TRACK: 4 locals qualify for state

Kokomo Tribune - Wednesday, May 27, 2009

BREMEN — Four area athletes, two seniors and two sophomores, punched their tickets to the IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals by placing among the top three finishers in their events at the Bremen Regional here Tuesday.

The seniors, Kokomo’s Ashley DeWitt and Western’s Nikki McCracken, are unparalleled locally in their specialties, the shot put and pole vault, respectively.

Both have been to state meets in the past, both set Kokomo Tribune all-time area bests this season and both will end their high-school careers June 6 on the Indiana University track in Bloomington.

The sophomores, high jumpers Emily Beckley of Cass and Zoe Wolfe of Eastern, seemingly are on the threshold of their careers, and both say they couldn’t be happier for each other.

DeWitt came in second in the shot and the discus at Bremen to qualify for both events, but she may scratch the discus in favor of the shot put.

M.J. Doan of Penn won the shot put with a toss of 42 feet, 7 inches as DeWitt topped out at 40-8. The competition took place in a driving rain that lasted throughout the trials and finals.

“All this rain, you’re so paranoid about falling that you kind of don’t pay attention to throwing hard,” said DeWitt, disappointed not to have defended her regional crown. Just last week DeWitt had thrown her all-time best 45 feet, 5 inches.

Her goal still is to win state after having made the finals last year but not placing.

“There’s no excuse because everyone had to throw in it, but it is definitely harder to throw in the rain. I still can win state. It’s just one day and it takes just one throw.”

Wildkats coach Dave Barnes said look out for DeWitt at the state meet.

“She’ll be just fine,” he said of DeWitt, who threw the discus 120 feet, 9 inches. “She won’t be happy on the bus ride home, but she’ll come back and be ready.

“We worked her really hard [in practice]. [Throws coach Bobby [Pettigrew] is peaking her for state. We thought we could get away with it [but] the girl [who won] had a great throw.”

McCracken, who has been to the state finals in gymnastics, has been a forerunner for girls since pole vault was introduced just a few years ago.

This will be McCracken’s first state finals in this event, having finished sixth at regional two years previously. She cleared 10 feet, 3 inches Tuesday.

“It’s going to be amazing,” McCracken said. “I’m so excited that, in my final year, I get to go to state. I was hoping for it.”

McCracken began vaulting as a freshman and last year set the all-time area best at 10-33/4. This year she raised that to 11 feet.

“It feels great,” McCracken said of being thought of as a pioneer in the sport. “I’m sure there’ll be lots more [girls] to come up, though, and [challenge the record]. It’ll be neat to come back and watch that.”

Panthers coach Marvin Boswell said the opportunity to vault at state will be a nice reward for McCracken.

“It just tops off her career [at Western], the career she’s had in volleyball, the great career she had in gymnastics and now here in pole vault,” he said. “She has really set the bar high for all the girls who follow her.”

Beckley edged Wolfe on faults for the regional championship as both girls cleared 5 feet, 4 inches while Elkhart Memorial’s Jennifer Krumwiede missed three times and finished third.

After everyone else had been eliminated at 5-3 except those three, meaning al three were on their way downstate, the admitted friendly rivals shared a hug.

“I am so excited I can’t even express it,” said Beckley. “I’m so glad Zoe is going with me. We’ve had a very, very friendly kind of rivalry going on all season. I’m so glad we both made it and bet to go together.

“Even if it hadn’t been me [that won] it couldn’t have gone to a better girl. I’m so excited for both of us. I just wanted to go to state. It didn’t matter if it was first or second.”

Wolfe, the top seed, didn’t begin jumping until the bar reached 5 feet. It almost backfired on her as she needed all three attempts at that height and three more at 5-1.

Wolfe also needed three jumps to clear 5-3.

“The beginning didn’t go so well and I got a little worried, but I’m really relieved now and ready to go and have a good time at state,” Wolfe said. “It was the first time I had come in on five feet and subconsciously I was I was a little nervous and that may have affected [my jumping] a little.”

Comets coach Michael Goodspeed said Wolfe’s regional experience a year ago helped her dig deep Tuesday when the going got tough.

“She found her mettle here facing some adversity,” he said. “She never has missed at such low heights like that before, so I think she found herself and has built confidence as a sophomore.”

Penn won the team title with 97.83 points. Warsaw (65) was second and South Bend Riley (54) third.

Kokomo (30) had the highest local finish, eighth place, as other area athletes distinguished themselves.

Northwestern’s 4x800 relay team of Lauren Brun, Lauren Dewhurst, Nicki Hendricks and Hannah Ault placed sixth with a time of 10:02.41.

Teammate Ashley Miller was fifth in pole vault with a school-record of 10 feet.

Western’s Cara Earlywine placed eighth in the 100-meter dash and McCracken was seventh in the 100-meter high hurdles.

In the 400-meter dash, Kokomo’s Madi Cassidy placed eighth while teammate Brielle Bonnafon placed sixth in the 300 low hurdles and seventh in the long jump.

Whitney Weir, Emily Keller, Courtney Gilman and Cassidy placed seventh in the 4x400 relay.

Also for the Kats, Clarissa Woodard placed sixth in discus (111-10) and Kelly Hopkins was sixth in shot put (36-8).

“That’s the beauty of this team,” Barnes said. “They are a great bunch of girls and they gave us all they had. This was a tough night to compete.

“It’s the state tournament; you do what they tell you to do. I think our girls made the best of the [rainy] situation and they came to compete. That’s all I ever ask them to do.”