Kokomo Tribune - Monday, May 12, 2008

— Kokomo has 15 of them, including 13 of the last 14. Western and Northwestern want just one.

An IHSAA girls track and field sectional championship will be on the line Tuesday at Madison-Grant and the Panthers and Tigers would love nothing more than to knock off the perennial champion Wildkats. Either would be the first in their respective school’s history.

Marvin Boswell is the first-year coach at Western, the team looked upon by most as the favorite. He was surprised to learn the Panthers had yet to win a sectional.

“We’ve talked about the fact that sectional was something that has always eluded the girls there,” said Boswell. “It was kind of hard to believe the girls had never won a sectional.”

The meet actually gets a head start today when the pole vault is contested at Kokomo’s Walter Cross Field. Action begins 5 p.m. Tuesday at Madison-Grant with field events and time trials.

The Panthers have been impressive this spring. They were runners-up to Warsaw at the prestigious Kokomo Relays and most recently captured the Howard County meet April 30 and the Oak Hill Relays two days later.

Western hit a road block last week when rain postponed the Mid-Indiana Conference meet from Thursday to Friday, the night of the school’s prom, and almost all the girls chose spiked heels over track shoes. But that won’t derail their hopes Tuesday.

“The way the kids have come together [this season] as a team and one event kind of feeds off another — the excitement amongst all of them — it’s been a fun year,” Boswell said. “They have ideas that they’ve got some unfinished business that they want to go and make a good run for it at Madison-Grant.”

Depth is the word heard most often when talking about the Panthers. They are the only team with top-eight seeds in every event at Madison-Grant, and Nikki McCracken and Cara Earlywine are their most potent weapons.

McCracken is the No. 1 seed in pole vault with her jump of 10 feet, 3 3/4 inches Friday at the MIC meet. She’ll battle defending champion Brittany Bullard of Logansport. McCracken also is No. 6 in the 100 high hurdles.

Earlywine was a regional finalist in the 200-meter dash a year ago and is the No. 1 seed Tuesday. She spearheads the No. 1-seeded 4x100 relay team of Alleca Kerker, Jennifer Dale and Danae Rittmann.

Worth mentioning is Western’s talented freshman class, which includes seeds Corianne Myer (sixth in 1,600), Sable Staller (seventh in 400, second in high jump, third in long jump), Ashley Gaskins (fifth in 3,200), Breana Nicholas (sixth in 3,200) and Kerker (sixth in 100, fourth in 300 hurdles).

“The thing that’s probably our strongest [suit] is our depth,” said Boswell. “I think we’re going to make a strong showing there Tuesday night.”

Kokomo coach Dave Barnes won’t argue with that.

“The key for Western is they have great depth and some outstanding athletes,” he said. “I guarantee they are the favorite going in.”

But no team wins as many championships as the Kats have by throwing in the towel before the meet ever starts. His girls seem to rise to the occasion, evidenced by their runner-up finish at the North Central Conference meet two weeks ago.

“I don’t think a lot of people expected that from us, but we just had some great performances up and down the line,” said Barnes. “We’ve got senior leadership and that makes a difference. They know the tradition and are real good about passing that tradition down. It has become a tradition.”

Kokomo’s lone No. 1 seed is Ashley DeWitt, whose best throw of 39 feet, 3 inches is tops in shot put.

The Wildkats need clutch performances from seniors Mashilah Powell and India Jackson, as well as a trio of regional qualifiers last year, sophomores Shelby Ransbottom, Whitney Weir and Hailey Rice.

Ransbottom, the returning champion, is seeded sixth in the 100. Weir and Rice are seeded second and eighth in their regional event, the 300 low hurdles.

“The core of our team is sophomores,” Barnes said. “That’s where a lot of our talent is at, and that’s going to take a while [to develop]. Some of them haven’t matured yet.

“Every point is going to be very important this year, just running for those eighth places. They add up and this year more than ever.”

Northwestern comes in as champions of the MIC on Friday and has been second to Western at both the county meet and Oak Hill Relays.

The Purple Tigers also run deep with talent, with Lindsey Sewell seeded No. 1 in the 400 and Megan Schubert No. 1 in high jump, where she’ll go for her fourth straight sectional blue ribbon.

Sewell anchors the defending champion and No. 1-seeded 4x400 relay team that includes Kara DeFabritis (No. 2 long jump), Lauren Dewhurst and Lauren Brun.

“That’s probably what I’m most proud of is our depth,” said Northwestern coach Mary Clem. “We don’t need a first [in each event]. We need two places, and we’ll do well if we can do that.

“As long as we can keep everybody injury-free until Tuesday we’ll do well. We can put on a show.”

Eastern freshman Zoe Wolfe is the county’s other top seed. She’s No. 1 in the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.50 seconds.