Lady Devils Win 2009 Rollie Morris Track Invitational!!!!!!
Liz Mosbach Wins 3 Events; Rush and Grivetti set new records.
by Eric Hall, News Tribune & Jim Dresbach, BCR
April 20, 2009
Lady Devils run and hide for first Rollie Morris Title.
Jim Dresbach-BCR
Satruday proved to be a championship-caliber type of day for the Hall Lady Red Devil track and field team. The Hall girls placed at least an athlete or athletes among the top three finishers in 16 of 18 events to stockpile a whopping point total of 174.5 points, while claiming the female program’s first-ever Rollie Morris Invitational title Saturday at the Rollie Morris Track and Field.
While eventual second-place finisher Bureau Valley and the
third-place team, the Princeton Tigresses, chased the Lady Devils
during the five-hour meet, Hall’s surplus of talent came to the
forefront as Hall posted a one-two finish in the 800-meter open run
and a one-three finish in the 300-meter hurdle affair for big point
yields.
“Going back on my recollection and knowing we started this
(invitational) when we got the track in 1997-1998, this is the
first girl’s championship,” said Hall coach Gary Vicini. “We’ve
been competitive in relays and won relays, but we’ve never had a
full team. On this year’s team, we have throwers, runners and
jumpers, so we’ve been able to put together the best team I’ve ever
had. “We’ve now won two weekends in a row — at the Gooden (Mendota)
and the Rollie. We have some hard-working girls, and I’m really
proud of them.”
Hall track leader Kendall Rush started the Rollie out on a positive
note with a new meet record at the triple jump pit. The senior’s
jump toward the sand produced a 36 foot-1 inch attempt.
In other field events, Bureau Valley’s Melanie Thompson swept the
throws with a discus throw of 104-8 and a shot put effort of 35-6.
The Lady Storm thrower edged a pair of Lady Devils in both events.
Hall’s Brigitte Klein (104-1) was second in the discus – and a Hall
thrower did hold the lead for a time at the throwing circle before
being edged by Thompson. Hall’s Jessica Grivetti held firm to the
shot put runner-up spot with a school record heave of 34-5.
Princeton, who finished third in the team points with 82,
accumulated a large amount of its points in the field events.
Tigress Sarah Schlund was a multi-placer in the throwing events –
third in the discus (91-0) and fourth in the shot put (32-5), and
Sarah Maynard was also a double threat in the jumps with a pair of
seconds (14-9.5 in the long jump and 33-6.5 in the triple
jump).
“I think overall we did a nice job in the field events,” said
PHS coach Pat Hodge. “We scored some points there. C.J. Rhodes had
a nice high jump for fourth place. We got a second and third (Sarah
Maynard and Alyssa Donner) in the triple, and Alyssa won the vault
(10-0), and Sarah Schlund got a couple of places in the throws. So
we did well there.”
Hodge was also proud of freshman distance runner Emma Makransky,
who cut close to a half minute off her best 3200-meter time with a
12:46.27 clocking Saturday good for a second-place finish.
Hall’s parade of points continued after the running of the
800-meter and 300-meter hurdle races. In the 800, Lady Devil track
rookies Elizabeth Mosbach and sophomore Hillary Klein were the top
two runners as Mosbach posted a 2:28.31 time – nearly 10 seconds
better than St. Bede’s Taylor Miller, who ran to third place.
Hillary Klein was second with a 2:34.31 timing.
“When we talked to some of the people at JFK (junior high school), we were told some of these girls were good, but we didn’t know how good until we got them out here,” said Vicini. “I don’t think Liz had ever run an 800 before this year. She had always been more of a mile-type girl. She really does have a quick jump and just gets out there and goes ahead. We got big points from Jenna Sobin and Hillary Klein today.”
The other big point producer for Hall was when Katie Gerrard and
Lacey Kwiatek finished one – three in the long track hurdle race.
Gerrard’s time was clocked at :50.68, while Kwiatek crossed the
finish line at :53.55. Bureau Valley received wins from its 4
x 200 relay team, 100-meter hurdler Aubrey Franklin (:16.26),
400-meter runner Amber Day (1:03.83) and Franklin added a second
2009 Morris title to her own personal trophy case with a 15-3.5
meet-winning long jump.
“We did OK in the relays even though we got DQ’ed in the 4 x 400,”
said BV coach Dale Donner. “We started outside the acceleration
zone, but I’d rather see that happen today than in the sectionals.
We still had a nice time of 4:23. We won the 4 x200. And Aubrey
Franklin had a good day with a pair of firsts. Melanie Thompson had
a pair of firsts winning the shot and discus, so our relays came
through. We did well today.”
Balanced effort gives Hall
girls team title
Monday, April 20, 2009
By Erik Hall
sports@newstrib.com
Gary Vicini is in his seventh season as Hall head girls track
coach.
There is something different about this year’s team from the
rest.
That thing is what makes this team the best he has had. That thing
is what makes this possibly the best Hall girls track team
ever.
“They never really had a total team,” Vicini said. “We didn’t have
the whole package. This is the first year that we can throw pretty
well; we can jump pretty well; and we can run pretty well.”
Hall did all those things well to win the girls team title at
Saturday’s 11th Rollie Morris Invitational in Spring Valley. It is
the first time Hall has won the girls title outright at the Rollie
Morris. The Lady Red Devils scored 174 ½ points. Bureau Valley was
second place with 118 ½ points, and Princeton was third with 82
points in the 10-team field.
Other team scores were fourth-place Henry-Midland with 63
points, fifth-place Streator with 41 points, sixth-place St. Bede
and Fieldcrest tied with 26 points, eighth-place Mendota with 23
points, ninth-place Putnam County with three points and Ottawa
Marquette in 10th place with one point.
“The bottom line is our girls came to run, came to throw and came to jump,” Vicini said. “Everybody contributed.”
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
KENDALL RUSH- NEW MEET RECORD IN TRIPLE JUMP
LIZ MOSBACH- SCHOOL RECORD IN THE 800 METER RUN
JESSICA GRIVETTI- SCHOOL RECORD IN SHOT PUT
3200 RELAY TEAM- HILLARY KLEIN, NICOLE BLAND, ERICA SENO AND MOSBACH- SCHOOL RECORD
