Kokomo Tribune - Thursday, April 23, 2009

Western swept a boys-girls track and field doubleheader at Eastern on Wednesday, with the Panther boys winning 8844 and the girls overwhelming the Comets 107-25.

Jere] Hall was a triple winner for the Western boys, capturing the 100 (11.3) and 200 (23.4) meters and anchoring the 4x100 relay team that included Jake Askren, Trent Lawlyes and Indy Mathew in. 45.3 seconds.

Austin Young won twice and led. a sweep of the 1,600 meters in 4:45.8, followed by teammates Zac Martinez and Chris Love. Martinez won the 800 in 2:074 while Young won the 3,200 in 10:25.7.

"I thought probably the race that set the tone was the 1,600," Western coach Mary Boswell said. "Austin is really coming on strong the last couple meets and just continues to get stronger. Everything after that just kind of fell into place."

Also winning for the Panthers (4-0) were Aaron Van Auken (16.6) in the 110-meter high hurdles, John Capps (510) in high jump, Mathew (43.8) in the 300 intermediate. hurdles, Trevor Buckalew (42-. 9) in shot put and Chris Harter (14-0) in pole vault.

"Eastern is a very good team and they have some strong competitors. They've got a lot of good people and will make some noise when the big meets get here"

The Comets were led by Hansen Martin, who captured the 400 meters in 53.7 seconds and two relays. He teamed with Mitch Padfield, Caleb Gibson and Dylan Buck to win the 4x800 relay (8:34.3) and Josh Maple, Padfield and Buck to win the 4x400 (3:42.9).

"He is just a hard-working junior who leads by example," Eastern coach Paul Nicholson said of Martin. "He stepped up in the 400 [Wednesday] night. It's just a nice bunch of track boys who are looking forward to what's ahead:'

Other winners for the Comets (2-1) included Kelly Kingseed (20-0%) in long jump and Blake Donson (143-5) in discus. Cara Earlywine led the Panther girls with three wins. She grabbed first place in the 100 (13.2) and 200 (28.1) meters and teamed with Danae Rittman, Taylor Young and Alleca Kerker to win the 4x100 in 53.3 seconds.

Nikki McCracken was a double winner, capturing the 100-meter hurdles (16.4) and pole vault (10-0), as was Caily Tanner, who won discus (92-0) and shot put (34-4'12). Rittman won long jump (14-11) and was second to McCracken in the 100 hurdles.

"She's been one that hasn't had a lot of headlines yet but she's trying a couple new events for us," Boswell said of Rittman. "She is really a great athlete and I was impressed with Danae's effort".

Other winners for Western (4-0) included Allison Everetts (1:05.2) in the 400 meters, Taylor Ruch (54.7) in the 300 low hurdles, Bre Nicholas (13:35) in the 3,200 and the relay team of Lacey Myer, Corianne Myer, Kayla Gaskins and Jenn Elliott, which captured both the 4x800 (11:21) and the 4x400 (4:54).

The Lady Comets got two first-place finishes from Emily Wilcox. She won the 800 (2:43.4) and 1,600 (5:56.8) meters. Zoe Wolfe won high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 3 inches.

"Emily did a great job," said Eastern coach Michael Goodspeed. "We moved her to the [1,600] and 800 and she's looking to be at the top of the [Mid-Indiana] Conference'