, 37 feet, 1 inch
•4X100-meter relay (Robbie Lott, Colton Woolsey, Codie Jackson and Z. Jackson), 0:51.28
•4X200-meter relay (Blake Hankins, Cole Haynes, Gage Miles and Zach Thompson), 1:57.08
•4X400-meter relay (Hollinshead, C. Jackson, Miles and Thompson), 4:48.74
Team scores
•Teutopolis, 165
•Cumberland, 93
•Vandalia, 92
•Stew-Stras, 75

Friday, April 20
at Greenville
First-place finishers
•800-meter medley (Lott, Z. Jackson, Ambuehl and Cowger)
•110-meter hurdle relay (Austin and Ambuehl)
Second-place finishers
•Distance medley (Ambuehl, Austin, Cowger and Strobel)
•4X200-meter relay (Hankins, DeSherlia, Miles and Thompson)
•Varsity 4X100-meter relay (Z. Jackson, Woolsey, Trenton Kinworthy and C. Jackson)
•Thrower 4X100-meter relay (Hollinshead, Krueger, Haele Ruble and Woolsey)
•Shot put relay (Ambuehl, Hollinshead and Woolsey)
•Pole vault relay (Z. Jackson, Lott and Dalton Waschle)
Third-place finishers
•4X400-meter relay (Z. Jackson, Cowger, Strobel and Austin)
•High jump relay (Austin, Lott and Cowger)
Team scores
•Greenville, 56
•Hillsboro, 48
•Vandalia, 36
•Mater Dei, 24

GIRLS RESULTS
Tuesday, April 24
at Cumberland
First-place finisher
•Sasse, 200-meter dash, 0:27.78
Second-place finisher
•Ruffner, high jump, 5 feet, 3 inches
Third-place finishers
•Walton, high jump, 5 feet
•4X100-meter relay (Walton, Randi Evans, Jessica Booker and sasse), 0:56.46
•4X200-meter relay (Booker, Evans, Ruffner and Sasse), 1:58.56
Fourth-place finishers
•4X800-meter relay (Makenzie Roberts, Leander, Brittany Cook and Wells), 12:45.24
Sixth-place finishers
•Krueger, 400-meter dash, 1:09.6
•Rubin, 3,200-meter run, 15:53.18
Eighth-place finishers
•Ruble, 100-meter dash, 0:15
•Wells, 1,600-meter run, 8:09.68
Team scores
•Teutopolis, 191
•Neoga, 142
•Cumberland, 81
•Windsor, 66
•Vandalia

Friday, April 20
at Greenville
First-place finishers
•High jump relay (Sierah Ruffner, Allie Holtmann and Johanna Walton)
Second-place finishers
•Thrower 4X100-meter relay (Hollinshead, Krueger, Ruble and Woolsey)
•F/S 4X100-meter relay (Walton, Randi Evans, Jessica Booker, Sasse)
Third-place finishers
•800-meter medley relay (Booker, Sasse, Evans and Holtmann)
•4X200-meter relay (Booker, Ruble, Ruffner and Evans)
•4X400-meter relay (Krueger, Sasse, Leander and Walton)
•4X800-meter relay (Krueger, Makenzie Roberts, Leander and Brittany Cook)
•Distance medley (Cook, Roberts, Nicole Wells and Kelsey Rubin)
•Discus relay (Ruble, Krueger and Roberts)
Team scores
•Greenville, 64
•Mater Dei, 64
•Vandalia, 26