All Around Great Day at Rollie Morris Invite
Boys Place 3rd, Girls Place 5th!
April 16, 2012
Girls:
Bureau Valley freshman Regan Weidner was getting tired of running 5:29 in the 1,600 meters.
She finally broke through the 5:29 wall Saturday, and along with shaking that pesky number, the freshman sensation set the Rollie Morris Invitational and BV school records.
“It means a lot,” Weidner said. “I’ve been trying to run faster than 5:29 forever. I’ve ran it three times this year so I really wanted to do better. My legs were tired after the two-mile, but I was really, really happy with my race today.”
Weidner ran a 5:25.59 to narrowly beat the record of 5:25.85 set by Princeton’s Rebekah Faber in 2003.
“I tried to go out faster,” Weidner said. “I’ve been working on my speed more. I tried to go out faster and hang on longer.”
Weidner also won the 3,200 in a time of 11:36.49.
“That’s my fastest outdoor time so far so I was pretty happy with that,” Weidner said. “It was only three seconds slower than what I ran at indoor state.”
Weidner wasn’t the only freshman to excel Saturday for the Storm.
Classmate Lindsey Hoffert also claimed a pair of events to help the Storm win the team title with 117 points.
Bureau Valley beat Henry-Midland (83.5), Aurora Christian (83), Princeton (73), Hall (70), Fieldcrest (45), Mendota (40), Putnam County (26.5), Stillman Valley (7), St. Bede (7) and Streator (2).
“There’s a few meets you want to win and this is one of them,” BV coach Dale Donner said. “It’s local and there’s a local crowd here. It’s a lot of fun to come over here and compete, and to come home with the title means a lot to us. … We had some good performances today. We’re excited about everything we did today.”
Hoffert had strong performances in the long jump, 200 and 400 as she brought home two titles and took third in the 400.
The freshman leapt 15-7 1/2 in the long jump, ran a 27.01 in the 200 and ran a 59.82 in the 400 to narrowly lose to Fieldcrest’s Tessa Holland (59.16) and Hall’s Liz Mosbach (59.78).
“It feels really good,” Hoffert said. “I went out hard and gave it my all so it was a good day.”
Also winning for BV were senior Kimi Sanden in the 800 (2:27.30) and senior Sam Neahring in the pole vault (7-8). Neahring is undefeated in the pole vault this season.
Weidner was not the only area athlete to turn in a record-setting performance Saturday.
The Hall 1,600 relay of Jacquie Wallaert, Katie Hoffert, Amber Huffaker and Mosbach ran a 4:14.17 to break the record of 4:16.35 set by Princeton in 2006.
Other area athletes who won events were Princeton’s Phoenix Smallwood in the triple jump (34-3), Hall’s Kelle Nett in the shot put (34-6), Putnam County’s Iztel Vargas in the 100 hurdles (17.59) and Henry-Midland’s Amanda Kereta in the 100 (13.13).
Kereta also anchored the Lady Timberducks’ 800 relay team to victory in 1:51.71. Other relay members were Melanie Yanke, Emma Cluskey and Amber Kereta.
Boys:
Bureau Valley senior Adam Weidner thought he broke his brother’s Rollie Morris Invitational shot put record last year.
But the heat sheets handed out Saturday indicated Michael Weidner still head the record at 52 feet, 4 inches.
So Adam Weidner broke it again.
Weidner tossed the shot put 54-11 Saturday at Hall to win the event and set a new Rollie Morris standard.
“I thought I had it last year, but either way I broke it and it’s a good feeling,” Weidner said. “It was a goal coming in today because I always want to better what I did last time. It feels good.”
Weidner also won the discus with a toss of 147-2 to score 20 team points that helped the Storm three-peat as Rollie Morris champions.
“That’s been my thought process all day and every meet — I want to get the 20 points for the team and let the other guys do what they can” Weidner said. “Winning a team title is huge, especially here at Hall. It’s a three-peat and that’s awesome.”
The Storm racked up 131 points to beat Aurora Christian (115), Hall (89), Mendota (64), Henry-Midland (62), Streator (39), St. Bede (27.5), Stillman Valley (15.5) and Fieldcrest (10).
“It’s a big deal because all these invitationals are meets where everyone from the bottom kids all the way to the top kids, you need them to play a role in getting points,” BV coach Nick Hartz said. “All across the board we had kids who came up big in their races.”
Senior Derrick Johnson came up big for BV as he won three individual events and helped the 1,600-meter relay team to third place.
“It’s always nice to win, especially as a team,” Johnson said. “Individual stuff, you can say what you want about it, but winning a plaque — or three of them (for boys, girls and combined team titles) — that’s a lot better. That’s the ultimate goal. Anything I do, anything Adam (Weidner) does, it comes down to that.
Also winning for the Storm were Nathan Fetzer in the 110 hurdles (17.27 seconds) and the 3,200 relay of Colton Peterson, Kane Eastwood, Ryan Taylor and Ryan Johnson that ran an 8:41.67.
Aside from Weidner and Johnson, Hall sophomore Collin Aimone was the only other area male athlete to win multiple events, and it came as a surprise to him.
Aimone claimed the long jump with a leap of 19-3 1/2 and the 100 with a time of 11.42.
“It felt good,” Aimone said. “I kind of shocked myself a little because I didn’t expect to do that well. It was a home meet and I gave it my all.”
Aimone entered the long jump with a seed distance of 18-7 but bested it by 7 1/2 inches.
“Before I talked to coach (Nick) Hanck. My form when I was in the air, I had to get my legs out and land on my butt for a little bit more distance,” Aimone said. “It worked.”
Aimone had not run the 100 in high school but managed to narrowly edge Streator’s Mike Knox (11.44).
“I didn’t even know I was put in it until they called me,” Aimone said. “I was checking everyone’s time. They all seemed to have better times than I did. Maybe it’s something new for me to try. It was completely unexpected.”
Other area athletes to win events were Hall junior Landon Piccatto in the 300 hurdles (42.29) and St. Bede senior Michael Langham in the high jump (6-1).
Note: Aurora Christian was second with 198 followed by Hall (159), Henry-Midland (145.5), Mendota (104), Princeton (73), Fieldcrest (55), Streator (41), St. Bede (34.5), Putnam County (26.5) and Stillman Valley (22.5). Princeton only had it’s girls team at the meet.
