Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, May 14, 2008

— FAIRMOUNT — Kokomo coach Dave Barnes ought to know a good girls track and field team when he sees it. He’s helped pilot the Wildkats to several of their 15 sectional championships.

On Tuesday Barnes grudgingly but deservedly gave praise to the best team, by far, on the track at the Madison-Grant Sectional, the Western Panthers.

From Nikki McCracken’s victory in the pole vault Monday afternoon to Lizi Chandler’s second-place shot put finish in the waning moments of Tuesday evening, Western put its foot on the throttle and wouldn’t let up, outscoring runner-up Kokomo 145.2 to 82.2.

Oak Hill was third with 72.2, followed by Northwestern (69), Logansport (62), Maconaquah (35), Cass (34), Peru (33), Madison-Grant (27), Eastern (24), Pioneer (23.2) and Taylor (17.2).

For the Panthers, it was their first sectional championship in school history.

“Like I told [our girls] all week, I don’t mind getting beat by a better performance,” Barnes said. “I don’t like to lose, but Western had a great performance — simple as that. Congratulations on their first sectional.

“They came and they performed. That’s what sectional is all about.”

The Panthers served notice they would take no prisoners when Cara Earlywine (12.96 seconds) and Alleca Kerker finished 1-2 in the 100-meter dash. That was followed immediately by Ashley Gaskins and Jenn Elliott, who placed second and fourth, respectively, in the 1,600.

Earlywine came back later to run a leg in the winning 4x100 relay team, then to capture the 200 meters in 26.84 seconds. She was the meet’s only triple winner.

By the time the carnage was over, Western had qualified 10 individuals in 12 events, plus all three relays, for next Tuesday’s Bremen Regional. The top four individuals and relays teams advance in each event.

Even coach Marvin Boswell was impressed.

“The girls just came to perform [Tuesday] night,” Boswell said. “We ask the girls to try and score two places in all of the events and we did that. The kids just came through in every event.”

Tuesday’s historic victory was the culmination of years of frustrations for the Western girls, who have had hopes of winning the title in previous years but let it slip away.

Then there was the disappointment of having the Mid-Indiana Conference meet postponed to last Friday, the night of their prom. They finished third with a team of seven freshmen and one junior, McCracken.

“I’m so proud of the girls and what they’ve accomplished, what they’ve been through the last week with the emotions they’ve been through,” said Boswell. “For them to come back and have the opportunity to do this is really wonderful for them.”

Youth was well served for the Panthers. In addition to Kerker and Gaskins, who also placed third in the 3,200, the freshmen classmates’ contributions included Sable Staller (3rd in high jump, 3rd in long jump, 6th in 400), Breana Nicholas (4th in 3,200) and Taylor Ruch (6th in 100 hurdles).

“It’s exciting because we do have a lot of younger girls on our team and sometimes I think if we didn’t have them it would be a lot different,” said Megan Legan, one of only three seniors on the squad. “So I’m just really proud of the whole team.”

Another freshman had a landmark evening for the Comets when Zoe Wolfe became the first girl from Eastern to win a sectional event since Ashley Perry won the 100 high hurdles at the former Northwestern Sectional in 1999.

Wolfe not only captured the 300 low hurdles in 50.59 seconds, she finished second to four-time winner Megan Schubert in the high jump.

“It’s a big thrill,” Wolfe said. “It’s only my freshman year, so I was hoping [to win].”

Coach Michael Goodspeed said Wolfe is still just learning to run the 300 race, in which she is already the Comet record holder at 49.50.

“She’s just a really nice young lady and a real talent,” said Goodspeed. “She came out and ran one of her best times and won the event as an freshman, so good things are to come.”

The Purple Tigers won two relays, the 4x800 and the 4x400, and had hopes of winning their first-ever sectional but weren’t able to hold onto several spots. In addition to Schubert’s milestone victory, Kara DeFabritis won long jump but had to withdraw from the 4x400 relay.

“Scratching as many girls as we did, the girls did a good job,” coach Mary Clem said. “I can’t complain. The girls worked hard and we’re proud.

“[Western] doubled up in almost every event and you have to give them credit, but we’ll just keep going.”

Kokomo’s Ashley DeWitt captured shot put with a toss of 40 feet, 2 inches and was third in discus. Whitney Weir was second to Wolfe in the 300. Mashilah Powell was fourth in high jump and India Jackson was fourth in long jump.

“All I asked of them was to come and compete and they did that very well,” Barnes said of his team. “I was very proud of our girls.”