Monday, May 05, 2008
Sports NewsG.T.'s 'Ten for Tuesday' | Mayfield's Mutterings: LDN at the Final Four

Railers run strong but not deep

CS8 girls' track meet results

By Rick L. Hobler

Send a link to a friend

[May 05, 2008]  You rarely hear the Lincoln Lady Railers track team mentioned on anyone's list of favorites in the Central State Eight Conference meet. Team victory parties are usually planned for Southeast or Glenwood or Sacred Heart or ... well, you get the point. That fact didn't change Friday night when Coach Alexander's Lady Railers ended up seventh in the eight-team event.

InvestmentWhat may have changed is the attention captured by the Railer program due to a number of strong individual performances from several Lady Railers. One performance in particular, a CS8 championship, by the Lady Railer 800-meter relay team, drew lots of attention. One CS8 "expert" even classified it as the performance that spoiled the plans of the favored Southeast Spartans to again become conference champions.

The Railers began the evening with some strong performances in the field events. Freshman Gracie Wood vaulted her way to a third-place finish in the pole vault event with a 7-foot, 6-inch mark. Gracie, following in the footsteps of her successful sister, LCHS alum Mary Woods, performed well in her first conference meet in spite of windy conditions.

Internet

Not far away, her teammate Hilary Hobler managed a fourth-place finish in a strong field of long jumpers. The CS8 is chock-full of talent in the long jump this year. Three of the 13 jumpers (including Hobler at 17 feet, 1/2 inch) have personal records over 17 feet, and one jumper consistently exceeds 18 feet. Hobler managed a jump of 16 feet, 10 1/2 inches to bring home the fourth-place ribbon.

As the running events began, most all eyes were focused on the battles that would occur between teams OTHER than the Lady Railers. Pre-meet anonymity may have been to the Railers' advantage. The Railers, ignoring being ignored, spoke with their feet instead of their mouths. And their feet spoke loudly.

In the 100-meter preliminaries, only two teams emerged with two runners each in the finals -- Springfield High School, as expected, and Lincoln High School, as not expected. Both Hilary Hobler and Kelsey Bunner advanced to the 100-meter finals. Hobler's time in the preliminary was 12.53 and Bunner's time was 12.80. When the finals rolled around an hour later, Hobler came out with a personal record time of 12.44 to bring Lincoln a second-place finish. Bunner captured the fourth-place spot in the finals with a time of 13.00.

Civic

As the relay events were set to begin, both of Lincoln's sprint relays were seeded no higher than third place. Southeast and Springfield High were set to do battle in both events as the No. 1 and 2-ranked teams. The 400-meter (4x100) relay held true to pre-meet expectations, with Southeast taking the win over SHS with a time of 49.7. Lincoln held its seeded position with a third-place finish in a time of 51.4. The Lady Railer relay team consisted of Bunner, Hobler, Bridgette Hyde and Allissa Martin.

Then came the 800-meter (4x200) relay race. All stop watches were on Southeast and SHS once again. Lincoln's foursome consisting of Hyde, Bunner, Sparks and Hobler, a lane over, was again expected to be mentioned in the "also ran" category. But not this time. Hyde began the race by gaining ground on SHS through the first 200 meters. Both excellent running into a strong wind by Bunner and a better-than-everyone-else's handoff between Bunner and Sparks caused the Lady Railers to forge ahead right after the third exchange took place between them. When Southeast fumbled the relay baton at the same exchange, Lincoln went for the kill. Sparks held the lead to the fourth exchange handoff with Hobler. Hobler, running into a stiff wind, refused to relinquish that lead to the SHS and Southeast runners determined to take it from the Railers. The Lady Railers turned in another personal best time of 1:48.09 to claim the CS8 championship in the event. Lincoln had put itself on the CS8 track map.

[to top of second column]

Auto Sales

Apparently, those counting team point totals also noticed. Southeast, counting on a first place in both this 800-meter relay and in the 200-meter dash, got neither. With Lincoln taking the 800-meter relay, and freshman phenom Ayanna Scott from Lanphier winning the 200-meter dash, the numbers for Southeast just didn't add up. SHS ended up winning the team title by a six-point margin over Southeast by a score of 108 to 102.

As the meet was drawing to its own finish line, Lincoln pulled out another third-place finish. Allissa Martin, Lincoln's 300-meter hurdle runner, ran and jumped the distance in a time of 50.90 to finish behind the Meade twins from Taylorville High School. Martin's third-place finish completed the Railers' point total for the night.

The Railers' overall team total was then stunted by its lack of depth, especially in the longer distance events. Lincoln presently lacks runners in the 3,200-meter run and the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays. Without athletes in these distance races, the Lady Railers cannot garner the necessary numbers to compete for the conference team title, and Friday night was no exception.

Banks

But, maybe, just maybe, Friday night's strong individual and sprint relay successes gave some much-deserved and hardly ever given respect to the current Railers team. Maybe it will also give inspiration to the Lady Railers of the near future. And to others in the CS8 who routinely write off the Lady Railers track team -- I'm sure Coach Alexander and this year's team enjoyed crashing your otherwise private party.

GO, RAILERS!!

___

Complete LCHS results

High jump -- Sparks, 9th, 4'06"; Bunner 10th, 4'06"

Shot put -- Hailey Cooper, 13th, 21'11"

Pole vault -- Wood, 3rd, 7'06"

Long jump -- Hobler, 4th, 16'10 1/2"

Triple jump -- Hyde, 9th, 28'07"; Sparks, 10th, 28'04"

4x100 meter -- 3rd, 51.4, (Hyde, Bunner, Martin, Hobler)

100 meters -- Hobler, 2nd, 12.44; Bunner, 4th, 13.00

800 meter -- Amy Kelley, 12th, 3:04.60

4x200 meter -- 1st, 1:48.09 (Hobler, Sparks, Bunner, Hyde)

400 meter -- Ashley Sutton, 1:14.50

300 hurdles -- Martin, 3rd, 50.90

200 meters -- Hyde, 6th, 28.40

1,600 meters -- Katelyn Harmsen, 9th

[By RICK L. HOBLER]

Respond to the writer at rhobler@lccs.edu.

Schools

< Sports index

Back to top


 

News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries

Community | Perspectives | Law & Courts | Leisure Time | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Teen Scene
Calendar | Letters to the Editor