Monday, April 20th, 2009
Wildcats defend home track with invitational titles
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Parkway's Marian Bevington goes over a hurdle during semifinal action in the 100-meter hurdles at the Minster Memorial on Saturday. Bevington went on to win both the 100 hurdles and long jump on Saturday to help the Panthers place fourth in the meet. Minster edged MAC rival Versailles for first place at the meet.
MINSTER - Fans attending the annual Minster Memorial Track and Field Invitational had to hold on to the end to get the winner of the girls' meet.
The host Wildcats led Versailles by just 41/2 points going into the 1,600-meter relay, meaning a good Versailles showing mixed with a poor Minster showing could lead to a Tiger win.
In the end, Minster finished second behind Fort Loramie, but stayed ahead of Versailles to take the team title by a 1231/2 to 117 margin with Loramie third and Parkway taking fourth. Marion Local finished sixth with St. Marys and New Bremen tied for 10th and New Knoxville 15th.
The Minster boys posted the title sweep, cruising to the title with 125 points. Marion Local (84) and New Bremen (80) rounded out the MAC 1-2-3 finish. Versailles took eighth with Parkway ninth and St. Marys 10th with New Knoxville finishing 15th.
In the girls 1,600 relay, Minster was third on the first handoff, but came back to take the lead on legs two and three before Loramie snuck ahead in the final 100 meters to break the meet record in the event with a time of 4:11.19, taking a second off the 2006 New Bremen mark. The top three times each bested the old mark with fourth-place New Bremen a full 16 seconds behind.
"You love it when it comes down to the 4 X 4," said Minster girls coach Cindy Nelson. "You love it when you can pull it out at the end, obviously."
Minster had points from everywhere with just two wins. Lei Bornhorst captured the 3,200 run while Stacey Sherman posted a win in the 300 hurdles.
"The girls really came out today," said Nelson. "With the weather not really cooperating at the beginning of the year, they proved they could compete. They set standards high, which is good right now."
Parkway got points from its usual big contributor, senior Marian Bevington. Bevington won the 100 hurdles and long jump while placing third in the high jump and getting third place for the 400 relay.
"I was kind of disappointed in my long jump today," said Bevington, who topped out at 15 feet, 10 inches. "I can do better."
The Panthers had plenty of things to think about during the day, as the team kept the family of senior baseball player Joe Dellinger in their minds. Dellinger was seriously injured last week in an automobile accident that took the life of older brother Andrew Dellinger.
"We all just came out to run for the family today," said Bevington. "It was a big loss."
Versailles thrower Christine Borchers paced the Tigers by sweeping the throwing events, setting a meet record in the discus.
Minster did its damage on the boys side with solid depth. Two Wildcats posted double wins as the team came up with a number of top finishes to garner points.
"There were a lot of good things," said Wildcats boys coach Larry Topp. "Discus guys (Jake Phlipot and Brendon Conrad) switched places. ... There was just a lot of nice things. Young kids coming through. It was a fun day. Nice day to be out in the sun."
Phlipot took home top honors in the throwing events, winning the discus and shot put, putting seven feet onto his personal best in the discus.
"I felt good," said Phlipot. I had a PR of seven feet in the discus. Everything just went my way."
Albert Barga added a double in the 200 and 400 while the 800 and 1,600 relays picked up wins.
"Have to give some yells out to Albert," said Topp. "He did some amazing things with the 200 and a nice 400. He anchored the 4 X 4 and was part of the 4 X 2 team that won. He did a real nice job."
Marion Local stayed just as close with some strong efforts. Jeff Moeller picked up a big win in taking the pole vault.
"I thought we had some good efforts," said Marion coach Matt Schmackers. "Our hurdles really came through. We got some nice sprint points. One of the better surprises was Jeff Moeller in the pole vault going 13-6. We're pretty pleased with the effort today."
New Bremen was paced by big wins from Matt Sindelar, who dueled with St. Marys' Scott Kinkley in the high jump, winning with a top effort of 6-4. Zach Speckman, who was edged out by Spencerville's Drew Ring in the 110 hurdles, came back to take the 300 hurdles.
Parkway was paced by Josh Fisher, who captured the long jump and placed third in the 100 dash behind two-time state 100 champ Cameron Hermiller of St. John's and Niles Keller of Marion Local.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster's Oliver Barga, with glasses, hands off the baton to teammate Joby Stechschulte in the 3,200-meter relay on Saturday at the annual Minster Memorial. The Wildcats won both the boys and girls team titles.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
St. Marys' Michael Breland gets ready to heave the discus during Saturday's Minster Memorial Track Meet. Breland did not finish in the top eight in the discus but placed third in the shot put.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster's Stacy Sherman competes in the semifinals of the 100 hurdles at the Minster Memorial. Sherman was third in the 100 hurdles and won the 300 hurdles to help the Wildcats win the team title.
