Even on a gloomy day, Wooster High girls track coach Nikki Reynolds was able to find rays of sunshine throughout a damp and overcast Kiwanis Invitational held at Woosters Follis Field April 30.
Copley powered through the meet with 139 points to top Cloverleaf (116) and Norwayne (115.5), who engaged in a tight battle for second. Hudson was fourth with 101 points, followed by Mount Vernon (94), Wooster (77.5), Cleveland St. Martin de Poores (7) and Canton Timken (6).
The Generals top performances came from the field events as they swept the throws. Ashley Evans won the shot put with a throw nearly a foot beyond her previous best with a put of 35-7, while Claire Ballard bumped up her previous best by two feet in winning the discus, spinning the platter 103-5.
(Coach Drew) Gerber has been working with me on my kick straight back, said Evans. Ive done a lot of drills the past couple weeks and it paid off.
Wooster had third in both events with Evans placing third in the discus with a throw of 92-2, while Brenna Harts 31-2.25 toss in the shot nailed down the bronze.
The Generals third gold-medal performance came from their 4x800 relay team as Vickie Anderson, Hannah Doan, Lauren Miller and Claire Miller turned in a 10:18 to enjoy a comfortable win.
Miller had a good day by compiling a pair of thirds in both the 1600- and 3200-meter runs, finishing the four-lap race in 5:35 and logging a 12:04 in the 3200. She was also fourth in the 800 (2:32) to complete a heavy workout load.
Wooster also had a fifth in the pole vault from Alyssa Reed (8-0) and a seventh from Kate Persinger (7-6), while Jasmine Parker tied for eighth in the high jump (4-4). On the track, the Generals received points from Doan in the 1600 (5:53), while the 800 relay was fifth, the 400 relay seventh and the 1600 relay sixth.
Woosters performance was hampered by a pair of meet-day injuries, but when that happens someone else gets an opportunity to run. When one door closes, another opens, said Reynolds.
Claire was over 100 feet for the first time. Her best was 100-11 last year and her best this year was 99-1 in the first meet of the season. Its nice to see her getting her technique down, she said. Ashleys previous best was 34-9.5 at Lexington. Shes staying consistent and hopefully she will keep improving now that she knows she can do that. Hopefully everything is starting to click with OCCs (Ohio Cardinal Conference) and districts coming up.
The two-mile relay took 20 seconds off and got first. They ran really well. We had competition that really pushed us, which is what you want at this point of the season.
The Generals had several other personal best or strong times, noted Reynolds.
Our two sprint relays both had their second-best times of the season, she said. In the 400, Amanda Cooper ran a 1:11.4 which was a PB and both of our 300 hurdlers had their bests. Megan McCrossen took two seconds off and placed eighth (53.8) and Kyra Rudy took four seconds off (her time 57.3). They both went out strong and hopefully they will keep getting stronger. Jackie White also had her season best in the two mile with a 13:21.5.
Hopefully we can be as healthy as we can going into OCCs (May 13) and districts (May 18 and 20). Everyone is dealing with the same weather. The time and throws may not be what wed hoped, but were going against good competition and we have to rise to the occasion.
There was one record on a damp, overcast day as Cloverleafs Jennifer Foster added a foot to the pole vault record as she cleared 11-0. In addition, she won the high jump (5-4) and the 100 high hurdles (15.7).
